Justice and Mercy, Not Fasting

7 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah^(A) on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev.^(B)

Nehemiah’s Prayer

1 The words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah:

In the month of Kislev^(A) in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa,^(B)

A Call to Return to the Lord

1 In the eighth month of the second year of Darius,^(A) the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah^(B) son of Berekiah,^(C) the son of Iddo:^(D)

¹⁴ So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching^(A) of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus,^(B) Darius^(C) and Artaxerxes,^(D) kings of Persia. ¹⁵ The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.^(E)

Blessings for a Defiled People

¹⁰ On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month,^(A) in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Haggai:

Zerubbabel the Lord’s Signet Ring

²⁰ The word of the Lord came to Haggai^(A) a second time on the twenty-fourth day of the month:^(B)