- 1
- And in the fourth yere of king Darius, the word of the lorde came vnto Zacharia in the fourth [day] of the ninth moneth, which is called Casleu,
- 2
- What time as Sarasar & Rogommelech, and the men that were with them, sent vnto the house of God for to pray before the Lorde:
- 3
- And that they shoulde speake vnto the priestes which were in the house of the Lorde of hoastes, and to the prophetes, saying: should I wepe in the fifth moneth, & abstayne as I haue done nowe certaine yeres?
- 4
- Then came the worde of the Lorde of hoastes vnto me, saying:
- 5
- Speake vnto al the people of the land, and to the priestes, & say: When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth & seuenth moneth now this threescore & ten yeres, did ye fast vnto me?
- 6
- When ye did eate also & drincke, did ye not eate & drincke for your owne selues?
- 7
- Are not these the wordes which the Lord spake by his prophetes aforetime, when Hierusalem was yet inhabited & wealthy, she and the cities round about her, whe there dwelt men both toward the south and in the playne countreys?
- 8
- And the worde of the Lorde came vnto Zachari, saying:
- 9
- Thus saith the Lord of hoastes: Execute true iudgement, shew mercie & louing kindnes euery man to his brother.
- 10
- Do the wydow, the fatherlesse, the straungers and poore no wrong, and let no man imagine euil against his brother in his heart.
- 11
- Neuerthelesse, they would not take heede, but turned their backes, & stopped their eares that they should not heare:
- 12
- Yea, they made their heartes as an Adamant stone, lest they should heare the law and wordes which the Lorde of hoastes sent in his holy spirite by the prophetes aforetime: Wherfore the lord of hoastes was very wroth at them.
- 13
- And thus is it come to passe, that like as he cryed, and they would not heare: euen so they cryed, & I would not heare saith the Lord God of hoastes:
- 14
- But scattred them among al the nations whom they knew not: Thus the land was made so desolate after them, that there trauayled no man in it neither to nor fro: for that plesaunt lande was vtterly layd waste.
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