Matthew(i)
1 It happened also in the fourthe yeare of kinge Darius, that the word of the lord came vnto Zachary in the fourth daye of the .ix. monethe, whiche is called Caslew:
2 what tyme as Sarasar & Rogomelech & the men that were with them, sent vnto Bethel for to pray before the lord:
3 & that they should say vnto the priestes, which were in the house of the Lord of hostes, & to the prophetes: should I wepe in the fyfte moneth, and absteyne, as I haue done now cerrtain yeares?
4 Then came the word of the Lorde of hostes vnto me, saying:
5 Speake vnto all the people of the land, & to the priestes, and saye: when ye fasted and mourneth in the .v. & .vij. moneth (now this .lxx. yeares) dyd ye fast vnto me?
6 When ye ate also and droncke; dyd ye not eate & drincke for youre owne selues?
7 Are not these the wordes which the Lord spake by his prophetes afore tyme, when Ierusalem was yet inhabited & welthy, she and the cities round aboute her: when there dwelt men, both toward the south and in the playne countreyes?
8 And the worde of the Lorde came vnto Zachary, saying:
9 Thus sayeth the Lord of Hostes: Execute true iudgement: shew mercy & louinge kindnesse, euery man to his brother.
10 Do the widdow, the fatherlesse, the straunger, and poore no wronge: and let no man ymagen euil against his brother in his hert.
11 Neuertheles they would not take hede, but turned their backes, & stopped their eares, that they should not heare:
12 yea, they made their hertes as an Adamant stone, least they should hear the law & wordes, whiche the Lorde of hostes sent in his holy spirite by the Prophetes afore tyme. Wherfore the Lorde of hostes was verye wroth at them.
13 And thus it is come to passe, that like as he spake, & they woulde not hear: euen so they cryed, and I woulde not heare, (sayeth the Lord of hostes)
14 but scatered them among al Gentiles, whom they knew not: Thus the lande was made so desolate, that there trauayled no man in it, neyther to, nor for for that pleasaunt lande was vtterly layed waste.