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A Call for Justice and Mercy

^1 (a)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 ^(b)Chislev. ² Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and their men ^(c)to entreat the favor of the Lord, ^3 (d)saying to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts and ^(e)the prophets, "Should I weep and ^(f)abstain in ^(g)the 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 ^(h)the fifth month and in ⁽ⁱ⁾the seventh, for these ^(j)seventy years, ^(k)was it ^(l)for me that you fasted? ^6 (m)And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? ^7 (n)Were not these the words that the Lord proclaimed ^(o)by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, ^(p)with her cities around her, and the ^(q)South and the ^(r)lowland were inhabited?'"

⁸ And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, ⁹ "Thus says the Lord of hosts, ^(s)Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, ^10 (t)do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, ^(u)or the poor, and ^(v)let none of you devise evil against another in your heart." ¹¹ But ^(w)they refused to pay attention ^(x)and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear.^{[a] 12 (y)}They made their hearts diamond-hard ^(z)lest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent ^(aa)by his Spirit through ^(ab)the former prophets. ^(ac)Therefore great anger came from the Lord of hosts. ^13 (ad)"As I^[b] called, and they would not hear, ^(ae)so they called, and I would not hear," says the Lord of hosts, ^14 (af)"and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all ^(ag)the nations that they had not known. ^(ah)Thus the land they left was desolate, ^(ai)so that no one went to and fro, ^(aj)and the pleasant land was made desolate."