The Hebrew Prophets

For they had sent vnto the House of God Sharezer, and Regem-melech and their men to pray before the Lord,

And to speake vnto the Priests, which were in the House of the Lord of hostes, and to the Prophets, saying, Should I weepe in the fift moneth, and separate my selfe as I haue done these so many yeeres?

Then came the word of the Lord of hostes vnto me, saying,

Speake vnto all the people of the land, and to the Priests, and say, When ye fasted, and mourned in the fift and seuenth moneth, euen the seuentie yeeres, did ye fast vnto me? doe I approoue it?

And when ye did eate, and when ye did drinke, did ye not eate for your selues, and drinke for your selues?

Should ye not heare the wordes, which the Lord hath cryed by the ministerie of the former Prophets when Ierusalem was inhabited, and in prosperitie, and the cities thereof round about her, when the South and the plaine was inhabited?

And the worde of the Lord came vnto Zechariah, saying,

Thus speaketh the Lord of hostes, saying, Execute true iudgement, and shewe mercy and compassion, euery man to his brother,

And oppresse not the widowe, nor the fatherles, the stranger nor the poore, and let none of you imagine euil against his brother in your heart.

But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their eares, that they should not heare.

Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, least they should heare the Lawe and the wordes which the Lord of hostes sent in his spirit by the ministerie of ye former Prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hostes.

Therefore it is come to passe, that as he cried, and they would not heare, so they cried, and I would not heare, sayth the Lord of hostes.

But I scattered them among all the nations, whom they knew not: thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they layd the pleasant land waste.

Againe the worde of the Lord of hostes came to me, saying,

Thus saith the Lord of hostes, I was ielous for Zion with great ielousie, and I was ielous for her with great wrath.

Thus saith the Lord, I wil returne vnto Zion, and wil dwel in the mids of Ierusalem: and Ierusalem shalbe called a citie of trueth, and the Mountaine of the Lord of hostes, the holy Mountaine.

Thus sayth the Lord of hostes, There shall yet olde men and olde women dwell in the streetes of Ierusalem, and euery man with his staffe in his hand for very age.

And the streetes of the citie shalbe full of boyes and girles, playing in the streetes thereof.

Thus saith the Lord of hostes, Though it be vnpossible in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these dayes, should it therefore be vnpossible in my sight, sayth the Lord of hostes?

Thus sayth the Lord of hostes, Beholde, I will deliuer my people from the East countrey, and from the West countrey.

And I wil bring them, and they shall dwel in the mids of Ierusalem, and they shalbe my people, and I wil be their God in trueth, and in righteousnes.

Thus sayth the Lord of hostes, Let your hands be strong, ye that heare in these dayes these words by the mouth of the Prophets, which were in the day, that the foundation of the House of the Lord of hostes was laide, that the Temple might be builded.

For before these dayes there was no hire for man nor any hire for beast, neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in because of the affliction: for I set all men, euery one against his neighbour.

But nowe, I wil not intreate the residue of this people as aforetime, saith the Lord of hostes.

For the seede shall be prosperous: the vine shall giue her fruite, and the ground shall giue her increase, and the heauens shall giue their dewe, and I will cause the remnant of this people to possesse all these things.