Zechariah 7

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
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 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,
2 Bethel sent Sharezer with a deputation to entreat Yahweh's favour	2 Bethelsarezer sent Regemmelech and his men to implore favor 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 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?"
4 Then the word of Yahweh Sabaoth was addressed to me as fol ows,	4 Thereupon this word of the LORD of hosts came to me:
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 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?
6 And when you were eating and drinking, were you not eating and drinking for your own sake?	6 And when you were eating and drinking, was it not for yourselves that you ate, and for yourselves that you drank?
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 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?
8 The word of Yahweh was addressed to Zechariah as fol ows,	8 (This word of the LORD came to Zechariah:
9 'Yahweh Sabaoth says this.) He said, "Apply the law fairly, and show faithful love and compassion towards one another.	9 Thus says the LORD of hosts:) Render true judgment, and show kindness and compassion toward each other.
10 Do not oppress the widow and the orphan, the foreigner and the poor, and do not secretly plan evilagainst one another."	10 Do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the alien or the poor; do not plot evil against one another in your hearts.
11 But they would not listen; they turned a rebel ious shoulder; they stopped their ears rather than hear;	11 But they refused to listen; they stubbornly turned their backs and stopped their ears so as 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 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.
13 And so, since when he cal ed they would not listen, "I would not listen when they called", says YahwehSabaoth,	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,
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 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.