The People’s Hard Hearts

7 Now it happened that in the fourth year of King Darius, the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is ^(A)Chislev. ² And the town of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regemmelech and ^[a]their men to ^[b](B)entreat the favor of Yahweh, ³ speaking to the ^(C)priests, who belong to the house of Yahweh of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, “Shall I weep in the ^(D)fifth month ^[c]and abstain, as I have done these many years?” ⁴ Then the word of Yahweh of hosts came to me, saying, ⁵ “Speak to all the people of the land and to the priests, saying, ‘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 when you drink, ^[e]are you not eating for yourselves and are you not drinking for yourselves? ⁷ Are not these the words which Yahweh ^(G)called out by the hand of the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and ^(H)at ease along with its cities around it, and the ^[f](I)Negev and the ^[g]Shephelah were inhabited?’”

⁸ Then the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah saying, ⁹ “Thus has Yahweh of hosts said, ‘^(J)Judge with true justice and show ^(K)lovingkindness and compassion each to his brother; ¹⁰ and ^(L)do not oppress the widow or the ^[h]orphan, the sojourner or the afflicted; and do ^(M)not devise evil in your hearts against one another.’ ¹¹ But they ^(N)refused to give heed and ^[i](O)turned a stubborn shoulder and ^[j](P)dulled their ears from hearing. ¹² And they made their ^(Q)hearts ^[k](R)diamond-hard ^[l]so that they could not hear the law and the ^(S)words which Yahweh of hosts had sent by His Spirit by the hand of the ^(T)former prophets; therefore great ^(U)wrath came from Yahweh of hosts. ¹³ And it happened that just as ^(V)He called and they would not listen, so ^(W)they called and I would not listen,” says Yahweh of hosts; ¹⁴ “but I ^[m](X)scattered them with a ^(Y)storm wind among all the nations whom they have not known. Thus the land is ^(Z)desolated behind them ^[n]so that ^(AA)no one was passing through and returning, for they ^(AB)made the pleasant land desolate.”