4Then the word of the Lord of Armies came to me:

5“Ask all the people of the land and the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and in the seventh months for these seventy years, did you really fast for me?7:5 Is 58:1–7

6When you eat and drink, don’t you eat and drink simply for yourselves?7:6 1Co 10:31

7Aren’t these the words that the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and secure,7:7 Or prosperous along with its surrounding cities, and when the southern region and the Judean foothills were inhabited?”

8The word of the Lord came to Zechariah:

9“The Lord of Armies says this: ‘Make fair decisions.7:9 Ex 18:19–23; Zch 8:16 Show faithful love and compassion7:9 Jr 7:5–7; Hs 10:12; Mc 6:8 to one another.

10Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the resident alien or the poor,7:10 Dt 14:29; 16:11 and do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’7:10 Mt 22:39; Jms 3:5–6

11But they refused to pay attention7:11 Zch 1:4 and turned a stubborn shoulder; they closed their ears so they could not hear.7:11 Is 6:10

12They made their hearts like a rock so as not to obey the law or the words that the Lord of Armies had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets.7:12 Jr 7:13,24 Therefore intense anger came from the Lord of Armies.

13Just as he had called, and they would not listen, so when they called, I would not listen, says the Lord of Armies.

14I scattered them with a windstorm over all the nations that had not known them, and the land was left desolate behind them, with no one coming or going. They turned a pleasant land into a desolation.”