Disobedience And Fasting

1 And it came about in the fourth year of King Darius, that the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month Chislev.

1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu;

1 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is (A)Chislev.

1 In the fourth year of King Darius,(A) the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chislev.

1 During 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.

2 Now they of Beth-el had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech to make a request for grace from the Lord,

2 When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regemmelech, and their men, to pray before the LORD,

2 Now the town of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regemmelech and (a)their men to (b)(B)seek the favor of the Lord,

2 Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer, Regem-melech, and their men to plead for the Lord’s favor(B)

2 The people of Bethel were sending Sharezer, Regem-melech, and their men to pray in the LORD's presence

3 And to say to the priests of the house of the Lord of armies and to the prophets, Am I to go on weeping in the fifth month, separating myself as I have done in past years?

3 And to speak unto the priests which 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?

3 speaking to the (C)priests who belong to the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, “Shall I weep in the (D)fifth month (c)and abstain, as I have done these many years?”

3 by asking the priests who were at the house of the Lord of Hosts as well as the prophets, “Should we mourn and fast in the fifth month as we have done these many years?”

3 and 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?"

4 Then the word of the Lord of armies came to me, saying

4 Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying,

4 Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying,

4 Then the word of the Lord of Hosts came to me:

4 Then 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 went without food and gave yourselves to grief in the fifth and the seventh months for these seventy years, did you ever do it because of me?

5 Speak unto 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 unto me, even 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 (d)these (E)seventy years, was it actually for (F)Me that you fasted?

5 “Ask all the people of the land and the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and in the seventh months for these 70 years, did you really fast for Me?(C)

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 And when you are feasting and drinking, are you not doing it only for yourselves?

6 And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

6 When you eat and drink, (e)do you not eat for yourselves and do you not drink for yourselves?

6 When you eat and drink, don’t you eat and drink simply for yourselves?(D)

6 And when you eat and drink, you're eating and drinking for your own benefit, aren't you?

7 Are not these the words which the Lord said to you by the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem was full of people and wealth, and the towns round about her and the South and the Lowland were peopled?

7 Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?

7 Are not these the words which the Lord (G)proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and (f)(H)prosperous along with its cities around it, and the (g)(I)Negev and the (h)foothills were inhabited?’”

7 Aren’t these the words that the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and secure,(a) along with its surrounding cities, and when the southern region and the Judean foothills were inhabited?”

7 Isn'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?'"

Disobedience, The Cause Of Exile

8 And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying,

8 And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying,

8 Then the word of the Lord came to Zechariah saying,

8 The word of the Lord came to Zechariah:

8 This message from the LORD came to Zechariah again:

9 This is what the Lord of armies has said: Let your judging be upright and done in good faith, let every man have mercy and pity for his brother:

9 Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother:

9 “Thus has the Lord of hosts said, ‘(J)Dispense true justice and practice (K)kindness and compassion each to his brother;

9 “The Lord of Hosts says this: Make fair decisions.(E) Show faithful love and compassion(F) to one another.

9 "This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "Administer true justice, and show gracious love and mercy toward each other.

10 Do not be hard on the widow, or the child without a father, on the man from a strange country, or on the poor; let there be no evil thought in your heart against your brother.

10 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.

10 and (L)do not oppress the widow or the (i)orphan, the (j)stranger or the poor; and do (M)not devise evil in your hearts against one another.’

10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor,(G) and do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.(H)

10 You 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 would not give attention, turning their backs and stopping their ears from hearing;

11 But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.

11 But they (N)refused to pay attention and (k)(O)turned a stubborn shoulder and (l)(P)stopped their ears from hearing.

11 But they refused to pay attention(I) and turned a stubborn shoulder; they closed their ears so they could not hear.(J)

11 But they refused to pay attention, turned their backs, and stopped listening.

12 And they made their hearts like the hardest stone, so that they might not give ear to the law and the words which the Lord of armies had said by the earlier prophets: and there came great wrath from the Lord of armies.

12 Yea, 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.

12 They made their (Q)hearts like (m)(R)flint (n)so that they could not hear the law and the (S)words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the (T)former prophets; therefore great (U)wrath came from the Lord of hosts.

12 They made their hearts like a rock so as not to obey the law or the words that the Lord of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets.(K) Therefore great anger came from the Lord of Hosts.

12 They 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 it came about that as they would not give ear to his voice, so I would not give ear to their voice, says the Lord of armies:

13 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:

13 And just as (V)He called and they would not listen, so (W)they called and I would not listen,” says the Lord of hosts;

13 Just as He had called, and they would not listen, so when they called, I would not listen,” says the Lord of Hosts.

13 Therefore, 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 with a storm-wind I sent them in flight among all the nations of whom they had no knowledge. So the land was waste after them, so that no man went through or came back: for they had made waste the desired land.

14 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.

14 “but I (o)(X)scattered them with a (Y)storm wind among all the nations whom they have not known. Thus the land is (Z)desolated behind them (p)so that (AA)no one went back and forth, for they (AB)made the pleasant land desolate.”

14 “I scattered them with a windstorm over all the nations that had not known them, and the land was left desolate behind them, with no one coming or going. They turned a pleasant land into a desolation.”

14 "I 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.

Basic English, produced by Mr C. K. Ogden of the Orthological Institute - public domain

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