Zechariah 7 Parallel Bible Translations

Zechariah 7 ▼
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1 In the fourth year of [the reign of] King Darius [of Persia], the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chislev (Dec 7, 518 B.C.). In 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. In 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.
2 Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and their men to seek the favor of the LORD, Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and their men to entreat the favor of the LORD, The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreat the LORD
3 speaking to the priests who belong to the house of the LORD of hosts and to the prophets, saying, “[Now that I am returned from exile] shall I weep in the fifth month [mourning the destruction of the temple], and fast as I have done these many years [in Babylon]?” saying 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?” by 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?”
4 Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me (Zechariah), saying, Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me: Then the word of the LORD Almighty came to me:
5 “Speak to all the people of the land and to the priests, saying, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these seventy years [that you were in exile], was it actually for Me that you fasted? “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? “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?
6 When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and do you not drink for yourselves [to satisfy your own needs]? And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?
7 Should you not hear the words which the LORD proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous along with her cities around her, and the South (the Negev) and the foothills were inhabited?’” Were 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?’” Are 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?’”
8 Then the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, And the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, And the word of the LORD came again to Zechariah:
9 “Thus has the LORD of hosts said, ‘Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion, to each other; “Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, “This is what the LORD Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.
10 and do not oppress or exploit the widow or the fatherless, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise or even imagine evil in your hearts against one another.’ do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.” Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’
11 But they refused to listen and pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder [stiffening themselves in resistance] and stopped up their ears. But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. “But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears.
12 They made their hearts [hard] 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. They 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. They 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.
13 And just as He called and they would not listen, so they called and I would not listen,” says the LORD of hosts; “As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear,” says the LORD of hosts, “’When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the LORD Almighty.
14 “but I scattered them with a storm wind among all the nations whom they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after they had gone, so that no one passed through or returned, for they [by their sins] had made the pleasant land desolate and deserted.” “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.” I 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.’”
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