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1In the fourth year that Darius was king, the Lord spoke to Zechariah. It happened on the fourth day of the ninth month that is called Kislev .
2At that time, the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melech and their men to Jerusalem. They came to ask the Lord to bless them.[#7:2 Bethel means ‘God's house’.]
3They came to the temple of the Lord Almighty to speak to the priests and to the prophets . They asked, ‘Should we continue to weep and to fast in the fifth month each year? We have done this for many years.’[#7:3 These people had been in Babylon for 70 years. During that time, they were sad that they could not be in Jerusalem.]
4The Lord Almighty then gave this message to me.
5He said, ‘Speak to all the people in this land and to the priests. Tell them, “You were prisoners in another country for 70 years. At that time, you were sad and you fasted in the fifth month and in the seventh month of each year. But you did not really do this to give me honour .
6Also, when you eat and you drink at special times, you do that to please yourselves.” ’
7This is the same message from the Lord that the prophets spoke in past years. At that time, many people lived in Jerusalem and they were happy. Many people also lived in the towns around Jerusalem, in the Negev region and in the low hills in the west.
8The Lord spoke again to Zechariah.
9He said, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says to the people: “Be sure that you do what is right and fair. Be kind and help each other.
10Do not be cruel to widows or to children who have no family. Do not cheat foreigners or poor people. Do not think of ways to do bad things to each other.” ’
11But the people did not obey the Lord 's commands . They turned away from him and they refused to listen to him.
12They were too proud to accept his laws. They would not obey the messages that the Lord Almighty used his prophets to speak to them in past times. It was God's Spirit that spoke those messages through the prophets. Because of that, the Lord Almighty was very angry with them.
13The Lord Almighty says, ‘When I called out to my people, they refused to listen to me. So when they called out to me, I refused to listen to them.
14Instead, like a strong wind, I blew them away! I sent them to live among other nations that they did not know. The land that they left became an empty place where nobody lived. They caused a beautiful land to become like a desert .’