Zechariah 7:3-10

3They asked the priests from the house of the Lord of Armies as well as the prophets, “Should we mourn and fast in the fifth month as we have done for so many years?”

4Then the Lord of Armies spoke his word to me. He said,

5“Tell all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these past 70 years, did you really do it for me?

6When you ate and drank, didn’t you do it to benefit yourselves?

7Aren’t these the same words that the Lord announced through the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem and its surrounding cities were inhabited and undisturbed and the Negev and the foothills were still inhabited?’ ”

8Then the Lord spoke his word to Zechariah. He said,

9“This is what the Lord of Armies says: Administer real justice, and be compassionate and kind to each other.

10Don’t oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and poor people. And don’t even think of doing evil to each other.