Zechariah 7

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

And it cometh to pass, in the fourth year of Darius the king hath a word of Jehovah been unto Zechariah, in the fourth of the ninth month, in Chisleu.

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

And Beth-El sendeth Sherezer and Regem-Melech, and its men, to appease the face of Jehovah,

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

speaking unto the priests who [are] at the house of Jehovah of Hosts, and unto the prophets, saying, 'Do I weep in the fifth month — being separated — as I have done these so many years?'

4 Then the word of Yahweh of Armies came to me, saying,

And there is a word of Jehovah of Hosts unto me, saying:

5 “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?

'Speak unto all the people of the land, and unto the priests, saying:

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

When ye fasted with mourning in the fifth and in the seventh [months] — even these seventy years — did ye keep the fast [to] Me — Me? And when ye eat, and when ye drink, is it not ye who are eating, and ye who are drinking?

7 Aren’t these the words which Yahweh 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?’”

'Are not [these] the words that Jehovah proclaimed by the hand of the former prophets, in Jerusalem's being inhabited, and [in] safety, and its cities round about it, and the south and the plain — abiding?'

8 Yahweh’s word came to Zechariah, saying,

And there is a word of Jehovah unto Zechariah, saying:

9 “Thus has Yahweh of Armies spoken, saying, ‘Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother.

'Thus spake Jehovah of Hosts, saying: True judgment judge ye, And kindness and mercy do one with another.

10 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.’

And widow, and fatherless, Sojourner, and poor, ye do not oppress, And the calamity of one another ye do not devise in your heart.

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

And they refuse to attend, And they give a refractory shoulder, And their ears have made heavy against hearing.

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

And their heart they have made adamant, Against hearing the law, and the words, That Jehovah of Hosts sent by His Spirit, By the hand of the former prophets, And their is great wrath from Jehovah of Hosts.

13 It has come to pass that, as he called and they refused to listen, so they will call and I will not listen,” said Yahweh of Armies;

And it cometh to pass, as He called, And they have not hearkened, So do they call, and I do not hearken, Said Jehovah of Hosts.

14 “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.”

And I toss them on all the nations, That they have not known, The land hath been desolate behind them, Of any passing by and turning back, And they set a desirable land for a desolation!