7Zechariah 7

CHAP. VII. / 1 The captiues enquire of fasting. 4 Zechariah reproueth their fasting. 8 Sinne the cause of their captiuitie.

1And it came to passe in the fourth yeere of King Darius, that the word of the Lord came vnto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth moneth, euen n Chisleu.Select Zechariah 7:1

2When they had sent vnto the house of God, Sherezer and Regem-melech, and their men to pray before the Lord,Select Zechariah 7:2

3And to speake vnto the priestes, which were in the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weepe in the fift moneth, separating my selfe, as I haue done these so many yeeres?Select Zechariah 7:3

4Then came the word of the Lord of hosts vnto me, saying,Select Zechariah 7:4

5Speake vnto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fift and seuenth moneth, euen those seuenty yeeres; did ye at all fast vnto me, euen to me?Select Zechariah 7:5

6And when ye did eat, and when ye did drinke, did not ye eat for your selues, and drinke for your selues?Select Zechariah 7:6

7Should yee not heare the wordes, which the Lord hath cried by the former Prophets, when Ierusalem was inhabited, and in prosperitie, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the South of the plaine?Select Zechariah 7:7

8And the word of the Lord came vnto Zechariah, saying;Select Zechariah 7:8

9Thus speaketh the Lord of hostes, saying, Execute true iudgement, and shew mercie and compassions euery man to his brother.Select Zechariah 7:9

10And oppresse not the widow, nor the fatherlesse, the stranger, nor the poore, and let none of you imagine euill against his brother in your heart.Select Zechariah 7:10

11But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their eares, that they should not heare.Select Zechariah 7:11

12Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should heare the Law, and the wordes which the Lord of hostes hath sent in his spirit by the former Prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hostes.Select Zechariah 7:12

13Therefore it is come to passe, that as he cried, and they would not heare, so they cried, and I would not heare, saith the Lord of hostes.Select Zechariah 7:13

14But I scattered them with a whirlewinde among all the nations, whom they knew not: thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through, nor returned: for they layed the pleasant land desolate.Select Zechariah 7:14