1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius,
2 When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to pray before the
3 And
4 Then came the word of the
5 Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh
6 And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat
7 Should ye
8 And the word of the
9 Thus speaketh the
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.
11 But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
12 Yea, they made their hearts
13 Therefore it is come to pass,
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.