1 A nd in the fourth year of the reign of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, Chislev.

In the fourth year of King Darius, the Word of the Lord came to Zechariah. This was on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev.

2 N ow the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and their men to pray and entreat the favor of the Lord

Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regemmelech and their men to ask for the Lord’s favor.

3 A nd to speak to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts and to the prophets, saying, should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself as I have done these so many years ?

They asked the religious leaders of the house of the Lord of All, and the men who speak for God, “Should I cry and go without food in the fifth month, as I have done these many years?”

4 T hen came the word of the Lord of hosts to me, saying,

Then the Word of the Lord of All came to me saying,

5 S peak to all the people of the land and to the priests, saying, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months, even those seventy years you were in exile, was it for Me that you fasted, for Me?

“Say to all the people of the land and to the religious leaders, ‘When you went without food and cried in sorrow in the fifth and seventh months these 70 years, was it to honor Me?

6 A nd when you ate and when you drank, did you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?

When you eat and drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves?

7 S hould you not hear the words which the Lord cried by the former prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity with her cities round about her, and the South (the Negeb) and the lowlands were inhabited?

Are not these the words the Lord made known through the men who spoke for Him in the past? They spoke these words when Jerusalem was full of people and riches, together with the cities around it, and when the Negev and the lower hills were full of people.’” People Taken Away Because Of Not Obeying

8 A nd the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying,

Then the Word of the Lord came to Zechariah saying,

9 T hus has the Lord of hosts spoken: Execute true judgment and show mercy and kindness and tender compassion, every man to his brother;

“The Lord of All said, ‘Do what is right and be kind and show loving-pity to one another.

10 A nd oppress not the widow or the fatherless, the temporary resident or the poor, and let none of you devise or imagine or think evil against his brother in your heart.

Do not make it hard for the woman whose husband has died, or the child who has no parents, or the stranger, or the poor. Do not make sinful plans in your hearts against one another.’

11 B ut they refused to listen and turned a rebellious and stubborn shoulder and made heavy and dull their ears that they might not hear.

But they would not listen. They turned away and stopped their ears from hearing.

12 Y es, they made their hearts as an adamant stone or diamond point, lest they should hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore there came great wrath from the Lord of hosts.

They made their hearts like hard stone, so that they could not hear the Law and the words which the Lord of All had sent by His Spirit through the men who spoke for Him in the past. So the Lord of All became very angry.

13 S o it came to pass that as He cried and they would not hear, So they shall cry and I will not answer, says the Lord of hosts,

When I called, they would not listen. So when they called, I would not listen,” says the Lord of All.

14 B ut I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they know not and who know not them. Thus the land was desolate after they had gone, so that no man passed through or returned, for they had laid waste and forsaken the pleasant land (the land of desire).

“With the wind of a storm I sent them everywhere among all the nations that they had not known. The land was laid waste behind them, so that no one could come or go. They turned the good land into an empty waste.”