Zechariah 7:6

"And when ye eat, and when ye drink, do not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves. Should ye not hear the words which Jehovah cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?"

These two verses conclude the prophet's first statement regarding the question of fasting. Instead of giving a flat "yes" or "no" as the answer to their problem, he first pointed out that what they really needed was to "hear the word of Jehovah."

"Should ye not hear the words which Jehovah cried by the former prophets ...?" What Israel needed was not divine wisdom regarding fasts that God had not ordained, but close attention to the Word of God as spoken through the prophets. It is of interest here that Zechariah by these words reiterated the divine sanction of all that those prophets had said. It was the failure of Israel to heed God's word and their rebellious apostasy from him that had resulted in the punishments and disasters that had befallen them. The cure: HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD!