Parallel Bible results for "zechariah 7"

Zechariah 7

New Century Version NCV

1 In the fourth year Darius was king, on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is called Kislev, the Lord spoke his word to Zechariah.

2 The city of Bethel sent Sharezer, Regem-Melech, and their men to ask the Lord a question.

3 They went to the prophets and priests who were at the Temple of the Lord All-Powerful. The men said, "For years in the fifth month of each year we have shown our sadness and gone without food. Should we continue to do this?"

4 The Lord All-Powerful spoke his word to me, saying,

5 "Tell the priests and the people in the land: 'For seventy years you went without food and cried in the fifth and seventh months, but that was not really for me.

6 And when you ate and drank, it was really for yourselves.

7 The Lord used the earlier prophets to say the same thing, when Jerusalem and the surrounding towns were at peace and wealthy, and people lived in the southern area and the western hills.'"

8 And the Lord spoke his word to Zechariah again, saying,

9 "This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: 'Do what is right and true. Be kind and merciful to each other.

10 Don't hurt widows and orphans, foreigners or the poor; don't even think of doing evil to somebody else.'

11 "But they refused to pay attention; they were stubborn and did not want to listen anymore.

12 They made their hearts as hard as rock and would not listen to the teachings of the Lord All-Powerful. And they would not hear the words he sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord All-Powerful became very angry.

13 "'When I called to them, they would not listen. So when they called to me, I would not listen,' says the Lord All-Powerful.

14 'I scattered them like a hurricane to other countries they did not know. This good land was left so ruined behind them that no one could live there. They had made the desired land a ruin.'"

New Living Translation NLT

1 On December 7 of the fourth year of King Darius’s reign, another message came to Zechariah from the LORD .

2 The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regemmelech, along with their attendants, to seek the LORD ’s favor.

3 They were to ask this question of the prophets and the priests at the Temple of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies: “Should we continue to mourn and fast each summer on the anniversary of the Temple’s destruction, as we have done for so many years?”

4 The LORD of Heaven’s Armies sent me this message in reply:

5 “Say to all your people and your priests, ‘During these seventy years of exile, when you fasted and mourned in the summer and in early autumn, was it really for me that you were fasting?

6 And even now in your holy festivals, aren’t you eating and drinking just to please yourselves?

7 Isn’t this the same message the LORD proclaimed through the prophets in years past when Jerusalem and the towns of Judah were bustling with people, and the Negev and the foothills of Judah were well populated?’”

8 Then this message came to Zechariah from the LORD :

9 “This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: Judge fairly, and show mercy and kindness to one another.

10 Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and the poor. And do not scheme against each other.

11 “Your ancestors refused to listen to this message. They stubbornly turned away and put their fingers in their ears to keep from hearing.

12 They made their hearts as hard as stone, so they could not hear the instructions or the messages that the LORD of Heaven’s Armies had sent them by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. That is why the LORD of Heaven’s Armies was so angry with them.

13 “Since they refused to listen when I called to them, I would not listen when they called to me, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

14 As with a whirlwind, I scattered them among the distant nations, where they lived as strangers. Their land became so desolate that no one even traveled through it. They turned their pleasant land into a desert.”