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 armies, and to the prophets, saying, “Shall I weep in the 6fifth month 7and fast, as I have done these many years?” 4Then the word of the Lord of armies 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? 6And when you eat and drink, 11do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? 7Are these not the words which the Lord 12proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and 13carefree along with its cities around it, and the 1415Negev and the 16foothills were inhabited?’”

8Then the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, 9“This is what the Lord of armies has said: ‘17Dispense true justice and practice 18kindness and compassion each to his brother; 10and 19do not oppress the widow or the 20orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do 21not devise evil in your hearts against one another.’