Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible RHE
GOD'S WORD Translation GW
1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, in the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Casleu.
1
On the fourth day of the ninth month (the month of Chislev) in Darius' fourth year as king, the LORD spoke his word to Zechariah.
2 When Sarasar, and Rogommelech, and the men that were with him, sent to the house of God, to entreat the face of the Lord:
2
Now, [the people from] Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem Melech with their men to ask the LORD for a blessing.
3 To speak to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying: Must I weep in the fifth month, or must I sanctify myself as I have now done for many years?
3
They asked the priests from the house of the LORD of Armies as well as the prophets, "Should we mourn and fast in the fifth month as we have done for so many years?"
4 And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying:
4
Then the LORD of Armies spoke his word to me. He said,
5 Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying: When you fasted, and mourned in the fifth and the seventh month for these seventy years: did you keep a fast unto me?
5
"Tell all the people of the land and the priests, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these past 70 years, did you really do it for me?
6 And when you did eat and drink, did you not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?
6
When you ate and drank, didn't you do it to benefit yourselves?
7 Are not these the words which the Lord spoke by the hand of the former prophets, when Jerusalem as yet was inhabited, and was wealthy, both itself and the cities round about it, and there were inhabitants towards the south, and in the plain?
7
Aren't these the same words that the LORD announced through the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem and its surrounding cities were inhabited and undisturbed and the Negev and the foothills were still inhabited?'"
8 And the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, saying:
8
Then the LORD spoke his word to Zechariah. He said,
9 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, saying: Judge ye true judgment, and shew ye mercy and compassion every man to his brother.
9
"This is what the LORD of Armies says: Administer real justice, and be compassionate and kind to each other.
10 And oppress not the widow, and the fatherless, and the stranger, and the poor: and let not a man devise evil in his heart against his brother.
10
Don't oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and poor people. And don't even think of doing evil to each other.
11 But they would not hearken, and they turned away the shoulder to depart: and they stopped their ears, not to hear.
11
"But people refused to pay attention. They shrugged their shoulders at me and shut their ears so that they couldn't hear.
12 And they made their heart as the adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts sent in his spirit by the hand of the former prophets: so a great indignation came from Lord of hosts.
12
They made their hearts as hard as flint so that they couldn't hear the LORD's teachings, the words that the LORD of Armies had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD of Armies became very angry.
13 And it came to pass that as he spoke, and they heard not: so shall they cry, and I will not hear, saith the Lord of hosts.
13
"When I called, they wouldn't listen. So now when they call, I won't listen, says the LORD of Armies.
14 And I dispersed them throughout all kingdoms, which they know not: and the land was left desolate behind them, so that no man passed through or returned: and they changed the delightful land into a wilderness.
14
I used a windstorm to scatter them among all the nations, nations they hadn't even heard of. They left behind a land so ruined that no one is able to travel through it. They have turned a pleasant land into a wasteland."
The Douay-Rheims Bible is in the public domain.
GOD'S WORD® is a copyrighted work of God's Word to the Nations. Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. All rights reserved. Used by permission.