¹ And in the fourth year of king Darius, the word of Jehovah was to Zechariah, in the fourth of the ninth month, in Chislev.

² And Sharezer and Regem-melech, and his men, had sent to Bethel to seek the favor of the face of Jehovah,

³ to speak to the priests who belong to the house of Jehovah of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, consecrating myself as I have done these many years?

⁴ The word of Jehovah of hosts was 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 months , even those seventy years, did you truly fast to Me, even to Me?

⁶ And when you ate, and when you drank, was it not for those eating, and for those drinking?

⁷ Are not these the words which Jehovah proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited, and prosperous with her cities all around her, and the Negeb and the Shephelah were inhabited?

⁸ And the word of Jehovah was to Zechariah, saying,

⁹ So says Jehovah of hosts, saying, Judge true judgment, and practice kindness and pity, each man with his brother.

¹⁰ And do not oppress the widow, or the fatherless, the alien, or the poor. And do not devise evil in your heart, of a man against his brother.

¹¹ But they refused to listen, and gave a stubborn shoulder, and they made their ears heavy from hearing.

¹² And they made their heart adamant from hearing the law and the words which Jehovah of hosts has sent by the former prophets through His Spirit. And great wrath was from Jehovah of hosts.

¹³ And it will be, just as He called, and they did not listen; so they called, and I did not listen, says Jehovah of hosts.

¹⁴ But I stormed them away on all the nations whom they did not know. And the land is desolated behind them, from passing and from returning; for they made the land of desire a waste.