3
1saying to the priests of the house of the LORD of hosts and
2the prophets, "Should I weep and
3abstain in
4the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?"
4
Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me:
5
"Say to all the people of the land and the priests, When you fasted and mourned in
5the fifth month and in
6the seventh, for these
7seventy years,
8was it
9for me that you fasted?
6
10And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?
7
11Were not these the words that the LORD proclaimed
12by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous,
13with her cities around her, and the
14South and the
15lowland were inhabited?"
8
And the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying,
9
"Thus says the LORD of hosts,
16Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another,
10
17do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner,
18or the poor, and
19let none of you devise evil against another in your heart."
11
But
20they refused to pay attention
21and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear.
12
22They made their hearts diamond-hard
23lest they should hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent
24by his Spirit through
25the former prophets.
26Therefore great anger came from the LORD of hosts.
13
27"As I called, and they would not hear,
28so they called, and I would not hear," says the LORD of hosts,