A Call to Justice and Compassion

¹In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of YHWH came to Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev.

²The people of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem Melech and their men to entreat YHWH’s favor,

³and to speak to the priests of the house of YHWH Almighty and to the prophets, saying, “Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?”

⁴Then the word of YHWH Almighty came to me, saying,

⁵“You are to speak to all the people of the land and to the priests, saying, ‘When y’all fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month for these seventy years, did y’all really fast and fast for me?

⁶And when y’all eat and drink, don’t y’all merely eat and drink for yourselves*?

⁷Are these not the words which YHWH proclaimed by the former prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and its cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?’”

⁸The word of YHWH came to Zechariah, saying,

⁹“This is what YHWH Almighty has spoken, ‘Y’all must judge with true judgment and show kindness and compassion to everyone.

¹⁰Y’all must not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the foreigner, or the poor. And don’t plan evil in y’all’s heart against anyone.’

¹¹But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear.

¹²Yes, they made their hearts as hard as flint, lest they might hear the law and the words which YHWH Almighty had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from YHWH Almighty.

¹³It has come to pass that, as he called and they refused to listen, so they will call and I will not listen,” said YHWH Almighty;

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 made the pleasant land desolate.”