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¹ And then,^[a] 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. ² And the people of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem-Melech, and their^[b] men, to entreat the favor^[c] of Yahweh, ³ saying to the priests of the house of Yahweh of hosts^[d] and to the prophets, "Should I mourn in the fifth month and keep myself separate^[e] as I have done for these many years?" ⁴ And 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? ⁶ And when you eat and drink, are you not eating and drinking for yourselves? ⁷ Are not these the words that Yahweh proclaimed through^[f] the former prophets, when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns^[g] were inhabited and at ease, and the Negev^[h] and the Shephelah^[i] were inhabited?'"

⁸ And the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah, saying, ⁹ "Thus says Yahweh of hosts: ‘Judge with trustworthy justice, and show^[j] steadfast love and compassion to one another.^{[k] 10} You must not oppress the widow, the orphan, the foreigner, and the needy. You must not devise evil in your heart against one another.'^{[l] 11} But they refused to listen, and turned^[m] a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears from listening.^{[n] 12} They made their hearts adamant^[o] in order not to hear the law^[p] and the words that Yahweh of hosts had sent by his spirit through^[q] the former prophets; therefore great wrath came from Yahweh of hosts. ¹³ ‘Thus, just as I^[r] 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^[s] a desolation.'"