Zechariah 1:1-6

In the eighth month of the second year [of the reign] of Darius [the king of Persia], the word of the LORD came to Zechariah (the LORD remembers) the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying, [Ezra 5:1] “The LORD was extremely angry with your fathers. Therefore say to the Jews, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts (armies), “Return to Me,” declares the LORD of hosts, “and I shall return to you. Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Repent [that is, change your way of thinking] and return now from your evil way [of life] and from your evil deeds.” ’ But they did not listen or pay attention to Me,” declares the LORD. [2 Kin 17:13; Is 45:22; Jer 18:11; Ezek 33:11] “Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? But did not My words (warnings) and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers? Then they repented and said, ‘As the LORD of hosts planned to do to us [in discipline and punishment], in accordance with our ways and our deeds, so has He dealt with us.’ ” ’ ”