Say to all the people of the land and the priests: The message is not addressed directly to the visitors who had asked the question in verse 3, but they are probably to be included among those addressed.

In Revised Standard Version this is followed by a second degree quotation, but Good News Translation restructures it as indirect speech: “Tell the people of the land and the priests that….” See the comments above in the introduction to this paragraph.

When you fasted and mourned … was it for me that you fasted?: Although this sentence has the form of a question, the context clearly expects a negative answer. The overall effect is therefore that of a negative statement. Good News Translation has restructured it as a negative statement: “when they fasted and mourned … it was not in honor of me” (similarly Bible en français courant). Many translators will find it helpful to do the same. Contemporary English Version restructures, but keeps a question: “you have gone without eating … But did you really do it for me?” This is also an acceptable model.

In the fifth month and in the seventh: The fast in the fifth month commemorated the destruction of Solomon’s Temple by the Babylonians (see the comments on verse 3). The fast in the seventh month, not mentioned in verse 3, commemorated the murder of Gedaliah, the man appointed as governor of Judah by the Babylonians after the capture of Jerusalem (2 Kgs 25.25; Jer 41.1-3). This information may be added in a footnote, as in Bible en français courant and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente.

For these seventy years: This is a round figure. The exact time was two or three years less, but translators should keep to the round figure.

Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Zechariah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2002. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .