Zechariah 7
New American Standard Bible
7 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is (A)Chislev. 2 Now the town of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regemmelech and [a]their men to [b](B)seek the favor of the Lord, 3 speaking to the (C)priests who belong to the house of the Lord of armies, and to the prophets, saying, “Shall I weep in the (D)fifth month [c]and fast, as I have done these many years?” 4 Then the word of the Lord of armies came to me, saying, 5 “Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months [d]these (E)seventy years, was it actually for (F)Me that you fasted? 6 And when you eat and drink, [e]do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? 7 Are these not the words which the Lord (G)proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and (H)carefree along with its cities around it, and the [f](I)Negev and the [g]foothills were inhabited?’”
8 Then the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, 9 “This is what the Lord of armies has said: ‘(J)Dispense true justice and practice (K)kindness and compassion each to his brother; 10 and (L)do not oppress the widow or the [h]orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do (M)not devise evil in your hearts against one another.’ 11 But they (N)refused to pay attention, and [i](O)turned a stubborn shoulder and [j](P)plugged their ears from hearing. 12 They also made their (Q)hearts as hard as (R)a diamond [k]so that they could not hear the Law and the (S)words which the Lord of armies had sent by His Spirit through the (T)former prophets; therefore great (U)wrath came from the Lord of armies. 13 And just as (V)He called and they would not listen, so (W)they called and I would not listen,” says the Lord of armies; 14 “but I [l](X)scattered them with a (Y)storm wind among all the nations whom they did not know. So the land was (Z)desolated behind them [m]so that (AA)no one went back and forth, since they (AB)made the pleasant land desolate.”
Footnotes
- Zechariah 7:2 Lit his
- Zechariah 7:2 Lit soften the face of
- Zechariah 7:3 Lit to fast
- Zechariah 7:5 Lit and this
- Zechariah 7:6 Lit is it not you who eat and you who drink
- Zechariah 7:7 I.e., South country
- Zechariah 7:7 Heb Shephelah
- Zechariah 7:10 Or fatherless
- Zechariah 7:11 Lit gave
- Zechariah 7:11 Lit made their ears heavy
- Zechariah 7:12 Lit from hearing
- Zechariah 7:14 Lit stormed them away upon all
- Zechariah 7:14 Lit from passing and from returning
Zechariah 7
Common English Bible
Answering the Bethel delegation
7 In the fourth year of Darius the king, the Lord’s word came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, Kislev.[a] 2 The people of[b] Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem-Melech,[c] along with his men, to seek the Lord’s favor, 3 saying to the priests who were in the house of the Lord of heavenly forces and to the prophets: “Should I weep in the fifth month and abstain as I have done for a number of years?”
4 Then the word of the Lord of heavenly forces came to me: 5 Say to all the land’s people and to the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth month and the seventh month for these past seventy years, did you fast for me? 6 When you ate and drank, weren’t you the ones eating and drinking? 7 Weren’t these the words that the Lord proclaimed through the former prophets when Jerusalem was dwelling quietly along with the surrounding cities, and when the arid southern plain and the western foothills were inhabited?
8 The Lord’s word came to Zechariah:
9 The Lord of heavenly forces proclaims:
Make just and faithful decisions; show kindness and compassion to each other! 10 Don’t oppress the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the poor; don’t plan evil against each other! 11 But they refused to pay attention. They turned a cold shoulder and stopped listening.
12 They steeled their hearts against hearing the Instruction and the words that the Lord of heavenly forces sent by his spirit through the earlier prophets. As a result, the Lord of heavenly forces became enraged.
13 So just as he called and they didn’t listen, when they called, I didn’t listen, says the Lord of heavenly forces. 14 I scattered them throughout the nations whom they didn’t know. The land was devastated behind them, with no one leaving or returning. They turned a delightful land into a wasteland.
Footnotes
- Zechariah 7:1 November–December
- Zechariah 7:2 Heb lacks the people of.
- Zechariah 7:2 Heb uncertain
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