Zechariah 7
7
A Question about Going without Eating
1On the fourth day of Chislev, the ninth month of the fourth year that Darius was king of Persia,#7.1 Chislev … fourth year … king of Persia: Chislev, the ninth month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-November to mid-December; the fourth year of the rule of Darius was 518 b.c. the Lord again spoke to me. 2-3It happened after the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer with Regem-Melech and his men to ask the priests in the Lord's temple and the prophets to pray for them. So they prayed, “Should we mourn and go without eating during the fifth month,#7.2,3 fifth month: Ab, the fifth month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-July to mid-August. The temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in the year 587 or 586 b.c. as we have done for many years?”
4-5It was then that the Lord All-Powerful told me to say to everyone in the country, including the priests:
For 70 years you have gone without eating during the fifth and seventh months of the year. But did you really do it for me? 6And when you eat and drink, isn't it for your own enjoyment? 7My message today is the same one I commanded the earlier prophets#7.7 the earlier prophets: See the note at 1.4. to speak to Jerusalem and its villages when they were prosperous, and when all of Judah, including the Southern Desert and the hill country, was filled with people.
8-9So once again, I, the Lord All-Powerful, tell you, “See that justice is done and be kind and merciful to one another! 10Don't mistreat widows or orphans or foreigners or anyone who is poor, and stop making plans to hurt each other.”
11-12But everyone who heard those prophets, stubbornly refused to obey. Instead, they turned their backs on everything my Spirit#7.11,12 my Spirit: Or “I.” had commanded the earlier prophets to preach. So I, the Lord, became angry 13and said, “You people paid no attention when I called out to you, and now I'll pay no attention when you call out to me.”
14That's why I came with a whirlwind and scattered them among foreign nations, leaving their lovely country empty of people and in ruins.#7.14 leaving their … in ruins: Or “because they had ruined their lovely country.”
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Zechariah 7: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
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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