1. In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of Adonai came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, in Kislev.
2. Now Bethel sent Sarezer and Regem-melech together with his men to seek the favor of Adonai,
3. and to speak to the kohanim of the House of Adonai-Tzva’ot and to the prophets saying, “Should I mourn and consecrate myself in the fifth month as I have done for so many years?”
4. Then the word of Adonai-Tzva’ot came to me saying:
5. “Speak to all the people of the land and to the kohanim saying, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh months for the past seventy years, did you really fast for Me?