8The word of the LORD came to Zechariah: 9Thus says the LORD of hosts: Judge with true justice, and show kindness and compassion toward each other.^b 10Do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the resident alien or the poor;^* do not plot evil against one another in your hearts.^c 11But they refused to listen; they stubbornly turned their backs and stopped their ears so as not to hear.^d 12And they made their hearts as hard as diamond^e so as not to hear the instruction and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by his spirit through the earlier prophets. So great anger came from the LORD of hosts: 13Just as when I called out and they did not listen, so they will call out and I will not listen, says the LORD of hosts. 14And I will scatter them among all the nations that they do not know.^f So the land was left desolate behind them with no one moving about, and they made a pleasant land into a wasteland.

The True Disciple. 21“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,^* but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.ⁿ 22Many will say to me on that day,^o ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’^p 23Then I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you.^* Depart from me, you evildoers.’^q

The Two Foundations. 24^* “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.^r 25The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house.^s But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. 26And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. 27The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”

28^* When Jesus finished these words, the crowds were astonished at his teaching,