1
Now in the fourth year of King Darius it came to pass that the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, on the fourth day of the ninth month, Chislev,
2
when the people sent Sherezer, with Regem-Melech and his men, to the house of God, to pray before the Lord,
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and to ask the priests who were in the house of the Lord of hosts, and the prophets, saying, "Should I weep in the fifth month and fast as I have done for so many years?"
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Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying,
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"Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me--for Me?
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When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves?