| English Standard Version | Berean Study Bible |
| 1In 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. | 1In 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 Chislev. |
| 2Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and their men to entreat the favor of the LORD, | 2Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech, along with their men, to plead before the LORD |
| 3saying 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?” | 3by asking the priests of the house of the LORD of Hosts, as well as the prophets, “Should I weep and fast in the fifth month, as I have done these many years?” |
| 4Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me: | 4Then the word of the LORD of Hosts came to me, saying, |
| 5“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? | 5“Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted? |
| 6And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? | 6And when you were eating and drinking, were you not doing so simply for yourselves? |
| 7Were 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?’” | 7Are these not the words that the LORD proclaimed through the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were populous and prosperous, and the Negev and the foothills were inhabited?’ ” |
| 8And the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, | 8Then the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, |
| 9“Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, | 9“This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Administer true justice. Show loving devotion and compassion to one another. |
| 10do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.” | 10Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’ |
| 11But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. | 11But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing. |
| 12They 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. | 12They made their hearts like flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of Hosts. |
| 13“As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear,” says the LORD of hosts, | 13And just as I had called and they would not listen, so when they called I would not listen, says the LORD of Hosts. |
| 14“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.” | 14But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known, and the land was left desolate behind them so that no one could come or go. Thus they turned the pleasant land into a desolation.” |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | The Berean Bible (Berean Study Bible (BSB) © 2016, 2018 by Bible Hub and Berean.Bible. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved. |
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