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.

¹Zgodi se pa v četrtem letu kralja Darija, da je prišla beseda GOSPODOVA Zahariju, četrti dan devetega meseca, Kisleva.

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

²Takrat so poslali iz Betela Sarezerja in Regemeleka ž njegovimi možmi, da prosijo blagovoljnosti GOSPODA

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?”

³in da govore duhovnikom hiše GOSPODA nad vojskami in prorokom: Ali naj še jočem in se zdržujem v petem mesecu, kakor sem že delal veliko let?

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

⁴In prišla mi je beseda GOSPODA nad vojskami, govoreč:

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?

⁵Reci vsemu ljudstvu dežele in duhovnikom takole: Ko ste se postili v petem in sedmem mesecu teh sedemdesetih let, ste li se postili meni in zavoljo mene?

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

⁶Ko pa jeste in ko pijete, ne jeste li in ne pijete li zase?

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?’”

⁷Ne veste li za besede, ki jih je GOSPOD oznanjal po prejšnjih prorokih, ko se je še prebivalo v Jeruzalemu, ko je vladal mir v njem in v mestih okoli njega, in se je prebivalo v južni pokrajini in v nižavi?

⁸The word of Yahweh came to Zechariah, saying,

⁸In prišla je beseda GOSPODOVA Zahariju, govoreč:

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

⁹Tako pravi GOSPOD nad vojskami in veleva: Izvršujte sodbe po resnici ter izkazujte milost in usmiljenje drug drugemu;

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.’

¹⁰in ne zatirajte vdove in sirote, tujca in ubožca, in nihče naj ne izmišlja hudega v svojem srcu zoper svojega brata!

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

¹¹Ali takrat niso hoteli poslušati in so uporno nastavili pleča in si zatisnili ušesa, da ne bi slišali.

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.

¹²In srce so si naredili kakor demant, da ne bi slišali postave in besed, ki jih je GOSPOD nad vojskami poslal po svojem duhu s prejšnjimi proroki; zato je prišla velika jeza od GOSPODA nad vojskami.

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;

¹³In zgodilo se je: kakor sem klical jaz, pa niso hoteli poslušati, tako so klicali oni, a nisem hotel slišati, pravi GOSPOD nad vojskami;ali raznesel sem jih kakor z vetrom med vse narode, ki jih niso poznali; in zemlja je bila opustošena za njimi, da nihče ni hodil po njej; in izpremenili so deželo zaželjeno v puščavo.

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.”

¹⁴ali raznesel sem jih kakor z vetrom med vse narode, ki jih niso poznali; in zemlja je bila opustošena za njimi, da nihče ni hodil po njej; in izpremenili so deželo zaželjeno v puščavo.