Zechariah 7

And it happened in the fourth year of Darius the king, the word of God came to Zechariah, on the fourth {day} of the ninth month, in Kislev.

Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melech and his men {to} beg before the face of God,

saying to the priests who {were} at the house of God of Armies, {and} to the prophets saying, “Should I mourn in the fifth month by means of a fast, as I have done these many years?” \*

And it happened {that} the word of God of Armies came to me, saying,

“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 fasting, fasting for me?

When you ate and when you drank, did you not eat and drink for yourselves?

Were these not the words that God proclaimed by the hand 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?’” \*

The word of God came to Zechariah, saying,

“Thus says God of Armies saying, ‘Judge with true justice, and covenant faithfulness, and mercy. Let each man do this for his brother.

And the widow and orphan, the foreigner, and the poor person—do not oppress them, and let a man not plot evil {against} his brother in your heart.’ \*

But they refused to heed and gave a stubborn shoulder. Their ears were heavy from hearing.

They made their heart as rock {to keep} from hearing the law and the words that God of Armies had sent by his Spirit by the hand of the former prophets. And great rage came from God of Armies. \*

‘It happened that as when he called, and they did not listen, so when they call, I will not listen,’ says God of Armies.

‘And I scattered them with a whirlwind to all the nations that they had not known, and the land was made desolate after them from anyone passing through or returning. And they had made the land of desire into a wasteland.’” \*