Zechariah 7

Modern

Literal

A Call to Justice and Mercy

¹In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev.^a

¹And it came to pass in the fourth year of Darius the king, that the word of YHWH came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, in Chislev.

²Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech, along with their men,^a to plead before the LORD

²And Bethel had sent Sar-ezer, and Regem-melech, and his men to ask for favor before YHWH

³by asking the priests of the house of the LORD of Hosts, as well as the prophets, “Should I weep and fast in the fifth month, as I have done these many years?”

³and to speak to the priests who were in the house of YHWH of Hosts, and to the prophets, saying, “Should I weep in the fifth month and fast, even as I have done this how many years?”

⁴Then the word of the LORD of Hosts came to me, saying,

⁴And the word of YHWH of Hosts came to me, saying,

⁵“Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted?

⁵“Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh months, and these seventy years, were you truly fasting for Me?

⁶And when you were eating and drinking, were you not doing so simply for yourselves?

⁶For when you were eating and when you were drinking, was it not for yourselves that you were eating and for yourselves that you were drinking?

⁷Are these not the words that the LORD proclaimed through the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were populous and prosperous, and the Negev and the foothills^a were inhabited?’”

⁷Are not these the words that YHWH called out by the hand of the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, and her cities around her, and the Negev and the Shephelah were inhabited?’”

⁸Then the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying,

⁸And the word of YHWH came to Zechariah, saying,

⁹“This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Administer true justice. Show loving devotion^a and compassion to one another.

⁹“Thus says YHWH of Hosts, saying: ‘Judge with true justice, and loving devotion and compassion each man must do with his brother;

¹⁰Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’

¹⁰and the widow and fatherless, the sojourner and the poor, you shall not oppress; and you shall not devise in your heart the evil of a man against his brother!’

¹¹But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing.^a

¹¹And they refused to pay attention, and they gave the shoulder, acting rebelliously, and their ears they made heavy from hearing;

¹²They made their hearts like flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of Hosts.

¹²and their hearts they made flint, from hearing the law and the words that YHWH of Hosts had sent by His Spirit, by the hand of the former prophets. And there was great wrath from YHWH of Hosts.

¹³And just as I had called and they would not listen, so when they called I would not listen, says the LORD of Hosts.

¹³And it came to pass that when He called out, then they would not listen. So they will call out, and I will not listen, a declaration of YHWH of Hosts—

¹⁴But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known, and the land was left desolate behind them so that no one could come or go. Thus they turned the pleasant land into a desolation.”

¹⁴and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known. And the land was left desolate after them from passing through or returning; and they made the land of desire into a desolation!”