| King James Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu; | 1On December 7 of the fourth year of King Darius’s reign, another message came to Zechariah from the LORD. |
| 2When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regemmelech, and their men, to pray before the LORD, | 2The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regemmelech, along with their attendants, to seek the LORD’s favor. |
| 3And to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these 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 came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying, | 4The LORD of Heaven’s Armies sent me this message in reply: |
| 5Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? | 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 ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? | 6And even now in your holy festivals, aren’t you eating and drinking just to please yourselves? |
| 7Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain? | 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 unto Zechariah, saying, | 8Then this message came to Zechariah from the LORD: |
| 9Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother: | 9“This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: Judge fairly, and show mercy and kindness to one another. |
| 10And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart. | 10Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and the poor. And do not scheme against each other. |
| 11But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should 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. |
| 12Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath 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. |
| 13Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith 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. |
| 14But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land 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.” |
| King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com. | 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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