1. And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, the word of יְהוָ֥ה came unto Zechariah in the fourth of the ninth month, in Chisleu;

2. When they had sent unto the house of Elohim Sherezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to pray before יְהוָ֥ה,

3. to speak unto the priests which in the house of יְהוָ֥ה of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?

4. Then came the word of יְהוָ֥ה of hosts unto me, saying,

5. Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, to me?

6. And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat, and drink?

7. not the words which יְהוָ֥ה hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when inhabited the south and the plain?

8. And the word of יְהוָ֥ה came unto Zechariah, saying,

9. Thus speaketh יְהוָ֥ה of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother:

10. And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.

11. But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.

12. Yea, they made their hearts an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which יְהוָ֥ה of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from יְהוָ֥ה of hosts.

13. Therefore it is come to pass, as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith יְהוָ֥ה of hosts:

14. But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.