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 Chisleu;
This is about two years after the first prophecy.
2 When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regemmelech, and their men, to pray before the LORD,
3 And to speak unto the priests which were in 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?
A delegation comes to Jerusalem to see if they should still keep the days of mourning they had set up to commemorate the fall of Jerusalem.
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 seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto Me, even to Me?
6 And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?
God is telling them that they kept those feasts out of their own selfishness, not out of a desire to worship Him.
Religion done correctly for the wrong reasons is still false religion. True religion must start in the heart.
7 Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?
God is telling them to go back and read the prophecies given before the fall of Jerusalem. God has not changed.
8 And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying,
God then has Zechariah summarize the messages given before the fall of Jerusalem.
9 Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassions every man to his brother:
10 And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.
God desires compassion and righteousness, not ceremonies.
11 But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
12 Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in His spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.
Israel and Judah flat ignored God back then.
13 Therefore it is come to pass, that as He cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, says the LORD of hosts:
14 But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.
“Quit your belly aching! I punished them because they disobeyed Me. I still care about the same things as I did back then.”