⁸ Cain talked with Abel his brother [about what God had said]. And when they were [alone, working] in the field, Cain ^[a]attacked Abel his brother and killed him.^(A)

Joash Murders Son of Jehoiada

²⁰ Then the Spirit of God came over Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people and said to them, “This is what God has said: ‘Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord so that you cannot prosper? Because you have abandoned (turned away from) the Lord, He has also abandoned (turned away from) you.’” ²¹ So they conspired against Zechariah and stoned him [to death] at the command of the king, in the courtyard of the house of the Lord.

A Call to Repentance

1 In ^[a]the eighth month of the second year [of the reign] of ^[b]Darius [the king of Persia], the word of the Lord came to Zechariah (the Lord remembers) the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying,^(A)

³⁵ so that on you will come the guilt of all the blood of the righteous shed on earth, from the blood of righteous ^[a]Abel to the blood of Zechariah [the priest], the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.^(A)