1. And 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.
2. And Beth-El sendeth Sherezer and Regem-Melech, and its men, to appease the face of Jehovah,
3. speaking 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?'
4. And 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:
6. When 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?'
8. And there is a word of Jehovah unto Zechariah, saying:
9. `Thus spake Jehovah of Hosts, saying: True judgment judge ye, And kindness and mercy do one with another.