Zechariah 7:1-14

In the fourth year of Emperor Darius, on the seventh of December, YAHWEH spoke again to Zechariah. Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melech with a delegation to Jerusalem to pray for the favor of YAHWEH. So they went to the prophets and priests who were at the Temple of YAHWEH and asked them: “For many years, each July we have mourned and fasted. Should we continue to do this?” Then YAHWEH spoke this message to me: “Ask all the priests and the people of the land: ‘For nearly seventy years, you have been fasting and mourning in the fifth and seventh months. Have you truly been doing this to honor me? And when you ate and drank, were you not doing it for your own pleasure? Did not YAHWEH speak these things to you through the prophets in the past? Have you forgotten what he told you when Jerusalem and the surrounding towns were prosperous and secure and when the southland and western foothills were inhabited?’ ” YAHWEH spoke again to Zechariah, saying, “Here is the message of YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies: “Apply the law fairly. “Demonstrate tender love and compassion toward all. “Never oppress the widow and the fatherless, the foreigner and the poor. “And do not secretly plot to harm someone.” But they would not listen; they turned their backs on him, and they stopped up their ears rather than stopping to hear. Their hearts became as hard as a rock. They refused to listen to the teaching of YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies. And they would not hear the words he spoke by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies, became very angry. YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies, says, “Even when I called for them, they would not listen. Therefore, I would not listen when they prayed to me for help. Like a whirlwind, I swept them away to live in distant lands as foreigners.” After they were scattered, the country was left so desolate that it became impassable. What once was a land of delights they turned into a desert of desolation.