Zechariah 7
1 When King Darius had been ruler for four years, on the fourth day of Kislev (which was the ninth month), the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah.
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.
2 The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek and their men to beg before the face of Yahweh.
And Sarasar and Arbeseer the king and his men sent to Bethel, and [that] to propitiate the Lord,
3 They spoke to the priests who were at the house of Yahweh of hosts and to the prophets; they said, “Should I mourn in the fifth month by means of a fast, as I have done these many years?”
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.
4 So the word of Yahweh of hosts came to me, saying,
And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying,
5 “Speak to all the people of the land and to the priests and say, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month for these seventy years, were you truly fasting for me?
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?
6 When you ate and drank, did you not eat and drink for yourselves?
And if you eat or drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves?
7 Were these not the same words that Yahweh proclaimed by the mouth of the former prophets, when you still inhabited Jerusalem and the surrounding cities in prosperity and were settled in the Negev, and the foothills to the west?'”
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?
8 The word of Yahweh came to Zechariah, saying,
And the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, saying,
9 “Yahweh of hosts says this, 'Judge with true justice, covenant faithfulness, and mercy. Let each man do this for his brother.
Thus says the Lord Almighty; Judge righteous judgment, and deal mercifully and compassionately every one with his brother:
10 About the widow and orphan, the foreigner, and the poor person—do not oppress them, and let none of you plot any harm against another in your heart.'
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.
11 But they refused to pay attention and set their shoulders stubbornly. They stopped up their ears so they would not hear.
But they refused to attend, and madly turned their back, and made their ears heavy, so that they should not hear.
12 They made their hearts as hard as rock so they would not hear the law or the words of Yahweh of hosts. He had sent these messages to the people by his Spirit in earlier times, by the mouth of the prophets. But the people refused to listen, so Yahweh of hosts was very angry with them.
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.
13 It happened that when he called, they did not listen. In the same way,” said Yahweh of hosts, “they will call out to me, but I will not listen.
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.
14 For I will scatter them with a whirlwind to all the nations that they have not seen, and the land will be desolate after them. For no one will pass through the land or return to it since the people have made their delightful land into a wasteland.”
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.
