A Call to Justice and Mercy 1 WBS And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came to Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu; BSB BSB: In 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.
2 WBS When they had sent to the house of God Sherezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to pray before the LORD, BSB BSB: Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech, along with their men, to plead before the LORD
3 WBS And to speak to the priests who were in 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?BSB BSB: by 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?”
4 WBS Then came the word of the LORD of hosts to me, saying, BSB BSB: Then the word of the LORD of Hosts came to me, saying,
5 WBS Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month , even those seventy years, did ye at all fast to me, even to me? BSB BSB: “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?
6 WBS And when ye ate, and when ye drank, did ye not eat for yourselves , and drink for yourselves ? BSB BSB: And when you were eating and drinking, were you not doing so simply for yourselves?
7 WBS Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and her cities around her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?BSB BSB: Are 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?’”
8 WBS And the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, BSB BSB: Then the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying,
9 WBS Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassions every man to his brother: BSB BSB: “This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Administer true justice. Show loving devotion and compassion to one another.
10 WBS And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart. BSB BSB: Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’
11 WBS But they refused to hearken, and withdrew the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. BSB BSB: But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing.
12 WBS Yes, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts. BSB BSB: They 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 WBS Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts: BSB BSB: And just as I had called and they would not listen, so when they called I would not listen, says the LORD of Hosts.
14 WBS But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate. BSB BSB: But 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.”