1And it cometh to pass, in the fourth year of Darius the king hath a word of Jehovah been unto Zechariah, in the fourth of the ninth month, in Chisleu.
2And Beth-El sendeth Sherezer and Regem-Melech, and its men, to appease the face of Jehovah,
3speaking unto the priests who [are] at the house of Jehovah of Hosts, and unto the prophets, saying, `Do I weep in the fifth month -- being separated -- as I have done these so many years?`
4And there is a word of Jehovah of Hosts unto me, saying:
5`Speak unto all the people of the land, and unto the priests, saying:
6When ye fasted with mourning in the fifth and in the seventh [months] -- even these seventy years -- did ye keep the fast [to] Me -- Me? And when ye eat, and when ye drink, is it not ye who are eating, and ye who are drinking?
7`Are not [these] the words that Jehovah proclaimed by the hand of the former prophets, in Jerusalem`s being inhabited, and [in] safety, and its cities round about it, and the south and the plain -- abiding?`
