Charles Ellicott Commentary Zechariah 1:4

"Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets cried, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Return ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith Jehovah." — Zechariah 1:4 (ASV)

The former prophets—namely, those who prophesied when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity (Zechariah 7:7), before the captivity. Septuagint, οἱ πατέρες ἔμπροσθεν [to whom] the prophets before [enjoined], which is inaccurate. Οἱ προϕῆται οἱ ἔμπροσθεν, “the prophets of former times,” would have been correct.