Zechariah 7:1-7 ▼

1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chislev;

2 When Bethel-sarezer, and Regem-melech and his men, had sent to entreat the favour of the LORD,

3 and to speak unto the priests of the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying: 'Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?'

4 Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying:

5 Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying: When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month, even these seventy years, did ye at all fast unto Me, even to Me?

6 And when ye eat, and when ye did drink, are ye not they that eat, and they that drink?

7 Should ye not hearken to the words which the LORD hath proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, and the South and the Lowland were inhabited?'