7 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 ^(A)Chislev. ² Now the town of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regemmelech and ^[a]their men to ^[b](B)seek the favor of the Lord, ³ speaking to the ^(C)priests who belong to the house of the Lord of armies, and to the prophets, saying, “Shall I weep in the ^(D)fifth month ^[c]and fast, as I have done these many years?” ⁴ Then the word of the Lord of armies came to me, saying, ⁵ “Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months ^[d]these ^(E)seventy years, was it actually for ^(F)Me that you fasted? ⁶ And when you eat and drink, ^[e]do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? ⁷ Are these not the words which the Lord ^(G)proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and ^(H)carefree along with its cities around it, and the ^[f](I)Negev and the ^[g]foothills were inhabited?’”

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, ⁹ “This is what the Lord of armies has said: ‘^(J)Dispense true justice and practice ^(K)kindness and compassion each to his brother; ¹⁰ and ^(L)do not oppress the widow or the ^[h]orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do ^(M)not devise evil in your hearts against one another.’ ¹¹ But they ^(N)refused to pay attention, and ^[i](O)turned a stubborn shoulder and ^[j](P)plugged their ears from hearing. ¹² They also made their ^(Q)hearts as hard as ^(R)a diamond ^[k]so that they could not hear the Law and the ^(S)words which the Lord of armies had sent by His Spirit through the ^(T)former prophets; therefore great ^(U)wrath came from the Lord of armies. ¹³ And just as ^(V)He called and they would not listen, so ^(W)they called and I would not listen,” says the Lord of armies; ¹⁴ “but I ^[l](X)scattered them with a ^(Y)storm wind among all the nations whom they did not know. So the land was ^(Z)desolated behind them ^[m]so that ^(AA)no one went back and forth, since they ^(AB)made the pleasant land desolate.”