| New American Standard Bible 1995 | International Standard Version |
| 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. | 1During the fourth year of the reign of King Darius, a message from the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month Kislev. |
| 2Now the town of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regemmelech and their men to seek the favor of the LORD, | 2The people of Bethel were sending Sharezer, Regem-melech, and their men to pray in the LORD's presence |
| 3speaking to the priests who belong to the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, "Shall I weep in the fifth month and abstain, as I have done these many years?" | 3and to speak to the priests assigned to the Temple of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies along with the prophets, asking, "Am I to go about mourning, denying myself throughout the fifth month, as I have these many years?" |
| 4Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying, | 4Then this message from the LORD of the Heavenly Armies came to me: |
| 5"Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these seventy years, was it actually for Me that you fasted? | 5"Talk to everyone in the land, as well as to the priests. Ask them, 'When you were fasting and mourning during the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, were you really fasting for me? |
| 6'When you eat and drink, do you not eat for yourselves and do you not drink for yourselves? | 6And when you eat and drink, you're eating and drinking for your own benefit, aren't you? |
| 7Are not these the words which the LORD proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous along with its cities around it, and the Negev and the foothills were inhabited?'" | 7Isn't this what the LORD proclaimed through the former prophets, when a prosperous Jerusalem was inhabited, as were its surrounding cities, the Negev, and the Shephelah?'" |
| 8Then the word of the LORD came to Zechariah saying, | 8This message from the LORD came to Zechariah again: |
| 9"Thus has the LORD of hosts said, 'Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion each to his brother; | 9"This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: 'Administer true justice, and show gracious love and mercy toward each other. |
| 10and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.' | 10You are not to wrong the widow, orphans, the foreigner, or the poor, and you are not to plan evil against each other. |
| 11"But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears from hearing. | 11But they refused to pay attention, turned their backs, and stopped listening. |
| 12"They made their hearts like flint so that they could not hear the law and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets; therefore great wrath came from the LORD of hosts. | 12They made their hearts hard like a diamond, to keep from obeying the Law and the messages that the LORD of the Heavenly Armies sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. |
| 13"And just as He called and they would not listen, so they called and I would not listen," says the LORD of hosts; | 13Therefore, just as when I cried out and they would not listen, so also they will cry out, and I will not listen,' says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. |
| 14"but I scattered them with a storm wind among all the nations whom they have not known. Thus the land is desolated behind them so that no one went back and forth, for they made the pleasant land desolate." | 14I will scatter them to all of the nations, which they have not known.'" Now the earth was left desolate after them. As a result, no one came or went because they had turned a pleasant land into a desert. |
| New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org | The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
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