1 I n 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.

And it cometh to pass, in the fourth year of Darius the king hath a word of Jehovah been unto Zechariah, in the fourth of the ninth month, in Chisleu.

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

And Beth-El sendeth Sherezer and Regem-Melech, and its men, to appease the face of Jehovah,

3 T hey 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?”

speaking unto the priests who at the house of Jehovah of Hosts, and unto the prophets, saying, `Do I weep in the fifth month -- being separated -- as I have done these so many years?'

4 T hen the Word of the Lord of All came to me saying,

And there is a word of Jehovah of Hosts unto me, saying:

5 “ 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?

`Speak unto all the people of the land, and unto the priests, saying:

6 W hen you eat and drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves?

When ye fasted with mourning in the fifth and in the seventh -- even these seventy years -- did ye keep the fast Me -- Me? And when ye eat, and when ye drink, is it not ye who are eating, and ye who are drinking?

7 A re 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

`Are not the words that Jehovah proclaimed by the hand of the former prophets, in Jerusalem's being inhabited, and safety, and its cities round about it, and the south and the plain -- abiding?'

8 T hen the Word of the Lord came to Zechariah saying,

And there is a word of Jehovah unto Zechariah, saying:

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

`Thus spake Jehovah of Hosts, saying: True judgment judge ye, And kindness and mercy do one with another.

10 D o 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.’

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

11 B ut they would not listen. They turned away and stopped their ears from hearing.

And they refuse to attend, And they give a refractory shoulder, And their ears have made heavy against hearing.

12 T hey 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.

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

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

And it cometh to pass, as He called, And they have not hearkened, So do they call, and I do not hearken, Said Jehovah of Hosts.

14 “ 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.”

And I toss them on all the nations, That they have not known, The land hath been desolate behind them, Of any passing by and turning back, And they set a desirable land for a desolation!