Zechariah
Chapter 7
1 In the fourth year of King Darius, God’s message came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chisleu.
2 They sent Sherezer, Regemmelech, and their men to the house of God to pray to God.
3 Talk to the priests in God’s house and to the prophets, asking, “Should I cry and fast in the fifth month like I’ve been doing for many years?”
4 God spoke to me, saying,
5 Tell everyone in the land, and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month for seventy years, were you really fasting for me?
6 When you ate and drank, wasn’t it for your own benefit?
7 Shouldn’t you listen to the words God spoke through the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem was full of people and thriving, and the surrounding cities were also populated, including the southern areas and the lowlands?
8 God’s message came to Zechariah, saying,
9 God says, ‘Make fair decisions and be kind and compassionate to each other.’
10 Do not mistreat widows or orphans, strangers, or the poor; and do not plan to harm your fellow person in your heart.
11 But they wouldn’t listen, turned their backs, and covered their ears so they couldn’t hear.
12 Yes, they made their hearts as hard as a diamond so they wouldn’t listen to the law and the words that God had sent through his spirit by the earlier prophets; that’s why a great anger came from God.
13 So, it happened that when he called, they did not listen; so when they called, I did not listen, says God.
14 I spread them out with a strong wind to countries they didn’t know. The land was empty behind them, with no one going by or coming back, because they made the beautiful land empty.