| New American Standard Bible 1995 | Christian Standard 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, which is 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, Regem-melech, and their men to plead for the LORD's favor |
| 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 who were at the house of the LORD of Armies as well as the prophets, "Should we mourn and fast in the fifth month as we have done these many years?" |
| 4Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying, | 4Then the word of the LORD of Armies came to me: |
| 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 lamented in the fifth and in the seventh months for these seventy years, did you really fast for me? |
| 6'When you eat and drink, do you not eat for yourselves and do you not drink for yourselves? | 6When you eat and drink, don't you eat and drink 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?'" | 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?" |
| 8Then the word of the LORD came to Zechariah saying, | 8The word of the LORD came to Zechariah: |
| 9"Thus has the LORD of hosts said, 'Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion each to his brother; | 9"The LORD of Armies says this: 'Make fair decisions. Show faithful love 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 resident alien 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 closed their ears so they could not hear. |
| 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 a rock so as not to obey the law or the words that the LORD of Armies had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore intense anger came from the LORD of Armies. |
| 13"And just as He called and they would not listen, so they called and I would not listen," says 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 Armies. |
| 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." | 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." |
| 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 Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. |
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