1. In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, son of Iddo:
2. “The Lord was extremely angry with your ancestors.
3. So tell the people: This is what the Lord of Hosts says: Return to Me” — this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts — “and I will return to you, says the Lord of Hosts.
4. Do not be like your ancestors; the earlier prophets proclaimed to them: This is what the Lord of Hosts says: Turn from your evil ways and your evil deeds. But they did not listen or pay attention to Me” — this is the Lord’s declaration.
5. “Where are your ancestors now? And do the prophets live forever?