[[Zechariah 6|<< Zechariah 6]] | [[Zechariah|Zechariah]] | [[Zechariah 8|Zechariah 8 >>]] ### Zechariah 7 1 AND it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, _that_ the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth _day_ of the ninth month, _even_ in Chisleu; ^1 2 When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to pray before the LORD, ^2 3 _And_ to speak unto the priests which _were_ in the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years? ^3 4 ¶ Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying, ^4 5 Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh _month_, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, _even_ to me? ^5 6 And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat _for_ _yourselves_, and drink _for_ _yourselves?_ ^6 7 _Should_ _ye_ not _hear_ the words which the LORD has cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when _men_ inhabited the south and the plain? ^7 8 ¶ And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying, ^8 9 Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassions every man to his brother: ^9 10 And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart. ^10 11 But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. ^11 12 Yea, they made their hearts _as_ an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts has sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts. ^12 13 Therefore it is come to pass, _that_ as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts: ^13 14 But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate. ^14