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 adedie mfeɛ ɛnan so no, Awurade asɛm baa Sakaria nkyɛn ɔbosome a ɛtɔ so nkron a wɔfrɛ no Kislew no ɛda ɛtɔ so ɛnan no mu.

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

Na Bet-Elfoɔ 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 asɔfoɔ a wɔwɔ Asafo Awurade fie ne adiyifoɔ so mmisa sɛ, “Menkɔ so ntwa adwo, nni abuada wɔ ɔbosome a ɛtɔ so enum no mu, sɛdeɛ mayɛ no mfeɛ bebree a atwam no anaa?”

4 The Lord Almighty sent a message to me saying,

Afei Asafo Awurade asɛm baa me nkyɛn sɛ,

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 asɔfoɔ no sɛ, ‘Mfeɛ aduɔson a atwam no, sɛ modi abuada na motwa adwo wɔ abosome enum ne nsom mu a, na ɛyɛ ampa sɛ me enti na modi abuada no anaa?

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

Ɛberɛ a modidi na monom no, na ɛnyɛ mo ara na moyɛ de gye mo ani anaa?

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 kane adiyifoɔ so paee mu kaaeɛ, wɔ ɛberɛ a Yerusalem ne nkuro a atwa ne ho ahyia no wɔ asomdwoeɛ ne mpontuo no, ɛberɛ a na nnipa akɔtena Negeb ne atɔeɛ fam nkokoɔ no so anaa?’”

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.

“Yei ne deɛ Asafo Awurade seɛ, ‘Mommu atɛn a ɛyɛ nokorɛ na monnya ahummɔborɔ ne ayamhyehyeɛ 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 akunafoɔ, nwisiaa, ahɔhoɔ ne ahiafoɔ so. Monnnwene bɔne mo akoma mu mma mo ho mo ho.’

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

“Nanso wɔanntie; wɔde asobrakyeɛ danee wɔn akyi na wɔsisii 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 akoma den sɛ twerɛboɔ, na wɔantie mmara anaa nsɛm a Asafo Awurade nam ne Honhom so de somaa kane adiyifoɔ no. Ɛno enti, Asafo Awurade bo fuu yie.

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.

“‘Mefrɛeɛ no, wɔannye me so, enti wɔfrɛ a merennye wɔn so,’ sɛdeɛ Asafo Awurade seɛ nie.

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 ntwahoframa bɔɔ wɔn petee aman nyinaa so ma wɔkɔyɛɛ ahɔhoɔ wɔ hɔ. Asase a wogyaaɛ no daa mpan a obiara ntwa mu wɔ hɔ. Sei na wɔyɛ maa asase fɛfɛɛfɛ no sɛeɛ.’”