Zech 7
1
And it came to pass in the fourth year of Darius the king, that the word of the Lord
came to Zacharias on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chaseleu.
2
And Sarasar and Arbeseer the king and his men sent to Bethel, and that to propitiate
the Lord,
3
speaking to the priests that were in the house of the Lord Almighty, and to the prophets,
saying, The holy offering has come in here in the fifth month, as it has done already
many years.
4
And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying,
5
Speak to the whole people of the land, and to the priests, saying, Though you fasted
or lamented in the fifth or seventh months (yea, behold, these seventy years) have
you at all fasted to me?
6
And if you eat or drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves?
7
Are not these the words which the Lord spoke by the former prophets, when Jerusalem
was inhabited and in prosperity, and her cities round about her, and the hill country
and the low country was inhabited?
8
And the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, saying,
9
Thus says the Lord Almighty; Judge righteous judgement, and deal mercifully and compassionately
every one with his brother:
10
and oppress not the widow, or the fatherless, or the stranger, or the poor; and let
not one of you remember in his heart the injury of his brother.
11
But they refused to attend, and madly turned their back, and made their ears heavy,
so that they should not hear.
12
And they made their heart disobedient, so as not to hearken to my law, and the words
which the Lord Almighty sent forth by his Spirit by the former prophets: so there
was great anger from the Lord Almighty.
13
And it shall come to pass, that as he spoke, and they hearkened not, so they shall
cry, and I will not hearken, says the Lord Almighty.
14
And I will cast them out among all the nations, whom they know not; and the land behind
them shall be made utterly destitute of any going through or returning: yea they have
made the choice land a desolation.