Zechariah 7

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 In the fourth year of Darius the king (the word of the LORD came to Zechariah), on the fourth day of Chislev, the ninth month,	1 And it happened, in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Kislev.
2 Bethelsarezer sent Regemmelech and his men to implore favor of the LORD	2 And Sharezer and Regemmelech, and the men who were with them, sent to the house of God, to entreat the face of the Lord,
3 and to ask the priests of the house of the LORD of hosts, and the prophets, "Must I mourn and abstain in the fifth month as I have been doing these many years?"	3 to speak to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts and to the prophets, saying: “Must there be weeping with me in the fifth month, and must I sanctify myself, as I have now done for many years?”
4 Thereupon this word of the LORD of hosts came to me:	4 And the word of the Lord of hosts 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 in the seventh month 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: Although you may have fasted and mourned in the fifth and the seventh month for these seventy years, did you indeed keep a fast unto me?
6 And when you were eating and drinking, was it not for yourselves that you ate, and for yourselves that you drank?	6 And when you did eat and drink, did you not eat for yourselves, and drink only for yourselves?
7 Were not these the words which the LORD spoke through the former prophets, when Jerusalem and the surrounding cities were inhabited and at peace, when the Negeb and the foothills were inhabited?	7 Are not these the words that the Lord has spoken by the hand of the former prophets, when Jerusalem was still inhabited, so that it would prosper, itself and the cities around it, and those inhabitants towards the South and in the plains?
8 (This word of the LORD came to Zechariah:	8 And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying:
9 Thus says the LORD of hosts:) Render true judgment, and show kindness and compassion toward each other.	9 Thus says the Lord of hosts, saying: Judge with true judgment, and act with mercy and compassion, each and every one with his brother.
10 Do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the alien or the poor; do not plot evil against one another in your hearts.	10 And do not find fault with the widow, and the orphan, and the newcomer, and the poor. And let not a man consider evil in his heart towards his brother.
11 But they refused to listen; they stubbornly turned their backs and stopped their ears so as not to hear.	11 But they were not willing to pay attention, and they turned aside their shoulder to depart, and they pressed upon their ears, so that they would not hear.
12 And they made their hearts diamondhard so as not to hear the teaching and the message that the LORD of hosts had sent by his spirit through the former prophets.	12 And they set their heart like the hardest stone, so that they would not hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts has sent with his Spirit by the hand of the former prophets. And so a great indignation came from Lord of hosts.
13 Then the LORD of hosts in his great anger said that, as they had not listened when he called, so he would not listen when they called,	13 And it happened, just as he had spoken, and they did not pay attention. So then, they shall cry out, and I will not heed, says the Lord of hosts.
14 but would scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they did not know. Thus the land was left desolate after them with no one traveling to and fro; they made the pleasant land into a desert.	14 And I dispersed them throughout all the kingdoms that they did not know. And the land was left desolate behind them, so that no one was passing through or returning. And they made the desirable land into a deserted place.