< Zechariah 7 >

1 and to be in/on/with year four to/for Darius [the] king to be word LORD to(wards) Zechariah in/on/with four to/for month [the] ninth in/on/with Chislev
When Darius had been the emperor for almost four years, on December 7, Yahweh gave me [another] message.
2 and to send: depart Bethel Bethel Sharezer Sharezer and Regem-melech Regem-melech and human his to/for to beg [obj] face of LORD
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/for to say to(wards) [the] priest which to/for house: temple LORD Hosts and to(wards) [the] prophet to/for to say to weep in/on/with month [the] fifth to dedicate like/as as which to make: do this like/as what? year
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 and to be word LORD Hosts to(wards) me to/for to say
Then the Commander of the armies of angels gave me a message.
5 to say to(wards) all people [the] land: country/planet and to(wards) [the] priest to/for to say for to fast and to mourn in/on/with fifth and in/on/with seventh and this seventy year to fast to fast me I
[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 for to eat and for to drink not you(m. p.) [the] to eat and you(m. p.) [the] to drink
And when they ate and drank, it was really [RHQ] to [benefit] themselves.
7 not [obj] [the] word which to call: call out LORD in/on/with hand: by [the] prophet [the] first: previous in/on/with to be Jerusalem to dwell and at ease and city her around her and [the] Negeb and [the] Shephelah to dwell
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 to be word LORD to(wards) Zechariah to/for to say
Yahweh gave another message to me, saying
9 thus to say LORD Hosts to/for to say justice: judgement truth: true to judge and kindness and compassion to make: do man: anyone with brother: compatriot his
“[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 widow and orphan sojourner and afflicted not to oppress and distress: evil man: anyone brother: compatriot his not to devise: devise in/on/with heart your
Do not (oppress/treat cruelly) widows or orphans or foreigners or poor people. Do not even think about doing evil to anyone else.’”
11 and to refuse to/for to listen and to give: put shoulder to rebel and ear their to honor: dull from to hear: 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 heart their to set: make thorn from to hear: hear [obj] [the] instruction and [obj] [the] word which to send: depart LORD Hosts in/on/with spirit his in/on/with hand: by [the] prophet [the] first: previous and to be wrath great: large from with LORD 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 and to be like/as as which to call: call to and not to hear: hear so to call: call to and not to hear: hear to say LORD 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 and to rage them upon all [the] nation which not to know them and [the] land: country/planet be desolate: destroyed after them from to pass and from to return: repent and to set: make land: country/planet desire to/for horror: destroyed
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).”

< Zechariah 7 >