(KJV) Zechariah 7¹

⥃A Call to Justice and Mercy

[1] And it came to pass in the fourth² year of king Darius, [that] the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah in the fourth [day] of the ninth month, [even] in Chisleu³; [2] When they⁴ had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regem–melech, and their men, to pray before the Lord⁵, [3] [And] to speak⁶ unto the priests which [were] in the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should⁷ I weep in the fifth⁸ month, separating⁹ myself, as I have done these so many years?

[4] [¶]Then came the word of the Lord of hosts¹⁰ unto me, saying, [5] Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When¹¹ ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh¹² [month], even those seventy¹³ years, did¹⁴ ye at all fast unto me, [even] to me? [6] And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat [for¹⁵ yourselves], and drink [for yourselves]? [7] [Should ye] not [hear] the words¹⁶ which the Lord hath cried¹⁷ by the former¹⁸ prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when [men] inhabited the south¹⁹ and the plain?

[8] And the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, saying, [9] Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying²⁰, Execute true judgment²¹, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother: [10] And oppress²² not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine²³ evil against his brother in your heart. [11] But they refused²⁴ to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder²⁵, and stopped²⁶ their ears, that they should not hear. [12] Yea, they made their hearts²⁷ [as] an adamant stone, lest²⁸ they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent²⁹ in his spirit by the former³⁰ prophets: therefore³¹ came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts. [13] Therefore it is come to pas³²s, [that] as he cried, and they would not hear; so³³ they cried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts: [14] But I scattered³⁴ them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom³⁵ they knew not. Thus the land³⁶ was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land³⁷ desolate.