Zechariah 7

1 And it comes to pass, in the fourth year of Darius the king, a word of YHWH has been to Zechariah, in the fourth of the ninth month, in Chisleu.

And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of Jehovah came unto Zechariah on the fourth [day] of the ninth month, [even] in Chislev,

2 And Beth-El sends Sherezer and Regem-Melech, and its men, to appease the face of YHWH,

when Bethel had sent Sherezer and Regem-melech, and his men, to supplicate Jehovah,

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

[and] to speak unto the priests that were in the house of Jehovah of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done now so many years?

4 And there is a word of YHWH of Hosts to me, saying,

And the word of Jehovah of hosts came unto me, saying,

5 “Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying,

Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh [month], even those seventy years, did ye really fast unto me, [even] unto me?

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

And when ye ate, and when ye drank, was it not you that were eating and drinking?

7 Are [these] not the words that YHWH proclaimed by the hand of the former prophets, in Jerusalem’s being inhabited, and [in] safety, and its cities around it, and the south and the plain—abiding?”

Are not these the words that Jehovah cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and at peace, and her cities round about her, when the south and the lowland were inhabited?

8 And there is a word of YHWH to Zechariah, saying,

And the word of Jehovah came unto Zechariah, saying,

9 “Thus spoke YHWH of Hosts, saying, Judge [with] true judgment, And do kindness and mercy with one another.

Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew loving-kindness and mercies one to another,

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

and oppress not the widow and the fatherless, the stranger and the afflicted; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.

11 And they refuse to attend, And they give a stubborn shoulder, And their ears are made heavy against hearing.

But they refused to hearken, and turned a rebellious shoulder, and made their ears heavy, that they should not hear.

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

And they made their heart [as] an adamant, that they should not hear the law, and the words that Jehovah of hosts sent by his Spirit by the hand of the former prophets: therefore was there great wrath from Jehovah of hosts.

13 And it comes to pass, as He called, And they have not listened, So they call, and I do not listen,” said YHWH of Hosts.

And it came to pass, like as he called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear, saith Jehovah of hosts;

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

and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not, and the land was desolate after them, so that no one passed through nor returned; and they laid the pleasant land desolate.