1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of Darius the king, the word of our Lord was made to Zacharie, in the fourth of the ninth month, which is Casleu.
1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, in the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Casleu.
2 And Sarasar, and Rogommelech, and the men that were with him, sent to the house of God, to beseech the face of our Lord:
2 When Sarasar, and Rogommelech, and the men that were with him, sent to the house of God, to entreat the face of the Lord:
3 that they should say to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the Prophets, saying: Must I weep in the fifth month, or must I sanctify myself as now I have done many years?
3 To speak to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying: Must I weep in the fifth month, or must I sanctify myself as I have now done for many years?
4 And the word of the Lord of hosts was made to me, saying:
4 And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying:
5 Speak to all the people of the land, and to the Priests, saying: When you fasted, and mourned in the fifth and the seventh for these seventy years: did you fast a fast unto me?
5 Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying: ¹When you fasted, and mourned in the fifth and the seventh month for these seventy years: did you keep a fast unto me?
6 And when you did eat & drink, did you not eat for yourselves, & drink for yourselves?
6 And when you did eat and drink, did you not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?
7 Why, are they not the words, which our Lord spake in the hand of the former Prophets, when Jerusalem as yet was inhabited, & was wealthy, itself and the cities round about it, & toward the South, & in the champion there was dwelling?
7 Are not these the words which the Lord spoke by the hand of the former prophets, when Jerusalem as yet was inhabited, and was wealthy, both itself and the cities round about it, and there were inhabitants towards the south, and in the plain?
8 And the word of our Lord was made to Zacharie, saying:
8 And the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, saying:
9 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, saying: Judge ye true judgement, and do ye mercy, and miserations every man with his brother.
9 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, saying: ²Judge ye true judgment, and show ye mercy and compassion every man to his brother.
10 And the widow, and the pupil, and the stranger, and the poor do not calumniate: and let not a man think in his heart evil to his brother.
10 ³And oppress not the widow, and the fatherless, and the stranger, and the poor: and let not a man devise evil in his heart against his brother.
11 And they would not attend, and they turned away the shoulder departing: and they aggravated their ears, not to hear.
11 But they would not hearken, and they turned away the shoulder to depart: and they stopped their ears, not to hear.
12 And they made their heart as the adamant, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord sent in his spirit by the hand of the former Prophets: and there was great indignation made from the Lord of hosts.
12 And they made their heart as the adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts sent in his spirit by the hand of the former prophets: so a great indignation came from the Lord of hosts.
13 And it came to pass as he spake, and they heard not: so shall they cry, and I will not hear, saith the Lord of hosts.
13 And it came to pass that as he spoke, and they heard not: so shall they cry, and I will not hear, saith the Lord of hosts.
14 And I dispersed them throughout all kingdoms, which they knew not: and the land was left desolate of them, for that there was none passing and returning: and the land to be desired they laid into a desert.
14 And I dispersed them throughout all kingdoms, which they know not: and the land was left desolate behind them, so that no man passed through or returned: and they changed the delightful land into a wilderness.