⁶ Then the ^(A)runners went throughout all Israel and Judah with the letters from the king and his leaders, and spoke according to the command of the king: “Children of Israel, ^(B)return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel; then He will return to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of ^(C)the kings of ^(D)Assyria. ⁷ And do not be ^(E)like your fathers and your brethren, who trespassed against the Lord God of their fathers, so that He ^(F)gave them up to ^(G)desolation, as you see. ⁸ Now do not be ^(H)stiff-necked,^[a] as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord; and enter His sanctuary, which He has sanctified forever, and serve the Lord your God, ^(I)that the fierceness of His wrath may turn away from you.