Zechariah 7

¹And then, in the fourth year of King Darius, the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Kislev.[#Literally “and it happened”]

²And the people of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem-Melech, and their men, to entreat the favor of Yahweh,[#Hebrew “his”; #Literally “the face”]

³saying to the priests of the house of Yahweh of hosts and to the prophets, “Should I mourn in the fifth month and keep myself separate as I have done for these many years?”[#Literally “priests who are for the house of Yahweh of hosts”; #Or “abstain”; some interpret this as a reference to fasting]

⁴And the word of Yahweh of hosts came to me, saying,

⁵“Say to all the people of the land and to the priests: ‘When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, did you really fast for me?

⁶And when you eat and drink, are you not eating and drinking for yourselves?

⁷Are not these the words that Yahweh proclaimed through the former prophets, when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were inhabited and at ease, and the Negev and the Shephelah were inhabited?’ ”[#Literally “by the hand of”; #Literally “her towns around her”; #The Negev is an arid region south of the Judean hills; #The Shephelah is a geographical area on the western edge of the Judean hills]

⁸And the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah, saying,

⁹“Thus says Yahweh of hosts: ‘Judge with trustworthy justice, and show steadfast love and compassion to one another.[#Literally “do”; #Literally “a man his brother”]

¹⁰You must not oppress the widow, the orphan, the foreigner, and the needy. You must not devise evil in your heart against one another.’[#Literally “a man his brother”]

¹¹But they refused to listen, and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears from listening.[#Hebrew “gave”; #Literally “their ears were heavy from hearing”]

¹²They made their hearts adamant in order not to hear the law and the words that Yahweh of hosts had sent by his spirit through the former prophets; therefore great wrath came from Yahweh of hosts.[#Literally “They set their hearts like hard stone”; #Hebrew torah; #Literally “by the hand of”]

¹³‘Thus, just as I called and they would not hear, so they will call and I will not hear,’ says Yahweh of hosts.[#Hebrew “he called” (but still referring to Yahweh)]

¹⁴‘And I scattered them with a wind among all the nations that they had not known; the land was made desolate behind them— no one crossing through it or returning—and they made the desirable land a desolation.’ ”[#Hebrew “land of desire,” but this could be understood as a land characterized by desire rather than a desirable land]