1 And then,in the fourth year of King Darius, the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Kislev.

2 And the people of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem-Melech, and theirmen, to entreat the favorof Yahweh,

3 saying to the priests of the house of Yahweh of hostsand to the prophets, “Should I mourn in the fifth month and keep myself separateas I have done for these many years?”

4 And the word of Yahweh of hosts came to me, saying,

5 “Say to all the people of the land and to the priests: ‘When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, did you really fast for me?

6 And when you eat and drink, are you not eating and drinking for yourselves?

7 Are not these the words that Yahweh proclaimed throughthe former prophets, when Jerusalem and its surrounding townswere inhabited and at ease, and the Negevand the Shephelahwere inhabited?’ ”

8 And the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah, saying,

9 “Thus says Yahweh of hosts: ‘Judge with trustworthy justice, and showsteadfast love and compassion to one another.

10 You must not oppress the widow, the orphan, the foreigner, and the needy. You must not devise evil in your heart against one another.’

11 But they refused to listen, and turneda stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears from listening.

12 They made their hearts adamantin order not to hear the lawand the words that Yahweh of hosts had sent by his spirit throughthe former prophets; therefore great wrath came from Yahweh of hosts.

13 ‘Thus, just as Icalled and they would not hear, so they will call and I will not hear,’ says Yahweh of hosts.

14 ‘And I scattered them with a wind among all the nations that they had not known; the land was made desolate behind them— no one crossing through it or returning—and they made the desirable landa desolation.’ ”