Zechariah 7
Insincere Fasting
Reproved |
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And it came to pass in the fourth year of
king Dari'us, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechari'ah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chis'leu;
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2 |
when they had sent unto the house of God
Shere'zer and Re'gem-me'lech, and their men, to pray before the
LORD,
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3 |
and to speak unto the priests
which were in the house of the LORD of
hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth
month, separating myself, as I have done these so many
years?
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4 |
Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying,
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5 |
Speak unto all the people of the land,
and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth
and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all
fast unto me, even to me?
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6 |
And when ye did eat, and when ye did
drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for
yourselves?
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7 |
Should ye not hear the
words which the LORD hath cried by the former
prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the
cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south
and the plain?
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Disobedience the Cause
of Captivity |
8 |
And the word of the LORD came unto Zechari'ah, saying,
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9 |
Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and show
mercy and compassions every man to his brother:
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10 |
and oppress not the widow, nor the
fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine
evil against his brother in your heart.
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11 |
But they refused to hearken, and pulled
away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not
hear.
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12 |
Yea, they made their hearts as an
adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which
the LORD of hosts hath sent in his Spirit by
the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.
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13 |
Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not
hear, saith the LORD of hosts:
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14 |
but I scattered them with a whirlwind
among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate
after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid
the pleasant land desolate.
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