Parallel Bible results for "Zechariah 7"

Zechariah 7

New Revised Standard w/ Apocrypha NRSA

1 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chislev.

2 Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and their men, to entreat the favor of the Lord,

3 and to ask the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts and the prophets, "Should I mourn and practice abstinence in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?"

4 Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me:

5 Say to all the people of the land and the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted?

6 And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink only for yourselves?

7 Were not these the words that the Lord proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, along with the towns around it, and when the Negeb and the Shephelah were inhabited?

8 The word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying:

9 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another;

10 do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.

11 But they refused to listen, and turned a stubborn shoulder, and stopped their ears in order not to hear.

12 They made their hearts adamant in order not to hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from the Lord of hosts.

13 Just as, when I called, they would not hear, so, when they called, I would not hear, says the Lord of hosts,

14 and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known. Thus the land they left was desolate, so that no one went to and fro, and a pleasant land was made desolate.

New International Version NIV

1 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev.

2 The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreat the LORD

3 by asking the priests of the house of the LORD Almighty and the prophets, “Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”

4 Then the word of the LORD Almighty came to me:

5 “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted?

6 And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?

7 Are these not the words the LORD proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?’ ”

8 And the word of the LORD came again to Zechariah:

9 “This is what the LORD Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.

10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’

11 “But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears.

12 They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD Almighty was very angry.

13 “ ‘When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the LORD Almighty.

14 ‘I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land they left behind them was so desolate that no one traveled through it. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.’ ”