Zechariah 7

The people ask whether they should continue fasting as they have done during the seventy years of exile. The LORD replies: "When you fasted, did you really fast for Me?" He calls for true justice, mercy, and compassion — not empty rituals. Their fathers refused to listen and made their hearts like flint, so great wrath came from the LORD of hosts.

v	King James Version	Modern English
1	And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu;	And it came to pass in the fourth year of King Darius that the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev.
2	When they had sent unto the house of God Sharezer and Regemmelech, and their men, to pray before the LORD,	When the people had sent Sherezer, Regem-melech, and their men to the house of God to pray before the LORD,
3	And to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?	and to speak to the priests who were in the house of the LORD of hosts and to the prophets, saying, "Should I weep in the fifth month, setting myself apart, as I have done these many years?"
4	Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying,	Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying,
5	Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?	"Speak to all the people of the land and to the priests, saying, 'When You fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even for those seventy years, did You really fast for Me, even for Me?
6	And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?	And when You ate and when You drank, did You not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?
7	Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?	Should You not have heard the words which the LORD cried out through the former prophets, when Jerusalem and her surrounding cities were inhabited and prosperous, and the south and the plain were inhabited?'"
8	And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying,	And the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying,
9	Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother:	"This is what the LORD of hosts says: Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassion every man to his brother.
10	And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.	Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the stranger or the poor. And let none of You devise evil against His brother in Your heart.
11	But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.	But they refused to listen, turned a stubborn shoulder, and stopped their ears so they would not hear.
12	Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.	They made their hearts hard as flint, so they would not hear the law and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from the LORD of hosts.
13	Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts:	Therefore it has come to pass that as He cried out, and they would not hear, so they cried out, and I would not hear, says the LORD of hosts.
14	But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.	But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they did not know. So the land was left desolate after them, with no one passing through or returning. For they laid the pleasant land desolate."