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1 | And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that
the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of
the ninth month, even in Chisleu; |
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2 | When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and
Regemmelech, 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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8 | And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying, |
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9 | Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true
judgment, and shew 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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