“ Ten days later, on the tenth day of the same month, you must call another holy assembly. On that day, the Day of Atonement, the people must go without food and must do no ordinary work.

“七月初十日，你们当有圣会；要刻苦己心，什么工都不可做。

“七月初十，你们当有圣会；要刻苦己心，任何工都不可做。

“七月初十，你们当有圣会；要刻苦己心，任何工都不可做。

“七月十日，你们要举行圣会，禁食，不可工作。

“‘在七月十日，你们要有圣会，刻苦己心，什么都不可作，

「七月初十日，你們當有聖會；要刻苦己心，甚麼工都不可做。

「七月初十，你們當有聖會；要刻苦己心，任何工都不可做。

「七月初十，你們當有聖會；要刻苦己心，任何工都不可做。

「七月十日，你們要舉行聖會，禁食，不可工作。

“‘在七月十日，你們要有聖會，刻苦己心，甚麼都不可作，

『在這七月十日、你們要有聖聚會，要刻苦自己；甚麼工都不可作，

七月十日、必有聖會、當苦其心、勿操作、

七月十日、必有聖會、咸止工作、卑以自牧、

七月十日、爾當有聖會、必刻苦齋戒、無論何工、悉毋作、

“‘ On the tenth day of this seventh month hold a sacred assembly. You must deny yourselves and do no work.

“‘ On the tenth day of the seventh month, come together for a special service. You must not eat anything on that day. You must not do any work on it.

“ On the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy convocation and afflict yourselves. You shall do no work,

“ You are to hold a sacred assembly on the tenth day of this seventh month and practice self-denial; do not do any work.

‘ Then on the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy assembly, and you shall humble yourselves; you shall not do any work.

‘ On the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall afflict your souls; you shall not do any work.

And on the tenth day of this seventh month ye shall have a holy convocation; and ye shall afflict your souls: ye shall do no manner of work;

“ You are to hold a sacred assembly on the tenth day of this seventh month and practice self-denial; you must not do any work.

And ye shall have on the tenth[ day] of this seventh month an holy convocation; and ye shall afflict your souls: ye shall not do any work[ therein]:

“‘ On the tenth day of this seventh month you are to have a holy assembly. You must humble yourselves; you must not do any work on it.

“‘ On the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall afflict your souls. You shall do no kind of work;

Yet when they were ill, I grieved for them. I denied myself by fasting for them, but my prayers returned unanswered.

“ On the tenth day of the appointed month in early autumn, you must deny yourselves. Neither native born Israelites nor foreigners living among you may do any kind of work. This is a permanent law for you.On that day offerings of purification will be made for you, and you will be purified in the Lord’s presence from all your sins.It will be a Sabbath day of complete rest for you, and you must deny yourselves. This is a permanent law for you.

We had lost a lot of time. The weather was becoming dangerous for sea travel because it was so late in the fall, and Paul spoke to the ship’s officers about it.

And there by the Ahava Canal, I gave orders for all of us to fast and humble ourselves before our God. We prayed that he would give us a safe journey and protect us, our children, and our goods as we traveled.

No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too.”

‘ We have fasted before you!’ they say.‘ Why aren’t you impressed? We have been very hard on ourselves, and you don’t even notice it!’“ I will tell you why!” I respond.“ It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves. Even while you fast, you keep oppressing your workers.What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me.You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like reeds bending in the wind. You dress in burlap and cover yourselves with ashes. Is this what you call fasting? Do you really think this will please the Lord?

We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.

Then the Lord said to Moses,“ Be careful to celebrate the Day of Atonement on the tenth day of that same month— nine days after the Festival of Trumpets. You must observe it as an official day for holy assembly, a day to deny yourselves and present special gifts to the Lord.Do no work during that entire day because it is the Day of Atonement, when offerings of purification are made for you, making you right with the Lord your God.All who do not deny themselves that day will be cut off from God’s people.And I will destroy anyone among you who does any work on that day.You must not do any work at all! This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation wherever you live.This will be a Sabbath day of complete rest for you, and on that day you must deny yourselves. This day of rest will begin at sundown on the ninth day of the month and extend until sundown on the tenth day.”

At that time the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, called you to weep and mourn. He told you to shave your heads in sorrow for your sins and to wear clothes of burlap to show your remorse.

I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God.

“ Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died.

Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy.They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest.

Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways. It was the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have, so you were not harmed by us in any way.For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.Just see what this godly sorrow produced in you! Such earnestness, such concern to clear yourselves, such indignation, such alarm, such longing to see me, such zeal, and such a readiness to punish wrong. You showed that you have done everything necessary to make things right.

Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy.Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

They were to ask this question of the prophets and the priests at the Temple of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies:“ Should we continue to mourn and fast each summer on the anniversary of the Temple’s destruction, as we have done for so many years?”

God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.