Zechariah 7:9-14

Common English Bible

Make just and faithful decisions; show kindness and compassion to each other! ¹⁰ Don’t oppress the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the poor; don’t plan evil against each other! ¹¹ But they refused to pay attention. They turned a cold shoulder and stopped listening.

¹² They steeled their hearts against hearing the Instruction and the words that the Lord of heavenly forces sent by his spirit through the earlier prophets. As a result, the Lord of heavenly forces became enraged.

¹³ So just as he called and they didn’t listen, when they called, I didn’t listen, says the Lord of heavenly forces. ¹⁴ I scattered them throughout the nations whom they didn’t know. The land was devastated behind them, with no one leaving or returning. They turned a delightful land into a wasteland.