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

⁸ And the word of Yahweh came unto Zechariah, saying: ⁹ Thus, spake Yahweh of hosts, saying, - With true justice, give ye judgment, and, lovingkindness and compassions, observe ye, one with another; ¹⁰ And, the widow and the fatherless, the sojourner and the humbled, do not ye oppress, - and, wickedness between one man and another, do not ye devise in your hearts. ¹¹ Howbeit they refused to give heed, but put forth a rebellious shoulder, - and, their ears, made they hard of hearing, that they might not hear; ¹² and, their heart, turned they into adamant, that they might not hear the law, nor the words which Yahweh of hosts sent by his spirit, through the former prophets, - and so there came great wrath from Yahweh of hosts. ¹³ Therefore came it to pass that - just as he cried out and they hearkened not, so, used they to cry out, and I used not to hearken, saith Yahweh of hosts; ¹⁴ But I whirled them over all the nations whom they had not known, and, the land, was made desolate after them, that none passed through and returned, - Yea they made of a delightful land - a desolation.