Zechariah 7
1 And it came to pass, in the fourth year of Darius the king, that the word of Yahweh came unto Zechariah, on the fourth of the ninth month, in Chisleu;
When Darius had been the emperor for almost four years, on December 7, Yahweh gave me [another] message.
2 yea when Bethel sent Sherezer and Regemmelech, and his men, —to pacify the face of Yahweh:
The people of Bethel [city] sent two men, Sharezer and Regem-Melech, along with some other men, [to the temple of Yahweh, the Commander of the armies of angels, ] to request that Yahweh bless them.
3 to speak unto the priests that pertained to the house of Yahweh of hosts, and unto the prophets, saying, —Shall I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?
They also asked the priests at Yahweh’s temple and the prophets [this question]: “For many years, during the fifth month [and during the seventh month of each year], we have mourned and (fasted/abstained from eating food). Should we [continue to do that]?”
4 Then came the word of Yahweh of hosts unto me, saying:
Then the Commander of the armies of angels gave me a message.
5 Speak thou unto all the people of the land, and unto the priests, saying, —When ye fasted and lamented in the fifth and in the seventh, even these seventy years, did ye, really fast, unto, me?
[He said], “Tell [RHQ] the priests and all the [other] people of Judah that during the past 70 years, when they mourned and fasted during the fifth and seventh months [of each year], it was not really [RHQ] me, [Yahweh], whom they were [honoring].
6 And, when ye used to eat and when ye used to drink, was it not, of your own accord, ye did eat, and, of your own accord, ye did drink?
And when they ate and drank, it was really [RHQ] to [benefit] themselves.
7 Should ye not [have been doing] the things which Yahweh, had proclaimed, by the hand of the former prophets, while yet Jerusalem was inhabited and in peace, with her cities round about her, —and the South and the Lowland were inhabited?
That is certainly [RHQ] what I continually told the former prophets to proclaim [to the people], when Jerusalem and the nearby towns were prosperous and filled with people, and people [also] lived in the desert area to the south and in the foothills [to the west].”
8 And the word of Yahweh came unto Zechariah, saying:
Yahweh gave another message to me, saying
9 Thus, spake Yahweh of hosts, saying, —With true justice, give ye judgment, and, lovingkindness and compassions, observe ye, one with another;
“[Tell the people that] this is what the Commander of the armies of angels says: ‘Do what is just/right, and act kindly and mercifully toward each other.
10 And, the widow and the fatherless, the sojourner and the humbled, do not ye oppress, —and, wickedness between one man and another, do not ye devise in your hearts.
Do not (oppress/treat cruelly) widows or orphans or foreigners or poor people. Do not even think about doing evil to anyone else.’”
11 Howbeit they refused to give heed, but put forth a rebellious shoulder, —and, their ears, made they hard of hearing, that they might not hear;
But the people refused to pay attention [to what Yahweh said]. They turned their backs [to him], and put their hands over their ears in order to not hear [what he said].
12 and, their heart, turned they into adamant, that they might not hear the law, nor the words which Yahweh of hosts sent by his spirit, through the former prophets, —and so there came great wrath from Yahweh of hosts.
They were very stubborn [IDM], and they would not listen to the laws [that God gave to Moses] or the messages that the Commander of the armies of angels told his Spirit to give to the prophets who were now dead. So the Commander of the armies of angels was very angry.
13 Therefore came it to pass that—just as he cried out and they hearkened not, so, used they to cry out, and I used not to hearken, saith Yahweh of hosts;
The Commander of the armies of angels says, “When I called/spoke [to the people], they would not listen. So when they called/prayed [to me], I did not listen.
14 But I whirled them over all the nations whom they had not known, and, the land, was made desolate after them, that none passed through and returned, —Yea they made of a delightful land—a desolation.
And I caused them to be scattered among many nations, where they were strangers. [It was as though] [MET] a whirlwind [picked them up and carried them away from their country]. The country/land that they [were forced to] leave was ruined, with the result that no one could [live there or even] travel through it. [It was previously] a delightful land, but they caused it to become (desolate/like a desert).”
