Zechariah 7
1 When Darius had been the emperor for almost four years, on December 7, Yahweh gave me [another] message.
ダリヨス王の第四年の九月、すなわちキスリウという月の四日に、主の言葉がゼカリヤに臨んだ。
2 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.
その時ベテルの人々は、シャレゼル、レゲン・メレクおよびその従者をつかわして、主の恵みを請い、
3 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]?”
かつ万軍の主の宮にいる祭司に問わせ、かつ預言者に問わせて言った、「わたしは今まで、多年おこなってきたように、五月に泣き悲しみ、かつ断食すべきでしょうか」。
4 Then the Commander of the armies of angels gave me a message.
この時、万軍の主の言葉がわたしに臨んだ、
5 [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].
「地のすべての民、および祭司に告げて言いなさい、あなたがたが七十年の間、五月と七月とに断食し、かつ泣き悲しんだ時、はたして、わたしのために断食したか。
6 And when they ate and drank, it was really [RHQ] to [benefit] themselves.
あなたがたが食い飲みする時、それは全く自分のために食い、自分のために飲むのではないか。
7 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].”
昔エルサレムがその周囲の町々と共に、人が住み、栄えていた時、また南の地および平野にも、人が住んでいた時に、さきの預言者たちによって、主がお告げになった言葉は、これらの事ではなかったか」。
8 Yahweh gave another message to me, saying
主の言葉が、またゼカリヤに臨んだ、
9 “[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.
「万軍の主はこう仰せられる、真実のさばきを行い、互に相いつくしみ、相あわれみ、
10 Do not (oppress/treat cruelly) widows or orphans or foreigners or poor people. Do not even think about doing evil to anyone else.’”
やもめ、みなしご、寄留の他国人および貧しい人を、しえたげてはならない。互に人を害することを、心に図ってはならない」。
11 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].
ところが、彼らは聞くことを拒み、肩をそびやかし、耳を鈍くして聞きいれず、
12 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.
その心を金剛石のようにして、万軍の主がそのみたまにより、さきの預言者によって伝えられた、律法と言葉とに聞き従わなかった。それゆえ、大いなる怒りが、万軍の主から出て、彼らに臨んだのである。
13 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.
「わたしが呼ばわったけれども、彼らは聞こうとしなかった。そのとおりに、彼らが呼ばわっても、わたしは聞かない」と万軍の主は仰せられる。
14 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).”
「わたしは、つむじ風をもって、彼らを未知のもろもろの国民の中に散らした。こうして彼らが去った後、この地は荒れて行き来する者もなく、この麗しい地は荒れ地となったのである」。
