Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders {and} all the inhabitants of the land {into} the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD, {solemn...: or, day of restraint}

And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask {help} of the LORD: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which {is} not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish. {present: Heb. found}

Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.

And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that {was} before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel.

Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.

For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me. {lothed...: Heb. was straightened for them}

Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time {that} I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.

Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye {even} to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:

I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies. {the dearly...: Heb. the love}

Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of {our} soul {is} to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.

Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. {laden: Heb. of heaviness} {gone...: Heb. alienated, or, separated}

Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

And ye shall seek me, and find {me}, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for {it is} time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.

I will go {and} return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early. {acknowledge...: Heb. be guilty}

Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the LORD God of Israel, {There is} an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I have lifted up mine hand, Surely the heathen that {are} about you, they shall bear their shame.

{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? {Should...: or, Are not these the words} {by: Heb. by the hand of}

The just LORD {is} in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame. {every...: Heb. morning by morning}

The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers. {sore...: Heb. with displeasure}

Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.