1. In the fourth year of Darius the king, the Lord’s word came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, Kislev.
2. The people of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem-Melech, along with his men, to seek the Lord’s favor,
3. saying to the priests who were in the house of the Lord of heavenly forces and to the prophets: "Should I weep in the fifth month and abstain as I have done for a number of years?"
4. Then the word of the Lord of heavenly forces came to me:
5. Say to all the land’s people and to the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth month and the seventh month for these past seventy years, did you fast for me?
6. When you ate and drank, weren’t you the ones eating and drinking?
7. Weren’t these the words that the Lord proclaimed through the former prophets when Jerusalem was dwelling quietly along with the surrounding cities, and when the arid southern plain and the western foothills were inhabited?
8. The Lord’s word came to Zechariah:
9. The Lord of heavenly forces proclaims:Make just and faithful decisions; show kindness and compassion to each other!