For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good LORD pardon every one

And the LORD hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.

And the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying,

Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother:

But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;

Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?

But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.