Old Testament · Zechariah

Zechariah 7

A Call to Justice and Mercy

1And it came to pass in the fourth year of Darius the king, that the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, on the fourth day of the ninth month, in Chislev; 2And Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and his men, to entreat the face of the LORD, 3to speak to the priests who belonged to the house of the LORD of hosts^a, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?

4And the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying, 5Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month, even these seventy years, did you at all fast for me, even for me? 6And when you eat, and when you drink, are you not the ones eating, and you the ones drinking? 7Are these not the words which the LORD proclaimed by the hand of the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and at ease, and her cities round about her, and the Negev and the lowland were inhabited?

8And the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, 9Thus says the LORD of hosts, saying, Judge a judgment^b of truth, and do mercy and compassions, every man^c to his brother; 10and do not oppress the widow and the orphan, the sojourner and the poor; and the evil of a man, his brother, do not devise in your heart.

11But they refused to hearken, and gave a stubborn shoulder, and made their ears heavy from hearing. 12And they made their heart adamant, lest they hear the Torah and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by his spirit^d by the hand of the former prophets; and great wrath came from the LORD of hosts.

13And it came to pass that, as he called and they would not hear, so they shall call and I will not hear, says the LORD of hosts. 14And I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they had not known. And the land was made desolate after them, so that none passed through nor returned; and they made the pleasant land a desolation.