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 Jehovah came to Zechariah, on the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu;

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 to the house of God Sherezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to pray before Jehovah,

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 speak to the priests that were in the house of Jehovah of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, “Shall I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?”

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

Then came the word of Jehovah of hosts to 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?

Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast for me, even for me?

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

And when ye eat and drink, is it not ye that eat, and ye 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 Jehovah proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and her cities round about her, and when the South and the Plain were inhabited?

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

And the word of Jehovah came to 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 spake Jehovah of hosts, saying, Judge true judgment, and show mercy and compassion 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 the widow, and the orphan, and the stranger, and the poor, oppress not, and meditate not evil against one another in your heart.

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

But they refused to hearken, and showed a refractory shoulder, and made their ears dull, that they might not 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.

yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, that they might not hear the law, and the words which Jehovah of hosts sent through his spirit by the former prophets. Therefore came great anger from Jehovah 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 as he called and they would not hear, so they called and I would not hear, saith Jehovah 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 scattered them as with a whirlwind among all the nations, which they knew not. And the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through, nor returned; and thus the beautiful land was made a desolation.