| New American Standard Bible 1995 | 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 town of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regemmelech and their men to seek the favor of the LORD, | 2Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech, along with their men, to plead before the LORD |
| 3speaking to the priests who belong to the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, "Shall I weep in the fifth month and abstain, as I 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, saying, | 4Then the word of the LORD of Hosts came to me, saying, |
| 5"Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these seventy years, was it actually for Me that you fasted? | 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? |
| 6'When you eat and drink, do you not eat for yourselves and do you not drink for yourselves? | 6And when you were eating and drinking, were you not doing so simply for yourselves? |
| 7Are not these the words which the LORD proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous along with its cities around it, and the Negev and the 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?’ ” |
| 8Then the word of the LORD came to Zechariah saying, | 8Then the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, |
| 9"Thus has the LORD of hosts said, 'Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion each to his brother; | 9“This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Administer true justice. Show loving devotion and compassion to one another. |
| 10and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise 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.’ |
| 11"But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears from hearing. | 11But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing. |
| 12"They made their hearts like flint so that they could not hear the law and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets; therefore great wrath 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. |
| 13"And just as He called and they would not listen, so they called and 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. |
| 14"but I scattered them with a storm wind among all the nations whom they have not known. Thus the land is desolated behind them so that no one went back and forth, for they made the pleasant land desolate." | 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.” |
| New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org | The Berean Bible (Berean Study Bible (BSB) © 2016, 2018 by Bible Hub and Berean.Bible. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved. |
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