Zechariah 7

New International Version

Justice and Mercy, Not Fasting

7 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of theLordcame to Zechariah^(A)on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev.^(B)2 The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreat^(C)theLord^(D)3 by asking the priests of the house of theLordAlmighty and the prophets, “Should I mourn^(E)and fast in the fifth^(F)month, as I have done for so many years?”

⁴ Then the word of theLordAlmighty came to me:⁵ “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted^(G)and mourned in the fifth and seventh^(H)months for the past seventy years,^(I)was it really for me that you fasted?⁶ And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?^(J)7 Are these not the words theLordproclaimed through the earlier prophets^(K)when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest^(L)and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills^(M)were settled?’”^(N)

⁸ And the word of theLordcame again to Zechariah:⁹ “This is what theLordAlmighty said: ‘Administer true justice;^(O)show mercy and compassion to one another.^(P)10 Do not oppress the widow^(Q)or the fatherless, the foreigner^(R)or the poor.^(S)Do not plot evil against each other.’^(T)

¹¹ “But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly^(U)they turned their backs^(V)and covered their ears.^(W)12 They made their hearts as hard as flint^(X)and would not listen to the law or to the words that theLordAlmighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets.^(Y)So theLordAlmighty was very angry.^(Z)

¹³ “‘When I called, they did not listen;^(AA)so when they called, I would not listen,’^(AB)says theLordAlmighty.^(AC)14 ‘I scattered^(AD)them with a whirlwind^(AE)among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land they left behind them was so desolate that no one traveled through it.^(AF)This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.^(AG)’”