1 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev.

And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu;

2 The people of Bethel sent Sharezer, Regem-melech, and their men to seek the favor of the LORD.

When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regemmelech, and their men, to pray before the LORD,

3 They asked the priests of the house of the LORD of Hosts and the prophets, 'Should I weep in the fifth month and abstain, as I have done for so many years?'

And to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the LORD 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 the word of the LORD of Hosts came to me, saying:

Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying,

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

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

6 And when you eat and when you drink, aren’t you eating and drinking for yourselves?

And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

7 Are these not the words the LORD proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, along with its surrounding cities, and when the Negev and the Shephelah were also peopled?

Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?

8 Then the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying:

And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying,

9 Thus says the LORD of Hosts: 'Administer true justice. Show kindness and compassion to one another.

Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother:

10 Do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.'

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 pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder. They stopped their ears so they would not hear.

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

12 They made their hearts as hard as flint, refusing to hear the law and the words that the LORD of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore, great wrath came from the LORD of Hosts.

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

13 'Just as I called, and they did not listen, so when they call, I will not listen,' says the LORD of Hosts.

Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts:

14 'I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known. The land was left so desolate behind them that no one could come or go. This is how they made the pleasant land a wasteland.'

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.