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.

In the fourth year of the reign of King Darius, on the fourth day of Chislev, the ninth month, the message of the Lord came to Zechariah.

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

The city of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and their men, to entreat the favour of 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 ask the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts, and the prophets ‘Should I continue to mourn in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done for many years?’

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

Then this message of the Lord of hosts came to me:

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

Tell all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month, for these seventy years, did you really fast 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?

When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

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?”

Wasn’t it this which the Lord proclaimed by the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, and her towns surrounding her and the Negreb and the Shephelah were inhabited?’

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

The Lord gave this message to Zechariah:

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

The Lord of hosts says, execute true judgments. Show kindness and mercy to each other.

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

Do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the resident foreigner or the poor. Let none of you devise evil against another in your hearts.

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 a stubborn shoulder, and stopped their ears so they wouldn’t 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.

They made their hearts as hard as stone so they wouldn’t accept the teaching and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his spirit through the earlier prophets. Great was the anger of 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.

I called and they would not hear, so they call and I do not hear, says 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!”

I scattered them by a whirlwind out among nations unknown to them. The land was left desolate behind them, with no one crossing or returning, for they made the pleasant land a desolation.