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.

¹Četvrte godine kralja Darija, četvrtoga dana devetoga mjeseca, Kisleva, dođe riječ Jahvina Zahariji.

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

²Betel je naime poslao Sar-Esera i Regem-Meleka s njihovim ljudima da mole lice Jahvino

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?”

³i da pitaju svećenike u Domu Jahve nad Vojskama i proroke: "Hoćemo li plakati petoga mjeseca i postiti, kao što činimo već tolike godine?"

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

⁴Tada mi dođe riječ Jahve nad Vojskama: "Reci svemu puku zemlje i svećenicima:

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?

⁵'Kad postite i naričete petoga i sedmoga mjeseca već sedamdeset godina, zar meni postite?

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

⁶A kad jedete i pijete, zar sebi ne jedete i pijete?

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?’”

⁷Nisu li to propisi koje je Jahve objavio preko negdašnjih proroka kada Jeruzalem bijaše naseljen i miran kao i gradovi oko njega i kada bijaše napučen Negeb i Šefela?'"

⁸The word of Yahweh came to Zechariah, saying,

⁸Riječ Jahvina dođe Zahariji:

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

⁹"Ovako govori Jahve nad Vojskama: 'Sudite istinito i budite dobrostivi i milosrdni jedni drugima.

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.’

¹⁰Ne tlačite udovu ni sirotu, ni došljaka ni uboga, i ne snujte u srcu pakosti jedan prema drugom.'

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

¹¹Ali oni ne htjedoše poslušati, već prkosno okrenuše leđa; zatisnuše uši da ne bi čuli;

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.

¹²otvrdnuše srcem kao kremen, da ne bi čuli Zakon i riječi koje im je slao Jahve nad Vojskama, svojim duhom, preko drevnih proroka. I Jahve nad Vojskama silno se tad razgnjevi.

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;

¹³I zato, kao što je on zvao a oni ga ne slušaše, tako su sad oni zvali a ja ih nisam slušao - riječ je Jahve nad Vojskama.

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.”

¹⁴I razmeo sam ih među sve narode kojih ne poznavahu, a zemlja iza njih bi opustošena, te nitko nije njome prolazio niti se vraćao. Tako su zemlju blagostanja obratili u pustoš!"