But good works are found in thee, because thou hast taken away the groves out of the land of Juda, and hast prepared thy heart to seek the Lord the God of thy fathers.
Sanctify ye a fast, call an assembly; gather together the ancients, all the inhabitants of the land into the house of your God: and cry ye to the Lord:
And it came to pass in the fifth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the Lord to all the people in Jerusalem and to all the people that were come together out of the cities of Juda to Jerusalem.
And they gathered together to Masphath. And they drew water, and poured it out before the Lord; and they fasted on that day, and they said there: We have sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Masphath.
Moreover out of all the tribes of Israel, whosoever gave their heart to seek the Lord the God of Israel came into Jerusalem to sacrifice their victims before the Lord the God of their fathers.
Wherefore all the children of Israel came to the house of God, and sat and wept before the Lord. And they fasted that day till the evening, and offered to him holocausts, and victims of peace-offerings:
And my people, upon whom my name is called, being converted, shall make supplication to me, and seek out my face, and do penance for their most wicked ways: then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins and will heal their land.