Zec 7 | ESV | 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 .

1 ^aIn the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is ^bChislev. 2 Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and their men ^cto entreat the favor of the Lord, 3 ^dsaying to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts and ^ethe prophets, “Should I weep and ^fabstain in ^gthe 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 ^hthe fifth month and in ⁱthe seventh, for these ^jseventy years, ^kwas it ^lfor me that you fasted? 6 ^mAnd when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? 7 ⁿWere not these the words that the Lord proclaimed ^oby the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, ^pwith her cities around her, and the ^qSouth and the ^rlowland were inhabited?'”

8 And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, 9 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ^sRender true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, 10 ^tdo not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, ^uor the poor, and ^vlet none of you devise evil against another in your heart.” 11 But ^wthey refused to pay attention ^xand turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. ^{▼▼Hebrew and made their ears too heavy to hear} 12 ^zThey made their hearts diamond-hard ^aalest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent ^abby his Spirit through ^acthe former prophets. ^adTherefore great anger came from the Lord of hosts. 13 ^ae“As I ^{▼▼Hebrew he} called, and they would not hear, ^agso they called, and I would not hear,” says the Lord of hosts, 14 ^ah“and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all ^aithe nations that they had not known. ^ajThus the land they left was desolate, ^akso that no one went to and fro, ^aland the pleasant land was made desolate.”