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 the Lord came unto Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, in Kislev;
2 And Beth-El sends Sherezer and Regem-Melech, and its men, to appease the face of YHWH,
When they had sent unto Beth-el Sherezer and Regem-melech, and his men, to make entreaty before the Lord.
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 say unto the priests who were in the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Shall I weep in the fifth month with abstinence, as I have done already these many years?
4 And there is a word of YHWH of Hosts to me, saying,
Then came the word of the Lord of hosts unto me, saying,
5 “Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying,
Say unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, as followeth, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh [month], already these seventy years, did ye in anywise fast for me, yea, for 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 if ye do eat, and if ye do drink, are ye not yourselves those that eat, and yourselves those that drink?
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 which the Lord hath proclaimed by means of the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, with her cities round about her, when [men] inhabited the south, and the lowlands?
8 And there is a word of YHWH to Zechariah, saying,
And the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, saying,
9 “Thus spoke YHWH of Hosts, saying, Judge [with] true judgment, And do kindness and mercy with one another.
Thus hath said the Lord of hosts, saying, Execute true justice, and show kindness and mercy every man to his brother;
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 defraud not the widow, or the fatherless, the stranger, or the poor; and imagine not evil in your heart one against the other.
11 And they refuse to attend, And they give a stubborn shoulder, And their ears are made heavy against hearing.
But they refused to listen, and turned away rebelliously the shoulder, and stopped their ears, so as not to 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 their heart they rendered as an adamant, so as not to hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent through his spirit, by means of the former prophets: wherefore came a great anger from the Lord 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 is come to pass, that as he proclaimed, and they would not hear: so had they to call, and I would not hear, saith the Lord 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 resolved to scatter them with a storm-wind among all the nations that they had not known; and the land was left desolate after them, without any one to pass through it forward or backward; and the pleasant land have they changed into a desert.
