“ Ask all the people of the land and the priests,‘ When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted?

“你要宣告国内的众民和祭司，说：‘你们这七十年，在五月、七月禁食悲哀，岂是丝毫向我禁食吗？

“你要向这地全体百姓和祭司说：‘你们这七十年来，在五月、七月禁食悲哀，岂是真的向我禁食吗？

“你要向这地全体百姓和祭司说：‘你们这七十年来，在五月、七月禁食悲哀，岂是真的向我禁食吗？

“你要对境内的民众和祭司说，‘七十年来，你们在五月和七月禁食、哀伤，难道真的是为了我吗？

“你要告诉这地的人民和祭司说：‘这七十年来，你们在五月和七月禁食哀哭，岂是真的为我禁食呢？

「你要宣告國內的眾民和祭司，說：『你們這七十年，在五月、七月禁食悲哀，豈是絲毫向我禁食嗎？

「你要向這地全體百姓和祭司說：『你們這七十年來，在五月、七月禁食悲哀，豈是真的向我禁食嗎？

「你要向這地全體百姓和祭司說：『你們這七十年來，在五月、七月禁食悲哀，豈是真的向我禁食嗎？

「你要對境內的民眾和祭司說，『七十年來，你們在五月和七月禁食、哀傷，難道真的是為了我嗎？

“你要告訴這地的人民和祭司說：‘這七十年來，你們在五月和七月禁食哀哭，豈是真的為我禁食呢？

『你要告訴國中的眾民和祭司說：你們這七十年在五月間和七月間禁食和舉哀，哪裏真是向我而禁食呢？

「你要對這地所有的民眾和祭司說：『這七十年來，你們在五月和七月禁食、哀哭，是真的為我禁食嗎？

其告斯土之民、及諸祭司曰、爾於五月七月、禁食哭泣、歷七十年、豈為我禁食乎、

云、爾歷七十年、五月七月間、禁食哭泣、豈為我乎、

當告國民與祭司曰、爾歷七十年、五月七月間、禁食哭泣、豈為我禁食乎、

“ Ask the priests and all the people in the land a question for me. Say to them,‘ You mourned and fasted in the fifth and seventh months. You did it for the past 70 years. But did you really do it for me?

“ Say to all the people of the land and the priests,‘ When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted?

“ Say to all your people and your priests,‘ During these seventy years of exile, when you fasted and mourned in the summer and in early autumn, was it really for me that you were fasting?

“ Ask all the people of the land and the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and in the seventh months for these seventy years, did you really fast for me?

“ Say to all the people of the land and to the priests,‘ When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these seventy years, was it actually for Me that you fasted?

“ Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests:‘ When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me— for Me?

Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month, even these seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?

“ Ask all the people of the land and the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and in the seventh months for these 70 years, did you really fast for Me?

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?

“ Speak to all the people and priests of the land as follows:‘ When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and seventh months through all these seventy years, did you truly fast for me– for me, indeed?

“ Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying,‘ When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month for these seventy years, did you at all fast to me, really to me?

Then the angel of the Lord said,“ Lord Almighty, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and from the towns of Judah, which you have been angry with these seventy years?”

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

“ The multitude of your sacrifices— what are they to me?” says the Lord.“ I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?

Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?“ Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?

Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone.If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

by asking the priests of the house of the Lord Almighty and the prophets,“ Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”

“ So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

When all the army officers and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah— Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jaazaniah the son of the Maakathite, and their men.

This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

“ And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

This is what the Lord Almighty says:“ The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months will become joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals for Judah. Therefore love truth and peace.”

“ Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long;

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.“ Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?

“ When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

In the seventh month Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was of royal blood and had been one of the king’s officers, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah. While they were eating together there,Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him got up and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword, killing the one whom the king of Babylon had appointed as governor over the land.Ishmael also killed all the men of Judah who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Babylonian soldiers who were there.The day after Gedaliah’s assassination, before anyone knew about it,