| English Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 1In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chislev. | 1On December 7 of the fourth year of King Darius’s reign, another message came to Zechariah from the LORD. |
| 2Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and their men to entreat the favor of the LORD, | 2The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regemmelech, along with their attendants, to seek the LORD’s favor. |
| 3saying to the priests of the house of the LORD of hosts and the prophets, “Should I weep and abstain in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?” | 3They were to ask this question of the prophets and the priests at the Temple of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies: “Should we continue to mourn and fast each summer on the anniversary of the Temple’s destruction, as we have done for so many years?” |
| 4Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me: | 4The LORD of Heaven’s Armies sent me this message in reply: |
| 5“Say to all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted? | 5“Say to all your people and your priests, ‘During these seventy years of exile, when you fasted and mourned in the summer and in early autumn, was it really for me that you were fasting? |
| 6And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? | 6And even now in your holy festivals, aren’t you eating and drinking just to please yourselves? |
| 7Were not these the words that the LORD proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, with her cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?’” | 7Isn’t this the same message the LORD proclaimed through the prophets in years past when Jerusalem and the towns of Judah were bustling with people, and the Negev and the foothills of Judah were well populated?’” |
| 8And the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, | 8Then this message came to Zechariah from the LORD: |
| 9“Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, | 9“This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: Judge fairly, and show mercy and kindness to one another. |
| 10do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.” | 10Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and the poor. And do not scheme against each other. |
| 11But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. | 11“Your ancestors refused to listen to this message. They stubbornly turned away and put their fingers in their ears to keep from hearing. |
| 12They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of hosts. | 12They made their hearts as hard as stone, so they could not hear the instructions or the messages that the LORD of Heaven’s Armies had sent them by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. That is why the LORD of Heaven’s Armies was so angry with them. |
| 13“As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear,” says the LORD of hosts, | 13“Since they refused to listen when I called to them, I would not listen when they called to me, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. |
| 14“and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known. Thus the land they left was desolate, so that no one went to and fro, and the pleasant land was made desolate.” | 14As with a whirlwind, I scattered them among the distant nations, where they lived as strangers. Their land became so desolate that no one even traveled through it. They turned their pleasant land into a desert.” |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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