Zecharyah 7
7
1And it came to pass in the shnat arba of Daryavesh HaMelech, that the Devar Hashem came unto Zecharyah in the fourth of the chodesh hateshi'i (ninth month), even in Kislev;
2And Beit-El had sent Sar-Etzer and Regem-Melech, and their men, to make entreaty for favor before Hashem,
3And to speak unto the kohanim which were in the Beis Hashem Tzva'os, and to the nevi'im, saying, Should I mourn in the fifth month, hinnazer (separating myself by fasting), as I have done these so many shanim?
4Then came the Devar Hashem Tzva'os unto me, saying,
5Speak unto kol Am Ha'Aretz, and to the kohanim, saying, When ye did a tzom and mourned in the fifth and seventh, even these past shivim shanah, did ye at all fast the tzom unto Me, even to Me?
6And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?
7Should ye not hear the devarim which Hashem hath preached by the nevi'im harishonim, when Yerushalayim was inhabited and at ease, and the towns thereof round about her, when men inhabited the Negev and the Shefelah?
8And the Devar Hashem came unto Zecharyah, saying,
9Thus saith Hashem Tzva'os, saying, Administer mishpat emes. And let every man show chesed and rachamim to his brother;
10And oppress not the almanah, nor the yetomim, the ger, nor the aniyim; and let none of you imagine ra'ah against his brother in your lev.
11But they refused to heed, and stubbornly stiffened their shoulders, stopped up their oznayim, that they not hear.
12Yea, they made their hearts as shamir (diamond),#7:12 i.e., hard as shamir and would not yield in mishma'at (obedience) to the Torah and the devarim which Hashem Tzva'os hath sent by His Ruach#7:12 Hakodesh through the hand of the nevi'im harishonim; therefore came a ketzef gadol (great wrath) from Hashem Tzva'os.
13Therefore it is come to pass, that as He#7:13 Hashem called, and they would not hear; so they called, and I would not hear, saith Hashem Tzva'os;
14But I dispersed them with a whirlwind among kol HaGoyim which they had not known. Thus HaAretz was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned; for they laid the Eretz Chemdat#7:14 Jer 3:19 (Desired Land) desolate.
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Zecharyah 7: TOJB2011
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THE ORTHODOX JEWISH BIBLE
FOURTH EDITION © Artists For Israel Intl Inc., 2002-2011, 2021.
Zechariah 7
7
The LORD Condemns Insincere Fasting
1In the fourth year that Darius was emperor, on the fourth day of the ninth month (the month of Kislev), the LORD gave me a message.
2The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regemmelech and their men to the Temple of the LORD Almighty to pray for the LORD's blessing 3and to ask the priests and the prophets this question: “Should we continue to mourn because of the destruction of the Temple, by fasting in the fifth month as we have done for so many years now?”
4This is the message of the LORD that came to me. 5He said, “Tell the people of the land and the priests that when they fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during these seventy years, it was not in honour of me. 6And when they ate and drank, it was for their own satisfaction.”
7This is what the LORD said through the earlier prophets at the time when Jerusalem was prosperous and filled with people and when there were many people living not only in the towns round the city but also in the southern region and in the western foothills.
Disobedience, the Cause of Exile
8The LORD gave this message to Zechariah: 9“Long ago I gave these commands to my people: ‘You must see that justice is done, and must show kindness and mercy to one another. 10Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners who live among you, or anyone else in need. And do not plan ways of harming one another.’
11“But my people stubbornly refused to listen. They closed their minds 12and made their hearts as hard as rock. Because they would not listen to the teaching which I sent through the prophets who lived long ago, I became very angry. 13Because they did not listen when I spoke, I did not answer when they prayed. 14Like a storm I swept them away to live in foreign countries. This good land was left a desolate place, with no one living in it.”
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.