7In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev.H702H8141H4428H1867H1697H3068H2148H702H8671H2320H36912The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melech, together with their men, to entreat the LORDH7971H1004H410H8272H7278H582H2470H6440H30683by asking the priests of the house of the LORD Almighty and the prophets, "Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?"H559H3548H1004H3068H6635H5030H559H1058H2549H2320H5144H6213H81414Then the word of the LORD Almighty came to me:H1697H3068H6635H5595"Ask all the people of the land and the priests, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted?H559H5971H776H3548H559H6684H5594H2549H7637H7657H8141H6684H66846And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?H398H8354H398H83547Are these not the words the LORD proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?'"H1697H3068H7121H3027H7223H5030H3389H3427H7961H5892H5439H3427H5045H82198And the word of the LORD came again to Zechariah:H1697H3068H2148H5599"This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.H559H3068H6635H559H8199H571H4941H6213H2617H7356H376H25110Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.'H6231H490H3490H1616H6041H2803H7451H376H251H382411"But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears.H3985H7181H5414H5637H3802H3513H241H808512They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD Almighty was very angry.H7760H3820H8068H8085H8451H1697H3068H6635H7971H7307H3027H7223H5030H1419H7110H3068H663513"'When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,' says the LORD Almighty.H7121H8085H7121H8085H559H3068H663514'I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land was left so desolate behind them that no one could come or go. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.'"H5590H1471H3045H776H8074H310H5674H7725H7760H2532H776H8047
Dublin, OH
