| Holman Christian Standard Bible | Berean Study Bible |
| 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. | 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. |
| 2Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer, Regem-melech, and their men to plead for the LORD's favor | 2Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech, along with their men, to plead before the LORD |
| 3by asking the priests who were at the house of the LORD of Hosts as well as the prophets, "Should we mourn and fast in the fifth month as we have done these many years?" | 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?” |
| 4Then the word of the LORD of Hosts came to me: " | 4Then the word of the LORD of Hosts came to me, saying, |
| 5Ask all the people of the land and the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and in the seventh months for these 70 years, did you really fast for Me? | 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? |
| 6When you eat and drink, don't you eat and drink simply for yourselves? | 6And when you were eating and drinking, were you not doing so simply for yourselves? |
| 7Aren't these the words that the LORD proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and secure, along with its surrounding cities, and when the southern region and the Judean foothills were inhabited?" | 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 were inhabited?’ ” |
| 8The word of the LORD came to Zechariah: " | 8Then the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, |
| 9The LORD of Hosts says this: Make fair decisions. Show faithful love and compassion to one another. | 9“This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Administer true justice. Show loving devotion and compassion to one another. |
| 10Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor, and do not plot evil in your hearts against one another. | 10Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’ |
| 11But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they closed their ears so they could not hear. | 11But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing. |
| 12They made their hearts like a rock so as not to obey the law or 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. | 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. |
| 13Just as He had called, and they would not listen, so when they called, I would not listen," says the LORD 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. |
| 14I scattered them with a windstorm over all the nations that had not known them, and the land was left desolate behind them, with no one coming or going. They turned a pleasant land into a desolation." | 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.” |
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