8. And the Lord spoke his word to Zechariah again, saying,
9. “This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: ‘Do what is right and true. Be kind and merciful to each other.
10. Don’t hurt widows and orphans, foreigners or the poor; don’t even think of doing evil to somebody else.’
11. “But they refused to pay attention; they were stubborn and did not want to listen anymore.
12. They made their hearts as hard as rock and would not listen to the teachings of the Lord All-Powerful. And they would not hear the words he sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord All-Powerful became very angry.
13. “ ‘When I called to them, they would not listen. So when they called to me, I would not listen,’ says the Lord All-Powerful.
14. ‘I scattered them like a hurricane to other countries they did not know. This good land was left so ruined behind them that no one could live there. They had made the desired land a ruin.’ ”