David’s conscience troubled him after he had taken a census of the troops. He said to the Lord, ‘I have sinned greatly in what I’ve done. Now, Lord, because I’ve been very foolish, please take away your servant’s guilt.’
Joel 2:12 - Christian Standard Bible Anglicised Even now – this is the Lord’s declaration – turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Tuilleadh leaganachaKing James Version (Oxford) 1769 Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: Amplified Bible - Classic Edition Therefore also now, says the Lord, turn and keep on coming to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning [until every hindrance is removed and the broken fellowship is restored]. American Standard Version (1901) Yet even now, saith Jehovah, turn ye unto me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: Common English Bible Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your hearts, with fasting, with weeping, and with sorrow; Catholic Public Domain Version Now, therefore, the Lord says: "Be converted to me with your whole heart, in fasting and weeping and mourning." Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version Now therefore saith the Lord: Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning. |
David’s conscience troubled him after he had taken a census of the troops. He said to the Lord, ‘I have sinned greatly in what I’ve done. Now, Lord, because I’ve been very foolish, please take away your servant’s guilt.’
So the couriers went throughout Israel and Judah with letters from the hand of the king and his officials, and according to the king’s command, saying, ‘Israelites, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel so that he may return to those of you who remain, who have escaped the grasp of the kings of Assyria.
may you hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and your people Israel, so that you may teach them the good way they should walk in. May you send rain on your land that you gave your people for an inheritance.
‘Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa and fast for me. Don’t eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my female servants will also fast in the same way. After that, I will go to the king even if it is against the law. If I perish, I perish.’
For the Lord said to Moses, ‘Tell the Israelites: You are a stiff-necked people. If I went up with you for a single moment, I would destroy you. Now take off your jewellery, and I will decide what to do with you.’
On that day the Lord God of Armies called for weeping, for wailing, for shaven heads, and for the wearing of sackcloth.
You fast with contention and strife to strike viciously with your fist. You cannot fast as you do today, hoping to make your voice heard on high.
Return, you faithless children. I will heal your unfaithfulness. ‘Here we are, coming to you, for you are the Lord our God.
Perhaps their petition will come before the Lord, and each one will turn from his evil way, for the anger and fury that the Lord has pronounced against this people are intense.’
If you return, Israel – this is the Lord’s declaration – you will return to me, if you remove your abhorrent idols from my presence and do not waver,
then you can swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’ in truth, justice, and righteousness, and then the nations will be blessed by him and will boast in him.
Tell them, “As I live #– #this is the declaration of the Lord God #– #I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked person should turn from his way and live. Repent, repent of your evil ways! Why will you die, house of Israel? ”
So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek him by prayer and petitions, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
But you must return to your God. Maintain love and justice, and always put your hope in God.
Israel, return to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled in your iniquity.
Come, let’s return to the Lord. For he has torn us, and he will heal us; he has wounded us, and he will bind up our wounds.
Dress in sackcloth and lament, you priests; wail, you ministers of the altar. Come and spend the night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God, because grain and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God.
by asking the priests who were at the house of the Lord of Armies as well as the prophets, ‘Should we mourn and fast in the fifth month as we have done these many years? ’
‘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?
‘And now plead for God’s favour. Will he be gracious to us? Since this has come from your hands, will he show any of you favour? ’ asks the Lord of Armies.
Instead, I preached to those in Damascus first, and to those in Jerusalem and in all the region of Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works worthy of repentance.
When the angel of the Lord had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly.
The whole Israelite army went to Bethel where they wept and sat before the Lord. They fasted that day until evening and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord.
Samuel told them, ‘If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, get rid of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths that are among you, set your hearts on the Lord, and worship only him. Then he will rescue you from the Philistines.’
When they gathered at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out in the Lord’s presence. They fasted that day, and there they confessed, ‘We have sinned against the Lord.’ And Samuel judged the Israelites at Mizpah.