1. In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev.
2. The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreat the Lord
3. by asking the priests of the house of the Lord Almighty and the prophets, ‘Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?’
4. Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: