Zechariah 7

1 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month — Chislev. [a] 2 Sharezer, Arbeseer the king, and his men sent to Bethel to seek favor from the Lord. [b] 3 They asked the priests in the house of the Lord Almighty and the prophets, “Has the holy offering entered here in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?” [c] 4 Then the word of the Lord of armies came to me:

5 “Speak to all the people of the land and to the priests: ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during these seventy years, did you truly fast for me? 6 When you eat and drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves? 7 Are these not the words the Lord proclaimed through the former prophets, when Jerusalem and the cities around her were inhabited and prosperous, and when the hill country and lowlands were inhabited?’”

8 Then the word of the Lord came to Zechariah:

9 “This is what the Lord Almighty says: Give a righteous ruling, and each of you deal with his brother in mercy and pity. † 10 Do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the newcomer, or the poor, and do not hold a grudge against your brother in your hearts. 11 But they refused to pay attention. They turned their backs in madness and made their ears heavy so they would not hear. 12 They made their hearts disobedient so they would not listen to my law or to the words the Lord Almighty sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. So great wrath came from the Lord Almighty.

13 Just as he spoke and they would not listen to him, so they will cry out and I will not listen,” says the Lord Almighty. 14 “I will scatter them among nations they do not know. The land behind them will be so deserted that no one passes through or returns. They have made the desirable land a desolation.”