Zechariah 7

1 And it was in year four of Darius the king it came [the] word of Yahweh to Zechariah on [day] four of the month ninth in Kislev.

In the fourth year of King Darius, the LORD’s word came to Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev.

2 And it had sent Beth-el Shar-ezer and Regem-Melech and men his to entreat [the] face of Yahweh.

The people of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem Melech and their men to entreat the LORD’s favor,

3 To say to the priests who [belonged] to [the] house of Yahweh of hosts and to the prophets saying ¿ will I weep in the month fifth will I consecrate myself? just as I have done this how many? years.

and to speak to the priests of the house of the LORD of Hosts and to the prophets, saying, “Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?”

4 And it came [the] word of Yahweh of hosts to me saying.

Then the word of the LORD of Hosts came to me, saying,

5 Say to all [the] people of the land and to the priests saying that you fasted and you mourned in the fifth [month] and in the seventh [month] and this seventy year[s] ¿ really did you fast for me me.

“Speak to all the people of the land and to the priests, saying, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month for these seventy years, did you at all fast to me, really to me?

6 And if you eat and if you drink ¿ not [are] you the [ones who] eat and [are] you? the [ones who] drink.

When you eat and when you drink, don’t you eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?

7 ¿ Not [are] the words which he proclaimed Yahweh by [the] hand of the prophets former when was Jerusalem remaining and at ease and cities its around it and the Negev and the Shephelah [was] remaining.

Aren’t these the words which the LORD proclaimed by the former prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and its cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?’”

8 And it came [the] word of Yahweh to Zechariah saying.

The LORD’s word came to Zechariah, saying,

9 Thus he says Yahweh of hosts saying justice of faithfulness judge and loyalty and compassion do each with brother his.

“Thus has the LORD of Hosts spoken, saying, ‘Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother.

10 And [the] widow and [the] fatherless [the] sojourner and [the] poor may not you oppress and [the] harm of each brother his may not you plan in heart your.

Don’t oppress the widow, the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.’

11 And they refused to pay attention and they gave a shoulder stubborn and ears their they made heavy from hearing.

But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear.

12 And heart their they made flint from hearing the law and the words which he had sent Yahweh of hosts by spirit his by [the] hand of the prophets former and it was wrath great from with Yahweh of hosts.

Yes, they made their hearts as hard as flint, lest they might hear the law and the words which the LORD of Hosts had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from the LORD of Hosts.

13 And it was just as he called and not they listened so they called and not I listened he says Yahweh of hosts.

It has come to pass that, as he called and they refused to listen, so they will call and I will not listen,” said the LORD of Hosts;

14 And I will storm away them to all the nations which not they have known them and the land it was desolate behind them from [one who] passes by and from [one who] returns and they made a land of desire into a waste.

“but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through nor returned; for they made the pleasant land desolate.”