7:4 The word of the Lord who rules over all then came to me,
7:5 “Speak to all the people and priests of the land as follows: ‘When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and seventh 1 months through all these seventy years, did you truly fast for me – for me, indeed?
1 tn The seventh month apparently refers to the anniversary of the assassination of Gedaliah, governor of Judah (Jer 40:13-14; 41:1), in approximately 581 b.c.