1 The captives inquire of fasting. 4 Zechariah reproves their fasting. 8 Sin the cause of their captivity.

¹ And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came to Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu;

² When they had sent to the house of God Sherezer and Regemmelech, and their men, to pray before the LORD,

³ And to speak to the priests which were in the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years? ¶

⁴ Then came the word of the LORD of hosts 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 seventh month, even those seventy years, did you at all fast to me, even to me?

⁶ And when you did eat, and when you did drink, did not you eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

⁷ Should you not hear the words which the LORD has cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain? ¶

⁸ And the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying,

⁹ Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassions every man to his brother:

¹⁰ And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.

¹¹ But they refused to listen, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.

¹² Yes, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts has sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.

¹³ Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, says the LORD of hosts:

¹⁴ But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.