1. And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, in the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Casleu.
2. When Sarasar, and Rogommelech, and the men that were with him, sent to the house of God, to entreat the face of the Lord:
3. To speak to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying: Must I weep in the fifth month, or must I sanctify myself as I have now done for many years?
4. And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying:
5. Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying: When you fasted, and mourned in the fifth and the seventh month for these seventy years: did you keep a fast unto me?
6. And when you did eat and drink, did you not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?
7. Are not these the words which the Lord spoke by the hand of the former prophets, when Jerusalem as yet was inhabited, and was wealthy, both itself and the cities round about it, and there were inhabitants towards the south, and in the plain?