“Say to all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in (A)the fifth month and in (B)the seventh, for these (C)seventy years, (D)was it (E)for me that you fasted? (F)And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? (G)Were not these the words that the Lord proclaimed (H)by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, (I)with her cities around her, and the (J)South and the (K)lowland were inhabited?’”

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“Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted(A) and mourned in the fifth and seventh(B) months for the past seventy years,(C) was it really for me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?(D) Are these not the words the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets(E) when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest(F) and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills(G) were settled?’”(H)

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