Zechariah 7:1-13 ▼

1 And it comes to pass, in the fourth year of Darius the king, a word of YHWH has been to Zechariah, in the fourth of the ninth month, in Chisleu.

2 And Beth-El sends Sherezer and Regem-Melech, and its men, to appease the face of YHWH,

3 speaking to the priests who [are] at the house of YHWH of Hosts, and to the prophets, saying, “Do I weep in the fifth month—being separated—as I have done these so many years?”

4 And there is a word of YHWH of Hosts to me, saying,

5 “Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying,

6 When you fasted with mourning in the fifth and in the seventh [months]—even these seventy years—did you keep the fast [to] Me? And when you eat, and when you drink, is it not you who are eating, and you who are drinking?

7 Are [these] not the words that YHWH proclaimed by the hand of the former prophets, in Jerusalem’s being inhabited, and [in] safety, and its cities around it, and the south and the plain—abiding?”

8 And there is a word of YHWH to Zechariah, saying,

9 “Thus spoke YHWH of Hosts, saying, || Judge [with] true judgment, || And do kindness and mercy with one another.

10 And do not oppress widow, and fatherless, || Sojourner, and poor, || And you do not devise the calamity of one another in your heart.

11 And they refuse to attend, || And they give a stubborn shoulder, || And their ears are made heavy against hearing.

12 And their heart they have made adamant, || Against hearing the Law, and the words, || That YHWH of Hosts sent by His Spirit, || By the hand of the former prophets, || And there is great wrath from YHWH of Hosts.

13 And it comes to pass, as He called, || And they have not listened, || So they call, and I do not listen,” said YHWH of Hosts.