The fast that does not please God - Zechariah 7

The fast that does not please God

1 - And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Kislev.

2 - And when the people sent Zarezer and Rennenmelech and his men into the house of God to entreat the favor of the LORD,

3 - And to say unto the priests that were in the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, I will weep in the fifth month, and do abstinence, as I have done for so many years?

4 - And the word of the LORD of hosts came unto me, saying,

5 Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month, during these seventy years, was it really for me that ye fasted?

6 - Or when thou didst eat, and when thou didst drink, was it not for thyself to eat and drink?

7 - Were not these the words which the LORD preached by the ministry of the first prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in peace, with its cities round about it, and the south and the plain were inhabited?

8 - And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying,

9 - Thus saith the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, show mercy and mercy, every man to his brother.

10 And do not oppress the widow, or the fatherless, or the stranger, or the poor, neither let every man try evil in his heart against his brother.

11 - But they would not hearken, and gave me a rebellious shoulder, and their ears deafened, that they should not hear.

12 - Yea, they made their hearts as a diamond stone, that they would not hear the law, nor the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the first prophets; from there came the great wrath of the LORD of hosts.

13 - And it came to pass, as he cried, and they hearkened not, they also cried, and I hearkened not, saith the Lord of hosts.

14 - And I have scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they knew not, and the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed by it, nor turned; because they have made the desired land desolate.