Zechariah 7

vayehi bishnat arba ledareyavesh hammelekh hayah devar-Adonai el-zekharyah be'arba'ah lakhodesh hatteshi'i bekhislev

In the fourth year of King Darius, on the fourth day of the ninth month, Kislev, the word of GOD came to Zechariah—

vayyishlakh bet-el saretser veregem melekh va'anashayw lekhallot et-pene Adonai

when Bethel-sharezer and Regem-melech and his men sent to entreat the favor of GOD,

lemor el-hakkohanim asher levet-Adonai tseva'ot ve'el-hannevi'im lemor ha'evkeh bakhodesh hakhamishi hinnazer ka'asher asiti zeh kammeh shanim

[and] to address this inquiry to the priests of the House of GOD and to the prophets: “Shall I weep and practice abstinence in the fifth month, as I have been doing all these years?”

vayehi devar-Adonai tseva'ot elay lemor

Thereupon the word of GOD of Hosts came to me:

emor el-kol-am ha'arets ve'el-hakkohanim lemor ki-tsamtem vesafod bakhamishi uvashevi'i vezeh shivim shanah hatsom tsamtuni ani

Say to all the people of the land and to the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and seventh months all these seventy years, did you fast for my benefit?

vekhi tokhelu vekhi tishtu halo attem ha'okhelim ve'attem hashotim

And when you eat and drink, who but you does the eating, and who but you does the drinking?

halo et-haddevarim asher qara Adonai beyad hannevi'im harishonim bihyot yerushalai͏m yoshevet ushelevah ve'areha sevivoteha vehannegev vehashefelah yoshev

Look, this is the message that GOD proclaimed through the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem and the towns about her were peopled and tranquil, when the Negeb and the Shephelah were peopled.

vayehi devar-Adonai el-zekharyah lemor

And the word of GOD to Zechariah continued:

koh amar Adonai tseva'ot lemor mishpat emet shefotu vekhesed verakhamim asu ish et-akhiv

Thus said GOD of Hosts: Execute true justice; deal loyally and compassionately with one another.

ve'almanah veyatom ger ve'ani al-ta'ashoqu vera'at ish akhiv al-takhshevu bilvavkhem

Do not defraud the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the poor; and do not plot evil against one another.—

vayema'anu lehaqshiv vayyittenu khatef soraret ve'oznehem hikhbidu mishemoa

But they refused to pay heed. They presented a balky back and turned a deaf ear.

velibbam samu shamir mishemoa et-hattorah ve'et-haddevarim asher shalakh Adonai tseva'ot berukho beyad hannevi'im harishonim vayehi qetsef gadol me'et Adonai tseva'ot

They hardened their hearts like adamant against heeding the instruction and admonition that GOD of Hosts sent to them by divine spirit through the earlier prophets; and a terrible wrath issued from GOD of Hosts.

vayehi kha'asher-qara velo shame'u ken yiqre'u velo eshma amar Adonai tseva'ot

Even as they were called and they would not listen, “So,” said GOD of Hosts, “let them call and I will not listen.”

ve'esa'arem al kol-haggoyim asher lo-yeda'um veha'arets nashammah akharehem me'over umishav vayyasimu erets-khemdah leshammah

I dispersed them among all those nations that they had not known, and the land was left behind them desolate, without any who came and went. They caused a delightful land to be turned into a desolation.