8 Then Yahweh’s message came to Zekaryah: 9 “Army commander Yahweh says, ‘Judge with true justice, loyal commitment, and mercy. Let everyone do that for their neighbour. 10 Don’t oppress widows or orphans, foreigners or poor people, and none of you should plot any harm against another person, even in your mind.’

11 But they refused to pay attention, turning away stubbornly and blocking their ears so they couldn’t hear. 12 They made their hearts as hard as rock so they couldn’t hear the written law or army commander Yahweh’s contemporary messages. He’d sent those messages to the people by his spirit in earlier times through the words of the prophets, but the people refused to listen, so army commander Yahweh was very angry with them. 13 And so it was that when he called, they didn’t listen. In the same way,” said army commander Yahweh, “they’ll call out to me for help, but I won’t listen. 14 I’ll use a whirlwind to scatter them to other nations that they’ve never been to before. Then the land here will become desolate after they’ve gone because no one will pass through this land or return to it since the people have made their pleasant country into a wasteland.”