1In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev.
2The people of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem Melech, along with their men, to ask Yahweh for favor,
3and to speak to the priests of the house of Yahweh of Armies and to the prophets, asking, “Should I mourn and separate myself in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”
4Then the word of Yahweh of Armies came to me, saying,
5“Tell all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted?
6When you eat and drink, aren’t you eating for yourselves and drinking for yourselves?
7Aren’t these the words that Yahweh proclaimed through the former prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, with its surrounding cities, and when the Negev and the foothills were inhabited?’”
8The word of Yahweh came to Zechariah, saying,
9Yahweh of Armies said, 'You must judge fairly, and show kindness and compassion to each other.
10Do not mistreat widows, orphans, foreigners, or the poor. And do not plan evil against your neighbor in your heart.'
11But they refused to listen. They turned their backs and covered their ears so they wouldn't hear.
12They made their hearts as hard as rock so they wouldn't hear the law and the messages that Yahweh of Armies had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So, great anger came from Yahweh of Armies.
13Yahweh of Armies said, "Just as I called and they refused to listen, so when they call, I will not listen."
14"Instead, I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations they have never known. Their land was left empty after them; no one traveled through it or returned to it, because they made the pleasant land a wasteland."