¹وكان في السنة الرابعة لداريوس الملك ان كلام الرب صار الى زكريا في الرابع من الشهر التاسع في كسلو

¹It happened in the fourth year of king Darius that the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev.

²لما ارسل اهل بيت ايل شراصر ورجم ملك ورجالهم ليصلّوا قدام الرب

²The people of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem Melech, and their men, to entreat Yahweh’s favor,

³وليكلموا الكهنة الذين في بيت رب الجنود والانبياء قائلين أأبكي في الشهر الخامس منفصلا كما فعلت كم من السنين هذه

³and 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?”

⁴ثم صار اليّ كلام رب الجنود قائلا

⁴Then the word of Yahweh of Armies came to me, saying,

⁵قل لجميع شعب الارض وللكهنة قائلا. لما صمتم ونحتم في الشهر الخامس والشهر السابع وذلك هذه السبعين سنة فهل صمتم صوما لي انا.

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?

⁶ولما اكلتم ولما شربتم أفما كنتم انتم الآكلين وانتم الشاربين.

⁶When you eat, and when you drink, don’t you eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

⁷أليس هذا هو الكلام الذي نادى به الرب عن يد الانبياء الاولين حين كانت اورشليم معمورة ومستريحة ومدنها حولها والجنوب والسهل معمورين

⁷Aren’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?’”

⁸وكان كلام الرب الى زكريا قائلا.

⁸The word of Yahweh came to Zechariah, saying,

⁹هكذا قال رب الجنود قائلا. اقضوا قضاء الحق واعملوا احسانا ورحمة كل انسان مع اخيه.

⁹“Thus has Yahweh of Armies spoken, saying, ‘Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother.

¹⁰ولا تظلموا الارملة ولا اليتيم ولا الغريب ولا الفقير ولا يفكر احد منكم شرا على اخيه في قلبكم.

¹⁰Don’t oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.’

¹¹فابوا ان يصغوا واعطوا كتفا معاندة وثقّلوا آذانهم عن السمع.

¹¹But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear.

¹²بل جعلوا قلبهم ماسا لئلا يسمعوا الشريعة والكلام الذي ارسله رب الجنود بروحه عن يد الانبياء الاولين فجاء غضب عظيم من عند رب الجنود.

¹²Yes, 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.

¹³فكان كما نادى هو فلم يسمعوا كذلك ينادون هم فلا اسمع قال رب الجنود.

¹³It 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;

¹⁴واعصفهم الى كل الامم الذين لم يعرفوهم. فخربت الارض وراءهم لا ذاهب ولا آئب فجعلوا الارض البهجة خرابا

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.”