3 and to ^aask the priests who were in the house of the Lord of hosts, and the prophets, saying, “Should I weep in ^bthe fifth month and fast as I have done for so many years?”  ‡

4 Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying,

6 ^aWhen you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves?  ‡

7 Should you not have obeyed the words which the Lord proclaimed through the ^aformer prophets when Jerusalem and the cities around it were inhabited and prosperous, and ^bthe South and the Lowland were inhabited?’ ”  ‡