Zechariah 7

1 The Lord sent a message to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev. This was during the fourth year of king Darius' reign.

Ɔhene Dario adedi mfe anan so no, Awurade asɛm baa Sakaria nkyɛn ɔsram a ɛto so akron a wɔfrɛ no Kislev no da ɛto so anan no mu.

2 Bethel-sharezer sent Regem-melech and his men to ask for the Lord's blessing.

Na Bet-Elfo asoma Sareser ne Regem-Melek ne wɔn mmarima sɛ wɔnkɔsrɛ Awurade.

3 They were to ask the priests of the Temple of the Lord Almighty and the prophets, “Should I go on mourning and fasting in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”

Wɔmfa asɔfo a wɔwɔ Asafo Awurade fi ne adiyifo so mmisa se, “Menkɔ so ntwa adwo, nni mmuada wɔ ɔsram a ɛto so anum no mu, sɛnea mayɛ no mfe bebree a atwa mu no ana?”

4 The Lord Almighty sent a message to me saying,

Afei Asafo Awurade asɛm baa me nkyɛn se,

5 Tell everyone in the land and the priests, when you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and the seventh month during these seventy years, was it really me you were fasting for?

“Bisa asase no so nnipa nyinaa ne asɔfo no se, ‘Mfe aduɔson a atwam no, sɛ mudii mmuada na mutwaa adwo wɔ asram anum ne ason so no, na ɛyɛ ampa sɛ me nti na mudi mmuada no ana?

6 And when you eat and drink, don't you eat and drink for yourselves?

Bere a mudidi na monom no, na ɛnyɛ mo ara na moyɛ de gye mo ani ana?

7 Isn't this what the Lord told you to do through the former prophets, when Jerusalem was prosperous and inhabited, and when people were living in the Negev and the Shephelah?

Ɛnyɛ saa nsɛm yi ara na Awurade faa kan adiyifo so paee mu kae, wɔ bere a Yerusalem ne nkurow a atwa ne ho ahyia no wɔ asomdwoe ne nkɔso no, bere a na nnipa akɔtena Negeb ne atɔe fam nkoko no so ana?’”

8 The Lord Almighty sent another message to me.

Na Awurade asɛm baa Sakaria nkyɛn bio:

9 This is what the Lord says. Judge fairly and truthfully. Show mercy and kindness to one another.

“Sɛɛ na Asafo Awurade se, ‘Mummu atɛn a ɛyɛ nokware na munnya ahummɔbɔ ne ayamhyehye mma mo ho mo ho.

10 Don't exploit those who are widowed or fatherless, foreigners or the poor. Don't think up ways of mistreating one other.

Monnhyɛ akunafo, ayisaa, ahɔho ne ahiafo so. Monnnwene bɔne mo koma mu mma mo ho mo ho.’

11 But they refused to listen. They were obstinate, turning their backs and closing their ears.

“Nanso wɔantie; wɔde asoɔden dan wɔn akyi na wosisiw wɔn aso.

12 They made their minds unreceptive, as hard as stone. They refused to listen to the law or to what the Lord Almighty told them by his Spirit through the former prophets. That's why the Lord Almighty became very angry with them.

Wɔyɛɛ wɔn koma den sɛ ɔtwɛrebo, na wɔantie mmara anaa nsɛm a Asafo Awurade nam ne Honhom so de somaa kan adiyifo no. Ɛno nti, Asafo Awurade bo fuw yiye.

13 So since they didn't listen when I called out to them, I wouldn't listen when they called out to me, says the Lord Almighty.

“‘Mefrɛe no, wɔannye me so, enti wɔfrɛ a merennye wɔn so,’ sɛnea Asafo Awurade se ni.

14 With the winds of a storm I scattered them among the nations where they lived as foreigners. The land they left became so desolate that no one even traveled through it. They turned the Promised Land into a desert.

‘Mede mfɛtɛ bɔɔ wɔn petee aman nyinaa so ma wɔkɔyɛɛ ahɔho wɔ hɔ. Asase a wogyaw no daa mpan a obiara ntwa mu wɔ hɔ. Sɛɛ na wɔyɛ maa asase fɛfɛɛfɛ no sɛee.’”