¹⌞And then⌟, in the fourth year of King Darius, the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Kislev. ²And the people of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem-Melech, and their men, to entreat ⌞the favor⌟ of Yahweh, ³saying to the ⌞priests of the house of Yahweh of hosts⌟ and to the prophets, “Should I mourn in the fifth month and keep myself separate as I have done for these many years?” ⁴And the word of Yahweh of hosts came to me, saying, ⁵“Say to all the people of the land and to the priests: ‘When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, did you really fast for me? ⁶And when you eat and drink, are you not eating and drinking for yourselves? ⁷Are not these the words that Yahweh proclaimed ⌞through⌟ the former prophets, when Jerusalem and ⌞its surrounding towns⌟ were inhabited and at ease, and the Negev and the Shephelah were inhabited?’ ” ⁸And the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah, saying, ⁹“Thus says Yahweh of hosts: ‘Judge with trustworthy justice, and show steadfast love and compassion ⌞to one another⌟. ¹⁰You must not oppress the widow, the orphan, the foreigner, and the needy. You must not devise evil in your heart ⌞against one another⌟.’ ¹¹But they refused to listen, and turned a stubborn shoulder and ⌞stopped their ears from listening⌟. ¹²⌞They made their hearts adamant⌟ in order not to hear the law and the words that Yahweh of hosts had sent by his spirit through the former prophets; therefore great wrath came from Yahweh of hosts. ¹³‘Thus, just as I called and they would not hear, so they will call and I will not hear,’ says Yahweh of hosts. ¹⁴‘And I scattered them with a wind among all the nations that they had not known; the land was made desolate behind them— no one crossing through it or returning—and they made the desirable land a desolation.’ ”