呼吁公义和怜悯

大流士王四年九月,即基斯流月四日,耶和华的话传给了撒迦利亚。 那时,伯特利人差遣沙利色、利坚米勒及其随从去向耶和华求恩。 他们问万军之耶和华殿里的祭司和先知:“我们还要照多年的惯例在五月哀伤、禁食吗?”

万军之耶和华的话传给了我,说: “你要对境内的民众和祭司说,‘七十年来,你们在五月和七月禁食、哀伤,难道真的是为了我吗? 你们吃喝,难道不是为自己吃、为自己喝吗? 这些不是耶和华借从前的先知所宣告的吗?当时耶路撒冷和周围的城邑人口兴盛、繁荣,南地和丘陵都有人居住。’”

耶和华的话又传给了撒迦利亚,说: “万军之耶和华曾对你们的祖先说,‘要秉公行义,彼此以慈爱和怜悯相待。 10 不可欺压寡妇、孤儿、寄居者和穷人,不可设阴谋彼此相害。’ 11 他们却不理会,背过身去,充耳不闻, 12 心如铁石,不遵从律法,也不遵从万军之耶和华借着祂的灵指示从前的先知所说的话。因此,万军之耶和华非常愤怒。 13 祂说,‘我曾呼唤他们,他们不听;将来他们呼求我,我也不听。 14 我要用旋风把他们吹散到陌生的万国中,使他们的土地荒凉、杳无人迹,因为他们使美好的土地一片荒凉。’”

And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu;

When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regemmelech, and their men, to pray before the Lord,

And to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?

Then came the word of the Lord of hosts unto me, saying,

Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?

And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

Should ye not hear the words which the Lord hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?

And the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, saying,

Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother:

10 And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.

11 But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.

12 Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts.

13 Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts:

14 But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.

A Question about Going without Eating

On the fourth day of Chislev, the ninth month of the fourth year that Darius was king of Persia,[a] the Lord again spoke to me. 2-3 It happened after the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer with Regem-Melech and his men to ask the priests in the Lord's temple and the prophets to pray for them. So they prayed, “Should we mourn and go without eating during the fifth month,[b] as we have done for many years?”

4-5 It was then that the Lord All-Powerful told me to say to everyone in the country, including the priests:

For 70 years you have gone without eating during the fifth and seventh months of the year. But did you really do it for me? And when you eat and drink, isn't it for your own enjoyment? My message today is the same one I commanded the earlier prophets[c] to speak to Jerusalem and its villages when they were prosperous, and when all of Judah, including the Southern Desert and the hill country, was filled with people.

8-9 So once again, I, the Lord All-Powerful, tell you, “See that justice is done and be kind and merciful to one another! 10 Don't mistreat widows or orphans or foreigners or anyone who is poor, and stop making plans to hurt each other.”

11-12 But everyone who heard those prophets, stubbornly refused to obey. Instead, they turned their backs on everything my Spirit[d] had commanded the earlier prophets to preach. So I, the Lord, became angry 13 and said, “You people paid no attention when I called out to you, and now I'll pay no attention when you call out to me.”

14 That's why I came with a whirlwind and scattered them among foreign nations, leaving their lovely country empty of people and in ruins.[e]

Footnotes

  1. 7.1 Chislev … fourth year … king of Persia: Chislev, the ninth month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-November to mid-December; the fourth year of the rule of Darius was 518 b.c.
  2. 7.2,3 fifth month: Ab, the fifth month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-July to mid-August. The temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in the year 587 or 586 b.c.
  3. 7.7 the earlier prophets: See the note at 1.4.
  4. 7.11,12 my Spirit: Or “I.”
  5. 7.14 leaving their … in ruins: Or “because they had ruined their lovely country.”