1 And in the fourth year of King Darius, on the fourth day of the ninth month, Kislev, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah.
2 Those in Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek and their men to entreat the graces of the Lord,
3 saying to the priests and prophets of the house of the Lord of Hosts, “Should I weep and dedicate myself during the fifth month as I have done in these many years?”
4 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
5 Say to all the people in the land and to the priests: When you fasted and lamented during the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, did you really fast for Me?
6 And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves?
7 Were these not the very words that the former prophets proclaimed when Jerusalem dwelled with ease along with her surrounding cities, and when the Negev and the Lowland were inhabited?