And it happened in the fourth year of King Daryavesh, the word of יהוה came to Zekharyah, in the fourth day of the ninth month, in Kislev.

And Beit-El sent Sar-Etser and Regem-Melekh and his men to appease the face of יהוה.

To speak to the priests who are of the house of יהוה Tzevaot and to the prophets, saying, 'Should I weep in the fifth month, abstaining as I have done these many years?'

And the word of יהוה Tzevaot came to me, saying.

'Speak to all the people of the land and to the priests, saying, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh, and this for seventy years, did you fast for Me, even Me?'

'And when you eat and when you drink, are you not the ones eating and you the ones drinking?'

'Are these not the words which יהוה proclaimed by the hand of the former prophets, when Yerushalayim was inhabited and at rest, and its cities around it, and the Negev and the lowlands were inhabited?'

And the word of יהוה came to Zekharyah, saying.

'Thus says יהוה Tzevaot, saying, 'Judge true judgment and practice kindness and mercy, each man with his brother.'

'And do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the sojourner, and the poor, and do not plot evil in your hearts, each man against his brother.'

'But they refused to listen and gave a stubborn shoulder and made their ears heavy from hearing.'

'And they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the Torah and the words which יהוה Tzevaot sent by His Spirit through the hand of the former prophets. And there was great wrath from יהוה Tzevaot.'

'And it happened, as I called and they did not hear, so they will call and I will not hear, says יהוה Tzevaot.'

'And I will scatter them with a whirlwind upon all the nations whom they did not know. And the land became desolate after them, from passerby and from returner. And they made the desirable land a desolation.'