1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of theLordcame unto Zechariah in the fourthdayof the ninth month, even in Chislev.
2 Nowthey ofBeth-el had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to entreat the favour of theLord,
3 andto speak unto the priests of the house of theLordof 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 theLordof hosts unto me, saying,
5 Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventhmonth, even these seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?
6 And when ye eat, and when ye drink, do not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?
7 Should yenothearthe words which theLordhath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?
8 And the word of theLordcame unto Zechariah, saying,
9 Thus hath theLordof hosts spoken, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassion 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 hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
12 Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which theLordof hosts had sent by his spirit by the hand of the former prophets: therefore came there great wrath from theLordof hosts.
13 And it came to pass that, as he cried, and they would not hear; so they shall cry, and I will not hear, said theLordof hosts;
14 but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.