5. “Tell the priests and the people in the land: ‘For seventy years you fasted and cried in the fifth and seventh months, but that was not really for me.
6. And when you ate and drank, it was really for yourselves.
7. The Lord used the earlier prophets to say the same thing, when Jerusalem and the surrounding towns were at peace and wealthy, and people lived in the southern area and the western hills.’ ”
8. And the Lord spoke his word to Zechariah again, saying,
9. “This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: ‘Do what is right and true. Be kind and merciful to each other.
10. Don’t hurt widows and orphans, foreigners or the poor; don’t even think of doing evil to somebody else.’