Zechariah 7

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of Yahweh was addressed to Zechariah on the fourth day ofthe ninth month, the month of Chislev.	1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, in the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Casleu.
2 Bethel sent Sharezer with a deputation to entreat Yahweh's favour	2 When Sarasar, and Rogommelech, and the men that were with him, sent to the house of God, to entreat the face of the Lord:
3 and to ask the priests in the Temple of Yahweh Sabaoth and the prophets, 'Ought I to go on mourningand fasting in the fifth month as I have been doing for so many years past?'	3 To speak to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying: Must I weep in the fifth month, or must I sanctify myself as I have now done for many years?
4 Then the word of Yahweh Sabaoth was addressed to me as fol ows,	4 And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying:
5 'Say to al the people of the country and to the priests, "While you have been fasting and mourning inthe fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, have you real y been fasting for my sake?	5 Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying: When you fasted, and mourned in the fifth and the seventh month for these seventy years: did you keep a fast unto me?
6 And when you were eating and drinking, were you not eating and drinking for your own sake?	6 And when you did eat and drink, did you not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?
7 Do you not know the words which Yahweh proclaimed through the prophets in the past, whenJerusalem was inhabited and secure, as were her surrounding towns, and when the Negeb and the lowlandswere inhabited?" ' (	7 Are not these the words which the Lord spoke by the hand of the former prophets, when Jerusalem as yet was inhabited, and was wealthy, both itself and the cities round about it, and there were inhabitants towards the south, and in the plain?
8 The word of Yahweh was addressed to Zechariah as fol ows,	8 And the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, saying:
9 'Yahweh Sabaoth says this.) He said, "Apply the law fairly, and show faithful love and compassion towards one another.	9 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, saying: Judge ye true judgment, and shew ye mercy and compassion every man to his brother.
10 Do not oppress the widow and the orphan, the foreigner and the poor, and do not secretly plan evilagainst one another."	10 And oppress not the widow, and the fatherless, and the stranger, and the poor: and let not a man devise evil in his heart against his brother.
11 But they would not listen; they turned a rebel ious shoulder; they stopped their ears rather than hear;	11 But they would not hearken, and they turned away the shoulder to depart: and they stopped their ears, not to hear.
12 they made their hearts adamant rather than listen to the teaching and the words that Yahweh Sabaothhad sent -- by his spirit -- through the prophets in the past; and consequently the fury of Yahweh Sabaothovertook them.	12 And they made their heart as the adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts sent in his spirit by the hand of the former prophets: so a great indignation came from the Lord of hosts.
13 And so, since when he cal ed they would not listen, "I would not listen when they called", says YahwehSabaoth,	13 And it came to pass that as he spoke, and they heard not: so shall they cry, and I will not hear, saith the Lord of hosts.
14 "but scattered them among al the nations unknown to them. Hence, after they had gone, the countrywas deserted, and no one came or went. They had turned a land of delights into a desert." '	14 And I dispersed them throughout all kingdoms, which they know not: and the land was left desolate behind them, so that no man passed through or returned: and they changed the delightful land into a wilderness.