1And it came to pass in the fourth year of Darius the king, [that] the word of YHWH came to Zechariah on the fourth [day] of the ninth month, in Chislev.
2And Bethel had sent Sar-ezer, and Regem-melech, and his men to ask for favor before YHWH
3[and] to speak to the priests who [were] in the house of YHWH of Hosts, and to the prophets, saying, “Should I weep in the fifth month and fast, even as I have done this how many years?”
4And the word of YHWH of Hosts came to me, saying,
5“Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, ‘When you⁺ fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh [months], and these seventy years, were you⁺ truly fasting [for] Me?
6For when you⁺ were eating and when you⁺ were drinking, [was it] not [for] yourselves [that] you were eating and [for] yourselves [that] you were drinking?
7Are not [these] the words that YHWH called out by the hand of the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, and her cities around her, and the Negev and the Shephelah were inhabited?’”
8And the word of YHWH came to Zechariah, saying,
9“Thus says YHWH of Hosts, saying: ‘Judge with true justice, and loving devotion and compassion each man must do with his brother;
10and the widow and fatherless, the sojourner and the poor, you⁺ shall not oppress; and you⁺ shall not devise in your⁺ heart the evil of a man [against] his brother!’
11And they refused to pay attention, and they gave the shoulder, acting rebelliously, and their ears they made heavy from hearing;
12and their hearts they made flint, from hearing the law and the words that YHWH of Hosts had sent by His Spirit, by the hand of the former prophets. And there was great wrath from YHWH of Hosts.
13And it came to pass [that] when He called out, then they would not listen. So they will call out, and I will not listen, a declaration of YHWH of Hosts—
14and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known. And the land was left desolate after them from passing through or returning; and they made the land of desire into a desolation!”
2And Bethel had sent Sar-ezer, and Regem-melech, and his men to ask for favor before YHWH
3[and] to speak to the priests who [were] in the house of YHWH of Hosts, and to the prophets, saying, “Should I weep in the fifth month and fast, even as I have done this how many years?”
4And the word of YHWH of Hosts came to me, saying,
5“Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, ‘When you⁺ fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh [months], and these seventy years, were you⁺ truly fasting [for] Me?
6For when you⁺ were eating and when you⁺ were drinking, [was it] not [for] yourselves [that] you were eating and [for] yourselves [that] you were drinking?
7Are not [these] the words that YHWH called out by the hand of the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, and her cities around her, and the Negev and the Shephelah were inhabited?’”
8And the word of YHWH came to Zechariah, saying,
9“Thus says YHWH of Hosts, saying: ‘Judge with true justice, and loving devotion and compassion each man must do with his brother;
10and the widow and fatherless, the sojourner and the poor, you⁺ shall not oppress; and you⁺ shall not devise in your⁺ heart the evil of a man [against] his brother!’
11And they refused to pay attention, and they gave the shoulder, acting rebelliously, and their ears they made heavy from hearing;
12and their hearts they made flint, from hearing the law and the words that YHWH of Hosts had sent by His Spirit, by the hand of the former prophets. And there was great wrath from YHWH of Hosts.
13And it came to pass [that] when He called out, then they would not listen. So they will call out, and I will not listen, a declaration of YHWH of Hosts—
14and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known. And the land was left desolate after them from passing through or returning; and they made the land of desire into a desolation!”
