Zakkaariyaas 7
1 Bara Daariyoos Mootichaa keessa waggaa afuraffaatti, bultii afuraffaa jiʼa saglaffaa, jiʼa Kaaseluu jedhamu keessa dubbiin Waaqayyoo gara Zakkaariyaas dhufe.
The Lord sent a message to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev. This was during the fourth year of king Darius' reign.
2 Namoonni Beetʼeel akka isaan Waaqayyoon kadhataniif Sharezerii fi Reege-Meleekin namoota isaanii wajjin ergan;
Bethel-sharezer sent Regem-melech and his men to ask for the Lord's blessing.
3 kunis akka isaan, “Ani akkuman waggoota hedduu godhe sana ammas jiʼa shanaffaa keessa gaddee soomuu qabaa?” jedhanii luboota mana qulqullummaa Waaqayyo Waan Hunda Dandaʼuutii fi raajota gaafataniif.
They were to ask the priests of the Temple of the Lord Almighty and the prophets, “Should I go on mourning and fasting in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”
4 Dubbiin Waaqayyo Waan Hunda Dandaʼuu akkana jedhee gara koo dhufe;
The Lord Almighty sent a message to me saying,
5 “Uummata biyya kanaatii fi luboota hunda akkana jedhii gaafadhu; ‘Isin waggoota torbaataman darban yeroo jiʼa shanaffaa fi torbaffaa keessa soomtanii gadditanitti dhugumaan anaaf soomtanii?
Tell everyone in the land and the priests, when you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and the seventh month during these seventy years, was it really me you were fasting for?
6 Yeroo nyaattanii fi dhugdanittis ofuma keessaniif nyaattanii dhugdan mitii?
And when you eat and drink, don't you eat and drink for yourselves?
7 Dubbiin kun isa Waaqayyo gaafa Yerusaalemii fi magaalaawwan naannoo ishee nagaa fi badhaadhummaadhaan jiraatanitti, yeroo Negeebii fi gaarran lixaa bira namoonni jiraachaa turanitti karaa raajota isaa kanneen duriitiin dubbate mitii?’”
Isn't this what the Lord told you to do through the former prophets, when Jerusalem was prosperous and inhabited, and when people were living in the Negev and the Shephelah?
8 Dubbiin Waaqayyoo ammas akkana jedhee gara Zakkaariyaas dhufe:
The Lord Almighty sent another message to me.
9 “Waaqayyo Waan Hunda Dandaʼu akkana jedha: ‘Murtii qajeelaadhaan bulchaa; waliif araaramaa; garaas walii laafaa.
This is what the Lord says. Judge fairly and truthfully. Show mercy and kindness to one another.
10 Isin haadha hiyyeessaa yookaan ijoollee abbaa hin qabne yookaan alagaa yookaan hiyyeeyyii hin hacuucinaa. Garaa keessanitti hammina walitti hin yaadinaa.’
Don't exploit those who are widowed or fatherless, foreigners or the poor. Don't think up ways of mistreating one other.
11 “Isaan garuu dhagaʼuu didan; mataa jabinaanis dugda isaanii itti gatanii gurra isaanii cuqqaallatan.
But they refused to listen. They were obstinate, turning their backs and closing their ears.
12 Isaan garaa isaanii akkuma dhagaa jabeeffatanii seera yookaan dubbii Waaqayyo Waan Hunda Dandaʼu karaa raajota isaa kanneen duriitiin Hafuura isaatiin erge dhaggeeffachuu didan. Kanaafuu Waaqayyo Waan Hunda Dandaʼu akka malee aare.
They made their minds unreceptive, as hard as stone. They refused to listen to the law or to what the Lord Almighty told them by his Spirit through the former prophets. That's why the Lord Almighty became very angry with them.
13 “‘Yeroo ani waametti, isaan na hin dhaggeeffanne; kanaafuu yoo isaan na waammatan ani isaan hin dhaggeeffadhu’ jedha Waaqayyo Waan Hunda Dandaʼu.
So since they didn't listen when I called out to them, I wouldn't listen when they called out to me, says the Lord Almighty.
14 ‘Ani bubbeedhaan saba isaan hin beekne hunda gidduutti isaan nan bittinneesse. Biyyi isaanii hamma namni itti galuu fi keessaan darbu tokko iyyuu dhabamutti isaan booddee ni onte. Isaan akkasiin biyya namatti toltu sana onsan.’”
With the winds of a storm I scattered them among the nations where they lived as foreigners. The land they left became so desolate that no one even traveled through it. They turned the Promised Land into a desert.
