¹ And it came to pass, in the fourth year of Darius the king, that the word of Yahweh came unto Zechariah, on the fourth of the ninth month, in Chisleu;

² yea when Bethel sent Sherezer and Regemmelech, and his men,—to pacify the face of Yahweh:

³ to speak unto the priests that pertained to the house of Yahweh of hosts, and unto the prophets, saying,—Shall I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?

⁴ Then came the word of Yahweh of hosts unto me, saying:

⁵ Speak thou unto all the people of the land, and unto the priests, saying,—When ye fasted and lamented in the fifth and in the seventh, even these seventy years, did ye, really fast, unto, me?

⁶ And, when ye used to eat and when ye used to drink, was it not, of your own accord, ye did eat, and, of your own accord, ye did drink?

⁷ Should ye not [have been doing] the things which Yahweh, had proclaimed, by the hand of the former prophets, while yet Jerusalem was inhabited and in peace, with her cities round about her,—and the South and the Lowland were inhabited?

⁸ And the word of Yahweh came unto Zechariah, saying:

⁹ Thus, spake Yahweh of hosts, saying,—With true justice, give ye judgment, and, lovingkindness and compassions, observe ye, one with another;

¹⁰ And, the widow and the fatherless, the sojourner and the humbled, do not ye oppress,—and, wickedness between one man and another, do not ye devise in your hearts.

¹¹ Howbeit they refused to give heed, but put forth a rebellious shoulder,—and, their ears, made they hard of hearing, that they might not hear;

¹² and, their heart, turned they into adamant, that they might not hear the law, nor the words which Yahweh of hosts sent by his spirit, through the former prophets,—and so there came great wrath from Yahweh of hosts.

¹³ Therefore came it to pass that—just as he cried out and they hearkened not, so, used they to cry out, and I used not to hearken, saith Yahweh of hosts;

¹⁴ But I whirled them over all the nations whom they had not known, and, the land, was made desolate after them, that none passed through and returned,—Yea they made of a delightful land—a desolation.