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.

¹¶ Na i te wha o nga tau o Kingi Tariuha ka puta mai te kupu a Ihowa ki a Hakaraia, i te wha o nga ra o te iwa o nga marama, ara o Kihereu.

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

²Na kua unga e te hunga o Peteere a Haretere raua ko Rekeme Mereke, me a raua tangata, ki te inoi manaaki i a Ihowa,

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?”

³A hei korero hoki ki nga tohunga o te whare o Ihowa o nga mano, ki nga poropiti hoki, hei mea, Me tangi ranei ahau i te rima o nga marama, me te wehe i ahau, me pera me taku i mea ai i enei tau ka maha?

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

⁴Na ka puta mai te kupu a Ihowa o nga mano ki ahau, ka mea,

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?

⁵Korero ki nga tangata katoa o te whenua, ratou ko nga tohunga, mea atu, I a koutou i nohopuku ra, i tangi ra, i te rima, i te whitu o nga marama, ara i enei tau e whitu tekau, he nohopuku ranei ta koutou ki ahau? ki ahau koia?

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

⁶A i a koutou e kai nei, e inu nei, he teka ianei ma koutou ano ta koutou e kai ai, e inu ai?

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?’”

⁷Ehara ianei i te mea kia rongo koutou i nga kupu i karangatia e Ihowa, ara e nga poropiti o mua, i te mea e nohoia ana a Hiruharama, e noho rangatira ana, me ona pa ano a taka noa, i te mea hoki e nohoia ana te tonga me te mania?

⁸The word of Yahweh came to Zechariah, saying,

⁸¶ I puta mai ano te kupu a Ihowa ki a Hakaraia, i mea,

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

⁹Ko te kupu tenei a Ihowa o nga mano, e mea ana, Kia pono te whakarite o te whakawa, kia puta te aroha me te tohu tangata ki tona tuakana, ki tona teina.

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.’

¹⁰Kaua hoki e tukinotia te pouaru, te pani, te manene, te ware; kaua hoki e whakaaroa he kino i roto i o koutou ngakau ki tona tuakana, ki tona teina.

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

¹¹Heoi kihai ratou i pai ki te whakarongo, kei te whakahoki i te pokohiwi, kei te whakapuhoi i o ratou taringa kei rongo.

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.

¹²Ae ra, i meinga e ratou o ratou ngakau kia rite ki te taimana kei rongo ratou ki te ture, ki nga kupu hoki i unga atu e Ihowa o nga mano, he mea na tona wairua, na te ringa o nga poropiti o mua; na reira ka puta mai he riri nui i a Ihowa o nga m ano.

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;

¹³Na, i tana karangatanga, kihai ratou i rongo; waihoki ka karanga ratou, a e kore ahau e rongo, e ai ta Ihowa o nga mano:

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.”

¹⁴Otiia ka aia atu ratou e ahau ki te paroro ki waenga i nga iwi katoa kihai i mohiotia e ratou. Heoi ururua ana te whenua i muri i a ratou, te haerea, te hokia; na ratou hoki i mea te whenua ahuareka kia ururua.