A Call for Justice and Mercy
1 [ch. 1:1,7] 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 Neh. 1:1Chislev. 2 Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and their men ch. 8:21,22;1 Sam. 13:12;Mal. 1:9to entreat the favor of the Lord, 3 Mal. 2:7saying to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts and ch. 8:9;[Ezra 5:1;6:14] the prophets, "Should I weep and [ch. 12:12] abstain in ch. 8:19;[2 Kgs. 25:8]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 [See ver. 3above] the fifth month and in [2 Kgs. 25:25] the seventh, for these See ch. 1:12seventy years, [Isa. 58:4,5]was it [Isa. 58:4,5]for me that you fasted? 6 [1 Cor. 11:20,21]And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? 7 [ch. 1:5,6] Were not these the words that the Lord proclaimed ver. 12by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, Jer. 17:26with her cities around her, and the Jer. 17:26South and the Jer. 17:26lowland were inhabited?’"
8 And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, 9 "Thus says the Lord of hosts, Isa. 1:17;Jer. 21:12;Mic. 6:8;[Matt. 23:23]Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, 10 Isa. 1:23;Jer. 5:28;See Ex. 22:21,22do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, Prov. 22:22or the poor, and ch. 8:17let none of you devise evil against another in your heart." 11 But ch. 1:4they refused to pay attention Neh. 9:29and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear.7:11 Hebrew and made their ears too heavy to hear12 [Ezek. 11:19;36:26] They made their hearts diamond-hard [Neh. 9:30] lest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent [Neh. 9:30] by his Spirit through ver. 7the former prophets. [2 Chr. 36:16;1 Thess. 2:16]Therefore great anger came from the Lord of hosts. 13 [Isa. 1:15;Jer. 11:11]; See Prov. 1:24-28"As I7:13 Hebrew he called, and they would not hear, [Isa. 1:15;Jer. 11:11]; See Prov. 1:24-28so they called, and I would not hear," says the Lord of hosts, 14 [ch. 2:6] "and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all See Deut. 28:33the nations that they had not known. Ezek. 12:19Thus the land they left was desolate, ch. 9:8;[Zeph. 3:6] so that no one went to and fro, [Jer. 7:34]and the pleasant land was made desolate."
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