[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? (7:3)

Then came the word of the Lord of hosts unto me, saying, (7:4)

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? (7:5)

And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat [for yourselves], and drink [for yourselves]? (7:6)

[Should ye] not [hear] the words which the Lord hath 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? (7:7)

And the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, saying, (7:8)

Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassions every man to his brother: (7:9)

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 (7:10)

But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear (7:11)

Yea, they made their hearts [as] an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts (7:12)

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: (7:13)

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 (7:14)

Get Next Chapter