6
Also Joakim the high priest, who was in those days in Jerusalem, wrote to those who dwelt in Bethulia and Betomesthaim, which is over against Esdraelon toward the open country near to Dothan,
7
charging them to keep the passages of the hill country, for through them there was an entrance into Judea, and it was easy to stop those who would come up, because the passage was narrow, for two men at the most.
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And the children of Israel did as Joakim the high priest had commanded them, with the elders of all the people of Israel who dwelt at Jerusalem.
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Then every man of Israel cried to God with great fervency, and with great vehemency did they humble their souls--
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both they and their wives and their children, and their cattle, and every stranger and hireling--and their servants bought with money put sackcloth upon their loins.
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Thus every man and women, and the little children and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, fell before the temple and cast ashes upon their heads, and spread out their sackcloth before the face of the Lord. Also they put sackcloth about the altar,
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and cried to the God of Israel all with one consent earnestly, that He would not give their children for a prey and their wives for a spoil, and the cities of their inheritance to destruction, and the sanctuary to profanation and reproach for the nations to rejoice at.
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So God heard their prayers, and looked upon their afflictions; for the people fasted many days in all Judea and Jerusalem before the sanctuary of the Lord Almighty.
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And Joakim the high priest, and all the priests who stood before the Lord, and those who ministered unto the Lord, had their loins girt with sackcloth, and offered the daily burnt offerings, with the vows and free gifts of the people,
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and had ashes on their miters, and cried unto the Lord with all their power, that He would look upon all the house of Israel graciously.