Parallel Bible results for "zechariah 7"

Zechariah 7

Revised Standard Version RSV

1 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechari'ah in the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chislev.

2 Now the people of Bethel had sent Share'zer and Reg'em-mel'ech 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 fast 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 mourned 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 for yourselves and drink for yourselves?

7 When Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, with her cities round about her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited, were not these the words which the LORD proclaimed by the former prophets?"

8 And the word of the LORD came to Zechari'ah, saying,

9 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy each to his brother,

10 do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart."

11 But they refused to hearken, and turned a stubborn shoulder, and stopped their ears that they might not hear.

12 They made their hearts like adamant lest they should hear the law and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from the LORD of hosts.

13 "As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear," says the LORD of hosts,

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

GOD'S WORD Translation GW

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 Now, [the people from] Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem Melech with their men to ask the LORD for a blessing.

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 Then the LORD of Armies spoke his word to me. He said,

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 When you ate and drank, didn't you do it to benefit yourselves?

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 Then the LORD spoke his word to Zechariah. He said,

9 "This is what the LORD of Armies says: Administer real justice, and be compassionate and kind to each other.

10 Don't oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and poor people. And don't even think of doing evil to each other.

11 "But people refused to pay attention. They shrugged their shoulders at me and shut their ears so that they couldn't hear.

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 "When I called, they wouldn't listen. So now when they call, I won't listen, says the LORD of Armies.

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."