Zechariah 8:9

The prophets, which were, &c.— Who spake, &c. The day of the foundation was about two years before, as this discourse of the prophet was in the fourth year of the prophet. It was at this time that the Lord began to raise up the prophets, and to give gracious promises to his people: till that period he had not wholly taken his correcting hand from them; nothing succeeded with them; the labour of man and of beards were alike useless. See Zechariah 8:10 and compare Haggai 2:16.