Zechariah 7

1In the fourth year of King Darius, Yahweh’s word came to Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev.Cross-references: Ezra 6:14 · Neh 1:1 · Hag 2:10 · Hag 2:20 · Zech 1:1

2The people of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem Melech and their men to entreat Yahweh’s favor,Cross-references: Ex 32:11 · 1Sam 13:12 · 1Ki 13:6 · Ezra 6:10 · Ezra 7:15 · Ezra 8:28 · +4 more

3and to speak to the priests of the house of Yahweh of Armies and to the prophets, saying, “Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?”Cross-references: Deut 17:9 · Deut 33:10 · 2Ki 25:8 · Neh 8:9 · Neh 9:1 · Eccl 3:4 · +13 more

4Then the word of Yahweh of Armies came to me, saying,Cross-references: Isa 10:16

5“Speak to all the people of the land and to the priests, saying, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month for these seventy years, did you at all fast to me, really to me?Cross-references: 2Ki 25:23 · Isa 1:11 · Isa 58:4 · Jer 25:11 · Jer 41:1 · Zech 1:12 · +13 more

6When you eat and when you drink, don’t you eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?Cross-references: Deut 12:7 · Deut 14:26 · 1Sam 16:7 · 1Chr 29:22 · Jer 17:9 · Hos 8:13 · +5 more

7Aren’t these the words which Yahweh proclaimed by the former prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and its cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?’”Cross-references: Deut 34:3 · Isa 1:16 · Isa 55:3 · Isa 55:6 · Jer 7:5 · Jer 7:23 · +12 more

8Yahweh’s word came to Zechariah, saying,

9“Thus has Yahweh of Armies spoken, saying, ‘Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother.Cross-references: Lev 19:15 · Lev 19:35 · Deut 10:18 · Deut 15:7 · Deut 16:18 · Ps 82:2 · +15 more

10Don’t oppress the widow, the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.’Cross-references: Ex 22:21 · Ex 23:9 · Deut 24:14 · Deut 27:19 · Ps 21:11 · Ps 36:4 · +28 more

11But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear.Cross-references: Ex 10:3 · 2Ki 17:13 · 2Chr 33:10 · Neh 9:17 · Neh 9:26 · Neh 9:29 · +23 more

12Yes, they made their hearts as hard as flint, lest they might hear the law and the words which Yahweh of Armies had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from Yahweh of Armies.Cross-references: 2Chr 36:16 · Neh 9:29 · Job 9:4 · Ps 50:17 · Isa 6:10 · Isa 48:4 · +19 more

13It has come to pass that, as he called and they refused to listen, so they will call and I will not listen,” said Yahweh of Armies;Cross-references: Ps 81:8 · Prov 1:24 · Prov 21:13 · Prov 28:9 · Isa 1:15 · Isa 50:2 · +11 more

14“but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through nor returned; for they made the pleasant land desolate.”Cross-references: Lev 26:22 · Lev 26:33 · Deut 4:27 · Deut 28:33 · Deut 28:49 · Deut 28:64 · +21 more