Zechariah 7

1 And it happened, in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Kislev.

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.

2 And Sharezer and Regemmelech, and the men who were with them, sent to the house of God, to entreat the face of the Lord,

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

3 to speak to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts and to the prophets, saying: “Must there be weeping with me in the fifth month, and must I sanctify myself, as I have now done for many years?”

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?

4 And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying:

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

5 Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying: Although you may have fasted and mourned in the fifth and the seventh month for these seventy years, did you indeed keep a fast unto me?

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?

6 And when you did eat and drink, did you not eat for yourselves, and drink only for yourselves?

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

7 Are not these the words that the Lord has spoken by the hand of the former prophets, when Jerusalem was still inhabited, so that it would prosper, itself and the cities around it, and those inhabitants towards the South and in the plains?

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?

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

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

9 Thus says the Lord of hosts, saying: Judge with true judgment, and act with mercy and compassion, each and every one with his brother.

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:

10 And do not find fault with the widow, and the orphan, and the newcomer, and the poor. And let not a man consider evil in his heart towards his brother.

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.

11 But they were not willing to pay attention, and they turned aside their shoulder to depart, and they pressed upon their ears, so that they would not hear.

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

12 And they set their heart like the hardest stone, so that they would not hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts has sent with his Spirit by the hand of the former prophets. And so a great indignation came from Lord of hosts.

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.

13 And it happened, just as he had spoken, and they did not pay attention. So then, they shall cry out, and I will not heed, says the Lord of hosts.

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:

14 And I dispersed them throughout all the kingdoms that they did not know. And the land was left desolate behind them, so that no one was passing through or returning. And they made the desirable land into a deserted place.

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.