Zech 7
1
And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of YHWH came
to Zechariah in the fourth [day] of the ninth month, even in Chislev.
2
Now [they of] Beth-el had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to entreat
the favor of YHWH,
3
[and] to speak to the priests of the house of YHWH of hosts, and to the prophets,
saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these
so many years?
4
Then came the word of YHWH of hosts to me, saying,
5
Speak 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 to me, even to me?
6
And when you eat, and when you drink, do not you eat for yourselves, and drink for
yourselves?
7
[Should you] not [hear] the words which YHWH cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem
was inhabited and in prosperity, and its cities round about her, and the South
and the lowland were inhabited?
8
And the word of YHWH came to Zechariah, saying,
9
Thus has YHWH of hosts spoken, saying, Execute true judgment, and show kindness and
compassion every man to his brother;
10
and oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the sojourner, nor the poor; and let
none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.
11
But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears,
that they might not hear.
12
Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and
the words which YHWH of hosts had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets: therefore
there came great anger from YHWH of hosts.
13
And it is come to pass that, as he cried, and they would not hear, so they shall cry,
and I will not hear, said YHWH of hosts;
14
but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they have not
known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through nor returned:
for they laid the pleasant land desolate.