Zec 7 | NASB2020 | STEP | In the fourth year of King Darius , the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month , which is Chislev .

‏ Zechariah 7

1 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is ^aChislev. 2 Now the town of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regemmelech and ^{▼▼Lit his}their men to ^{▼▼Lit soften the face of} ^dseek the favor of the Lord, 3 speaking to the ^epriests who belong to the house of the Lord of armies, and to the prophets, saying, “Shall I weep in the ^ffifth month ^{▼▼Lit to fast}and fast, as I have done these many years?” 4 Then the word of the Lord of armies came to me, saying, 5 “Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months ^{▼▼Lit and this}these ⁱseventy years, was it actually for ^jMe that you fasted? 6 And when you eat and drink, ^{▼▼Lit is it not you who eat and you who drink}do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? 7 Are these not the words which the Lord ^lproclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and ^mcarefree along with its cities around it, and the ^{▼▼I.e., South country} ^oNegev and the ^{▼▼Heb Shephelah}foothills were inhabited?’”

8 Then the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, 9 “This is what the Lord of armies has said: ‘ ^qDispense true justice and practice ^rkindness and compassion each to his brother; 10 and ^sdo not oppress the widow or the ^{▼▼Or fatherless}orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do ^unot devise evil in your hearts against one another.’ 11 But they ^vrefused to pay attention, and ^{▼▼Lit gave} ^xturned a stubborn shoulder and ^{▼▼Lit made their ears heavy} ^zplugged their ears from hearing. 12 They also made their ^aahearts as hard as ^aba diamond ^{▼▼Lit from hearing}so that they could not hear the Law and the ^adwords which the Lord of armies had sent by His Spirit through the ^aeformer prophets; therefore great ^afwrath came from the Lord of armies. 13 And just as ^agHe called and they would not listen, so ^ahthey called and I would not listen,” says the Lord of armies; 14 “but I ^{▼▼Lit stormed them away upon all} ^ajscattered them with a ^akstorm wind among all the nations whom they did not know. So the land was ^aldesolated behind them ^{▼▼Lit from passing and from returning}so that ^anno one went back and forth, since they ^aomade the pleasant land desolate.”