Zechariah 7

1 And it came about in the fourth year of King Darius, that the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month Chislev.

And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius that the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, in Kislev;

2 Now they of Beth-el had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech to make a request for grace from the Lord,

When they had sent unto Beth-el Sherezer and Regem-melech, and his men, to make entreaty before the Lord.

3 And to say to the priests of the house of the Lord of armies and to the prophets, Am I to go on weeping in the fifth month, separating myself as I have done in past years?

[And] to say unto the priests who were in the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Shall I weep in the fifth month with abstinence, as I have done already these many years?

4 Then the word of the Lord of armies came to me, saying

Then came the word of the Lord of hosts unto me, saying,

5 Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, When you went without food and gave yourselves to grief in the fifth and the seventh months for these seventy years, did you ever do it because of me?

Say unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, as followeth, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh [month], already these seventy years, did ye in anywise fast for me, yea, for me?

6 And when you are feasting and drinking, are you not doing it only for yourselves?

And if ye do eat, and if ye do drink, are ye not yourselves those that eat, and yourselves those that drink?

7 Are not these the words which the Lord said to you by the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem was full of people and wealth, and the towns round about her and the South and the Lowland were peopled?

Are not these the words which the Lord hath proclaimed by means of the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, with her cities round about her, when [men] inhabited the south, and the lowlands?

8 And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying,

And the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, saying,

9 This is what the Lord of armies has said: Let your judging be upright and done in good faith, let every man have mercy and pity for his brother:

Thus hath said the Lord of hosts, saying, Execute true justice, and show kindness and mercy every man to his brother;

10 Do not be hard on the widow, or the child without a father, on the man from a strange country, or on the poor; let there be no evil thought in your heart against your brother.

And defraud not the widow, or the fatherless, the stranger, or the poor; and imagine not evil in your heart one against the other.

11 But they would not give attention, turning their backs and stopping their ears from hearing;

But they refused to listen, and turned away rebelliously the shoulder, and stopped their ears, so as not to hear;

12 And they made their hearts like the hardest stone, so that they might not give ear to the law and the words which the Lord of armies had said by the earlier prophets: and there came great wrath from the Lord of armies.

And their heart they rendered as an adamant, so as not to hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent through his spirit, by means of the former prophets: wherefore came a great anger from the Lord of hosts.

13 And it came about that as they would not give ear to his voice, so I would not give ear to their voice, says the Lord of armies:

And it is come to pass, that as he proclaimed, and they would not hear: so had they to call, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts;

14 But with a storm-wind I sent them in flight among all the nations of whom they had no knowledge. So the land was waste after them, so that no man went through or came back: for they had made waste the desired land.

And I resolved to scatter them with a storm-wind among all the nations that they had not known; and the land was left desolate after them, without any one to pass through it forward or backward; and the pleasant land have they changed into a desert.