| Zechariah 8:19
| Thus saith the Lord of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Juda joy and gladness, and great solemnities; only love ye truth and peace.
| Fast. They fasted on the ninth day of the fourth month, because on that day Nabuchodonosor took Jerusalem, Jeremias 52:6. On the tenth day of the fifth month, because on that day the temple was burnt, Jeremias 52:12. On the third day of the seventh month, for the murder of Godolias, Jeremias 41:2. And on the tenth day of the tenth month, because on that day the Chaldeans began to besiege Jerusalem, 4 Kings 25:1. All these fasts, if they will be obedient for the future, shall be changed (as is here promised) into joyful solemnities. (Challoner) --- They had only inquired about the fasts of the fifth and seventh months but the two others were also to be omitted in times of joy. (Worthington) --- The Jews still observe all four. (Basnage 5:16.) --- They fast on the seventeenth of the fourth month, because the breach was then made in the walls, (Calmet) and Moses broke the tables of the law, according to the Jews, in St. Jerome. The ninth of the fifth month is also kept instead of the tenth, on which day the city was taken by the Chaldeans; (Calmet) and the Romans burnt the temple in the same month, as the Israelites had then formerly been sentenced to wander in the desert. (St. Jerome) --- It would be difficult for the Jews to prove all these assertions.
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