1 Kuningas Dareioksen neljäntenä hallitusvuotena, yhdeksännen kuukauden eli kislev-kuun neljäntenä päivänä, tuli Herran sana Sakarjalle.

2 Betelistä oli lähetetty Sar-Eser ja Regem-Melek sekä joitakin muita miehiä uhraamaan Herralle ja rukoilemaan häneltä armoa.

4 Silloin minulle tuli tämä Herran Sebaotin sana:

6 Ja kun te uhriaterioillanne syötte ja juotte, ettekö te syö ja juo vain omaksi nautinnoksenne?

7 Ettekö muista niitä sanoja, joita aikaisemmat profeetat minun käskystäni julistivat silloin, kun Jerusalemissa ja sen ympäristön kaupungeissa vielä asuttiin turvassa ja kun myös Negev ja läntiset kukkulat olivat asuttuja?

8 Sakarjalle tuli tämä Herran sana:

10 Leskeä ja orpoa, muukalaista ja köyhää älkää sortako, älkää suunnitelko pahaa toinen toisellenne.

12 Isänne kovettivat sydämensä timantinkoviksi, ja niin he eivät ottaneet vastaan käskyjäni eivätkä mitään siitä, mitä minä, Herra Sebaot, olin henkeni voimalla puhunut heille aikaisempien profeettojen välityksellä. Sen vuoksi minä, Herra Sebaot, vihastuin heihin.

13 Niin kuin he eivät kuunnelleet minua, kun minä kutsuin heitä, niin en minäkään kuunnellut, kun he vuorostaan huusivat minua avuksi, sanoo Herra Sebaot.

1 In the fourth year of king Darius, Yahweh’s word came to Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev. 2 The people of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem Melech and their men to entreat Yahweh’s favor, 3 and to speak to the priests of the house of Yahweh of Armies and to the prophets, saying, "Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?"

4 Then the word of Yahweh of Armies 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 in the seventh month for these seventy years, did you at all fast to me, really to me? 6 When you eat and when you drink, don’t you eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? 7 Aren’t these the words which Yahweh proclaimed by the former prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and its cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?’"

8 Yahweh’s word came to Zechariah, saying, 9 "Thus has Yahweh of Armies spoken, saying, ‘Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother. 10 Don’t oppress the widow, the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.’ 11 But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear. 12 Yes, they made their hearts as hard as flint, lest they might hear the law and the words which Yahweh of Armies had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from Yahweh of Armies. 13 It has come to pass that, as he called and they refused to listen, so they will call and I will not listen," said Yahweh of Armies; 14 "but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through nor returned; for they made the pleasant land desolate."