| New International Version | English Standard Version |
| 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 Kislev. | 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. |
| 2The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreat the LORD | 2Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and their men to entreat the favor of the LORD, |
| 3by asking the priests of the house of the LORD Almighty and the prophets, "Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?" | 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?” |
| 4Then the word of the LORD Almighty came to me: | 4Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me: |
| 5"Ask all the people of the land and the priests, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? | 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? |
| 6And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? | 6And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? |
| 7Are these not the words the LORD proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?'" | 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?’” |
| 8And the word of the LORD came again to Zechariah: | 8And the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, |
| 9"This is what the LORD Almighty said: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. | 9“Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, |
| 10Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.' | 10do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.” |
| 11"But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. | 11But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. |
| 12They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD Almighty was very angry. | 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. |
| 13"'When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,' says the LORD Almighty. | 13“As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear,” says the LORD of hosts, |
| 14I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land they left behind them was so desolate that no one traveled through it. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.'" | 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.” |
| New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. | 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. |
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