7:1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Daryavesh, [that] the Dvar YHWH (יהוה) came unto Zecharyahu (זכריהוּ ) in the fourth [day] of the ninth month, [even] in kislev;
7:2 When they had sent unto ha bayit Elohim (אלהים) Sherezer and Regem-melekh, and their men, to pray before YHWH (יהוה),
7:3 [And] to speak unto the kohenim which [were] in ha bayit YHWH (יהוה) Tzva'ot, and to ha Neviim, saying, "Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?"
7:4 Then came the Dvar YHWH (יהוה) Tzva'ot unto me, saying:
7:5 Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the kohenim, 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?
7:6 And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat [for yourselves], and drink [for yourselves]?
7:7 'Are not these Devarim which YHWH (יהוה) hath cried by the former nevi'im, when Yerushalayim was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when [men] inhabited the south and the plain?"
Disobedience resulted in Captivity
7:8 And the Dvar YHWH (יהוה) came unto Zecharyahu (זכריהוּ ), saying:
7:9 Thus speaketh YHWH (יהוה) Tzva'ot, saying:
"Shafat (execute) misphat Emet (truth), and shew chesed and rachamim every man to his brother:
7:10 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."
7:11 But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
7:12 Yea, they made their hearts [as] shamir (hard diamond stone), lest they should mishma'at (obey ) to the Torah, and the Devarim which YHWH (יהוה) Tzva'ot hath sent in his spirit by the former nevi'im: therefore came a great wrath from YHWH (יהוה) Tzva'ot.
7:13 Therefore it is come to pass, [that] as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not shema, saith YHWH (יהוה) Tzva'ot:
7:14 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.