Zacharias 7

1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of Darius the king, [that] the word of the Lord came to Zacharias on the fourth [day] of the ninth month, which is Chaseleu.

In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev.

2 And Sarasar and Arbeseer the king and his men sent to Bethel, and [that] to propitiate the Lord,

Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech, along with their men, to plead before the LORD

3 speaking to the priests that were in the house of the Lord Almighty, and to the prophets, saying, The holy offering has come in hither in the fifth month, as it has done already many years.

by asking the priests of the house of the LORD of Hosts, as well as the prophets, “Should I weep and fast in the fifth month, as I have done these many years?”

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

Then the word of the LORD of Hosts came to me, saying,

5 Speak to the whole people of the land, and to the priests, saying, Though you fasted or lamented in the fifth or seventh [months] (yes, behold, these seventy years) have you at all fasted to me?

“Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted?

6 And if you eat or drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves?

And when you were eating and drinking, were you not doing so simply for yourselves?

7 Are not these the words which the Lord spoke by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and her cities round about her, and the hill country and the low country was inhabited?

Are these not the words that the LORD proclaimed through the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were populous and prosperous, and the Negev and the foothills were inhabited?’”

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

Then the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying,

9 Thus says the Lord Almighty; Judge righteous judgment, and deal mercifully and compassionately every one with his brother:

“This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Administer true justice. Show loving devotion and compassion to one another.

10 and oppress not the widow, or the fatherless, or the stranger, or the poor; and let not one of you remember in his heart the injury of his brother.

Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’

11 But they refused to attend, and madly turned their back, and made their ears heavy, so that they should not hear.

But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing.

12 And they made their heart disobedient, so as not to listen to my law, and the words which the Lord Almighty sent forth by his Spirit by the former prophets: so there was great wrath from the Lord Almighty.

They made their hearts like flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of Hosts.

13 And it shall come to pass, [that] as he spoke, and they listened not, so they shall cry, and I will not listen, says the Lord Almighty.

And just as I had called and they would not listen, so when they called I would not listen, says the LORD of Hosts.

14 And I will cast them out among all the nations, whom they know not; and the land behind them shall be made utterly destitute of any going through or returning: yes they have made the choice land a desolation.

But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known, and the land was left desolate behind them so that no one could come or go. Thus they turned the pleasant land into a desolation.”