Zechariah 7
1 And it cometh to pass, in the fourth year of Darius the king hath a word of Jehovah been unto 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 sendeth Sherezer and Regem-Melech, and its men, to appease the face of Jehovah,
When they had sent unto Beth-el Sherezer and Regem-melech, and his men, to make entreaty before the Lord.
3 speaking unto the priests who [are] at the house of Jehovah of Hosts, and unto 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 Jehovah of Hosts unto me, saying:
Then came the word of the Lord of hosts unto me, saying,
5 'Speak unto all the people of the land, and unto 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 ye fasted with mourning in the fifth and in the seventh [months] — even these seventy years — did ye keep the fast [to] Me — Me? And when ye eat, and when ye drink, is it not ye who are eating, and ye 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 not [these] the words that Jehovah proclaimed by the hand of the former prophets, in Jerusalem's being inhabited, and [in] safety, and its cities round about 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 Jehovah unto Zechariah, saying:
And the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, saying,
9 'Thus spake Jehovah of Hosts, saying: True judgment judge ye, And kindness and mercy do one with another.
Thus hath said the Lord of hosts, saying, Execute true justice, and show kindness and mercy every man to his brother;
10 And widow, and fatherless, Sojourner, and poor, ye do not oppress, And the calamity of one another ye do not devise 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 refractory shoulder, And their ears have 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 Jehovah of Hosts sent by His Spirit, By the hand of the former prophets, And their is great wrath from Jehovah 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 cometh to pass, as He called, And they have not hearkened, So do they call, and I do not hearken, Said Jehovah 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 hath 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.
