Zechariah 7:8-14 - Disobedience, The Cause Of Exile

⁸ And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying, ⁹ Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassion every man to his brother: ¹⁰ And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the sojourner, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart. ¹¹ But they refused to hearken, and shrugged the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. ¹² Yea, they made their hearts as a flint stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts has sent by his Spirit through the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts. ¹³ Therefore it has come to pass, that just as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, says the LORD of hosts: ¹⁴ But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land became desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they made the pleasant land desolate.