Zechariah 7:1-10

1In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is 1Chislev. 2Now the town of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regemmelech and 2their men to 34seek the favor of the Lord, 3speaking to the 5priests who belong to the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, “Shall I weep in the 6fifth month 7and abstain, as I have done these many years?” 4Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, 5“Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months 8these 9seventy years, was it actually for 10Me that you fasted? 6When you eat and drink, 11do you not eat for yourselves and do you not drink for yourselves? 7Are not these the words which the Lord 12proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and 1314prosperous along with its cities around it, and the 1516Negev and the 17foothills were inhabited?’”

8Then the word of the Lord came to Zechariah saying, 9“Thus has the Lord of hosts said, ‘18Dispense true justice and practice 19kindness and compassion each to his brother; 10and 20do not oppress the widow or the 21orphan, the 22stranger or the poor; and do 23not devise evil in your hearts against one another.’