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Zechariah 7

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.”

Wycliffe WYC

1 And it is made in the fourth year of Darius, king, the word of the Lord was made to Zechariah, in the fourth day of the ninth month, that is Chisleu, that is, November. (And it was done in the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord was made to Zechariah, on the fourth day of the ninth month, that is Chisleu, or November.)

2 And Sherezer, and Regemmelech, and men that were with them, sent to the house of the Lord, for to pray the face of the Lord; (And Sherezer, and Regemmelech, and the men who were with them, sent word to the House of the Lord, for them to pray to the Lord;)

3 that they should say to priests of the house of the Lord of hosts, and to prophets, and speak, Whether it is to weep to me in the fifth month, either I shall hallow me, as I did now many years? (and so that they could ask the priests of the House of the Lord of hosts, and the prophets, Is it for me to weep and to consecrate, or to dedicate, myself in the fifth month, as I have done now for so many years?)

4 And the word of the Lord [of hosts] was made to me, and said,

5 Speak thou to all the people of the land, and to priests, and say thou, When ye fasted, and wailed in the fifth and seventh month(s), by these seventy years, whether ye fasted a fast to me? (Speak thou to all the people of the land, and to the priests, and say thou, When ye fasted, and wailed in the fifth month and in the seventh month, during those seventy years, did ye ever fast in honour of me?)

6 And when ye ate, and drank, whether ye ate not to you, and drank not to yourselves? (And when ye ate, and drank, did ye not eat, and drink, to please only yourselves?)

7 Whether the words of prophets be not, which the Lord spake in the hand of the former prophets, when yet Jerusalem was inhabited, and was full of riches, and it, and the cities thereof in compass thereof, and at the south and in field place was inhabited? (Were not these the words of the prophets, which the Lord spoke by the earlier prophets, or by the prophets of old, when Jerusalem was still inhabited, and was full of riches, and it, and the cities there all around it, and to the south, or in the Negeb, and on the lowlands, or on the Shephelah, were all inhabited?)

8 And the word of the Lord was made to Zechariah, and said,

9 The Lord of hosts saith these things, and speaketh, Deem ye true doom, and do ye mercy, and doings of mercy, each man with his brother. (The Lord of hosts speaketh these things, and saith, Judge ye with true justice, and do ye mercy, and doings of mercy, each man with his brother/each person with his neighbour.)

10 And do not ye falsely challenge a widow, and fatherless, either motherless, and comeling, and poor man; and a man think not in his heart evil to his brother. (And do not ye oppress a widow, or the fatherless, or the motherless, child, or a newcomer, that is, a stranger, or a poor person; and do not let anyone think evil in his heart against his brother, or against his neighbour.)

11 And they would not take heed, and they turned away the shoulder, and went away, and made heavy their ears (and closed their ears), lest they heard.

12 And they set their heart as an adamant (stone), lest they heard the law, and words which the Lord of hosts sent in his [holy] Spirit, by the hand of the former prophets; and great indignation was made of the Lord of hosts. (And they hardened their hearts like a stone, lest they heard the Law, and the words which the Lord of hosts sent by his Holy Spirit, by the earlier prophets, or by the prophets of old; and so the Lord of hosts had great indignation.)

13 And it is done, as he spake; and as they heard not, so they shall cry, and I shall not hear [them], saith the Lord of hosts. (And it is done, as he had said it would be; and because they did not listen to me, so now they shall cry, and I shall not hear them/and I shall not listen to them, saith the Lord of hosts.)

14 And I scattered them by all realms, which they knew not, and the land is desolate from them; for that there was not a man going and turning again, and they have put [the] desirable land into desert. (And I scattered them into all the kingdoms, which they did not know about, and the land was made empty of them; and because there was no one going forth, and returning, they have made, or turned, this most desirable land into a desert, or deserted and desolate.)