Zechariah 7

1 When Darius had been the emperor for almost four years, on December 7, Yahweh gave me [another] message.

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.

2 The people of Bethel [city] sent two men, Sharezer and Regem-Melech, along with some other men, [to the temple of Yahweh, the Commander of the armies of angels, ] to request that Yahweh bless them.

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

3 They also asked the priests at Yahweh’s temple and the prophets [this question]: “For many years, during the fifth month [and during the seventh month of each year], we have mourned and (fasted/abstained from eating food). Should we [continue to do that]?”

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.

4 Then the Commander of the armies of angels gave me a message.

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

5 [He said], “Tell [RHQ] the priests and all the [other] people of Judah that during the past 70 years, when they mourned and fasted during the fifth and seventh months [of each year], it was not really [RHQ] me, [Yahweh], whom they were [honoring].

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.

6 And when they ate and drank, it was really [RHQ] to [benefit] themselves.

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

7 That is certainly [RHQ] what I continually told the former prophets to proclaim [to the people], when Jerusalem and the nearby towns were prosperous and filled with people, and people [also] lived in the desert area to the south and in the foothills [to the west].”

¿ 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.

8 Yahweh gave another message to me, saying

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

9 “[Tell the people that] this is what the Commander of the armies of angels says: ‘Do what is just/right, and act kindly and mercifully toward each other.

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

10 Do not (oppress/treat cruelly) widows or orphans or foreigners or poor people. Do not even think about doing evil to anyone else.’”

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.

11 But the people refused to pay attention [to what Yahweh said]. They turned their backs [to him], and put their hands over their ears in order to not hear [what he said].

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

12 They were very stubborn [IDM], and they would not listen to the laws [that God gave to Moses] or the messages that the Commander of the armies of angels told his Spirit to give to the prophets who were now dead. So the Commander of the armies of angels was very angry.

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.

13 The Commander of the armies of angels says, “When I called/spoke [to the people], they would not listen. So when they called/prayed [to me], I did not listen.

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

14 And I caused them to be scattered among many nations, where they were strangers. [It was as though] [MET] a whirlwind [picked them up and carried them away from their country]. The country/land that they [were forced to] leave was ruined, with the result that no one could [live there or even] travel through it. [It was previously] a delightful land, but they caused it to become (desolate/like a desert).”

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.