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

⁸ And the word of Jehovah came unto Zechariah, saying, ⁹ Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew loving-kindness and mercies one to another, ¹⁰ and oppress not the widow and the fatherless, the stranger and the afflicted; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart. ¹¹ But they refused to hearken, and turned a rebellious shoulder, and made their ears heavy, that they should not hear. ¹² And they made their heart as an adamant, that they should not hear the law, and the words that Jehovah of hosts sent by his Spirit by the hand of the former prophets: therefore was there great wrath from Jehovah of hosts. ¹³ And it came to pass, like as he called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear, saith Jehovah of hosts; ¹⁴ and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not, and the land was desolate after them, so that no one passed through nor returned; and they laid the pleasant land desolate.