1. I am the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah and the grandson of Iddo.In the eighth month of the second year that Darius was king of Persia, the Lord told me to say:
2-3. Israel, I, the Lord All-Powerful, was very angry with your ancestors. But if you people will return to me, I will turn and help you.
4. Don't be stubborn like your ancestors. They were warned by the earlier prophets to give up their evil and turn back to me, but they paid no attention.
5. Where are your ancestors now? Not even prophets live for ever.
6. But my warnings and my words spoken by the prophets caught up with your ancestors. So they turned back to me and said, “Lord All-Powerful, you have punished us for our sins, just as you had planned.”