# verses

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I have seen all this and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun. There is a time when one man rules over another to his own misery and harm.


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I saw the wicked buried, those who had come and gone out of the holy place. They were forgotten in the city where they had so done. This also is vanity.


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Sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly. Therefore the hearts of the sons of men are fully committed to do evil.


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Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and he lives a long life, yet I know that it will be well with those who respect <i>reverence</i> God and worship him.


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Things will not go well with the wicked. He will not prolong his days. His days are like a shadow. He does not respect God.


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There is a futility that is done upon the earth. There are righteous men who get along as though they were wicked and there are wicked men who get along as though they were righteous. I said that this also is vanity.


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Then I commended enjoyment <i>pleasure</i> , because a man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry. That will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life, which God gives him under the sun.


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When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on the earth: <i>for also there is that neither day nor night sees sleep with his eyes</i>


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I saw all the work of God. A man cannot discover the work that is done under the sun. Though a man labor to seek it out, yet he will not find it. Though a wise man thinks to know it, yet he will not be able to find it.


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I considered all this in my heart and declared that the righteous and their works are in the hand of God. No man knows if love or hatred awaits him in the future.


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The same thing comes to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrifices and to him that does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; and he that swears, as he that fears and refrains from an oath.


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This evil is in all things that are done under the sun. There is one event that comes to all. The heart of the sons of men is full of evil. Madness is in their heart while they live. After that they go to the dead <i>die</i> .


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The living know that they will die! The dead do not know anything. They do not have any more reward. Their memory is forgotten.


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Their love, their hatred, and their envy, is now gone, perished! They do not share anything that is done under the sun.


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Go your way, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart for God now accepts your works.


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Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of the life he has given you under the sun, all the days of your vanity. That is your share in this life and in your labor under the sun.


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Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, where you are going.


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I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift. The battle is not to the strong. Bread does not go to the wise, or riches to men of understanding. Men of skill do not always receive favor, but time and unexpected circumstance happens to them all.


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For man does not know his time. Like fish caught in an evil net, and like birds caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them.


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There was a little city with a small population. A great king moved against it. He built great bulwarks against it and attacked it.


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Now there was found in it a poor wise man. By his wisdom he delivered the city. Yet no man remembered that same poor man.


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Then I said: »Wisdom is better than strength.« Nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.


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Dead flies cause the perfumers oil to smell. A little foolishness does the same for the one with a reputation for wisdom and honor.


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When he who is a fool walks along the path, his wisdom fails him, and he says to every one that he is a fool.


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If the temper of the ruler rises up against you do not withdraw from him for gentleness can put a stop to great offenses.


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If the ax is dull, and he does not whet the edge, he must put forth more effort. Wisdom helps him to succeed.


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The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness. The result of his talk is mischievous madness.


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A fool also is full of words. A man cannot predict what will be and what will be after him. Who can tell him?


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You are blessed, O land, when your king is the son of nobles and your princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!


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Do not curse the king, no not even in thought. Do not curse the rich in your bedchamber for a bird of the air will carry the voice, and that which has wings will tell the matter.


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If the clouds are full of rain they empty themselves upon the earth. If the tree falls toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will be.


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You do not know what is the way of the wind, nor how the bones grow in the womb of a pregnant woman. Even so you do not know the works of God who creates all.


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In the morning sow your seed. In the evening do not withhold your hand. For you do not know which shall prosper. Whether they both will alike be good.


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If a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness for they will be many. All that comes is vanity.


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Rejoice, O young man, in your youth. Let your heart cheer you in your early days. Walk in the ways of your heart, and in the desires of your eyes. Yet you know that God will bring you into judgment for all these things.


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Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh, for childhood and youth are vanity.


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Remember your Creator <i>Hebrew: Bara, plural, Creators denotes majesty</i> (Ge 1:26) in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near. You will say: »I have no pleasure in them.«


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Before the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, are darkened, or the clouds return after the rain:


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In the day when the keepers of the house will tremble, and the strong men will bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows are darkened,


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And the doors will be shut in the streets. When the sound of the grinding is low he will rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music will be brought low.


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Also when they will be afraid of what is high, and fears will be in the way, and the almond tree will flourish, and the grasshopper will be a burden, and the caper berry breaks and desire fails, man goes to his long lasting home and the mourners go about the streets.


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When the silver cord is snapped apart, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.


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Then the dust will return to the earth as it was. The spirit <i>life</i> will return to God who gave it.


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Moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. He gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.


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The preacher sought to find out acceptable words. That which was written was upright, even words of truth.


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The words of the wise are like prodding goads, and like nails fastened by the masters of assemblies. They are given from one shepherd.


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By these, my son, be admonished! There is no end to publishing many books. Also much study is a weariness of the flesh.


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Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Respect God, and obey his commandments for this is the whole duty of man.


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For God will bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it is good or whether it is evil.


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»Your good ointment has a pleasing aroma. Your name is like pure ointment. Therefore the maidens do love you.


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»Draw me away. <i>Daughters of Jerusalem</i> »We will run after you.« <i>The Shulamite</i> »The king brought me into his chambers.« <i>Daughters of Jerusalem</i> »We will be glad and rejoice in you. We will remember your love more than wine!« <i>The Shulamite</i> »They are right to love you.«


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»I am lovely and black, O you daughters of Jerusalem. I am like the tents of Kedar and the curtains of Solomon.


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»Do not look at me because I am black. The sun has tanned me. My mother's sons were angry with me. They made me the keeper of the vineyards. I have not kept my own vineyard!


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<i>To Her Beloved</i> »Tell me, O you whom I love where you feed your flock and where you make it rest at noon. Why should I be as one who veils herself by the flocks of your companions?«


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<i>The Beloved</i> »If you do not know, O you fairest among women, follow the footsteps of the flock. Feed your kids beside the shepherds' tents.


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<i>The Shulamite</i> »Just like the apple tree among the trees of the wood so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.«


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<i>The Shulamite to the Daughters of Jerusalem</i> »He brought me to the banquet hall. His banner over me was love.


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»I charge you, O you daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles, and by the deer of the field: Do not stir up nor awaken love until it pleases.«


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<i>The Shulamite</i> »The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.


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»My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, he stands behind our wall, he looks through the windows, gazing through the lattice.


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The flowers appear on the earth. The time of singing birds has come. The voice of the turtle is heard in our land.


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The fig tree puts forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away!«


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»O my dove, you are in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs. Let me see your countenance. Let me hear your voice. For sweet is your voice, and your countenance is lovely.«


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<i>Her Brothers</i> »Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.«


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<i>To Her Beloved</i> »Until the daybreaks and the shadows flee away, turn my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag upon the mountains of Bether.«


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<i>The Shulamite</i> »By night on my bed I sought the one I love. I sought him, but I did not find him.


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»I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets. I will seek the one I love in the streets and broad ways. I sought him, but I did not find him.


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»Shortly after I passed by them, I found the one I love. I held him, and would not let him go, until I brought him to my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.«


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»I charge you, O you daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and by the deer of the field, that you do not stir nor awake my love, till he pleases.«


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»Who is this that comes out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?


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»They all hold swords. They are experts in war. Every man has his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night.


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»He made the pillars of silver; the bottom of gold and its cover was of purple. The interior was paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem.


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»Go forth, O you daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown that his mother crowned him with in the day of his wedding, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.«


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<i>The Beloved</i> »You are beautiful my love, you are beautiful. Your eyes behind your veil are like doves. Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from Mount Gilead.


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»Your teeth are like a flock of sheep that are shorn and washed. Each has its twin and not one of them is alone.


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»Your lips are like a thread of scarlet and your mouth is lovely. Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within your locks.


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»Your neck is like the tower of David built for an armory, on which there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men.


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»Until the daybreaks, and the shadows flee away, I will go to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.


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»Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon! Look from the peak of Mount Amana, from the peak of Mount Shenir and Mount Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards.


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»You have ravished my heart, my sister, and my spouse. You have ravished my heart with one of your eyes, with one chain around your neck.


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»How fair is your love, my sister, and my spouse! How much better is your love than wine! The smell of your perfume than all spices!


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»Your lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under your tongue; and the smell of your garments is like the smell of Lebanon.


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»Ointment and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:


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<i>The Shulamite</i> »Awake, O north wind; and come south; blow upon my garden that the spices may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.«


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<i>The Beloved</i> »I came to my garden, my sister, my spouse. I gathered my myrrh with my spice. I ate my honeycomb with my honey and drank my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends; drink, yes, drink abundantly, O beloved.«


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<i>The Shulamite</i> »I sleep, but my heart is awake. It is the voice of my beloved that knocks, saying: Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.«


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»I rose up to open to my beloved. My hands dripped with myrrh. My fingers were sweet from sweet smelling myrrh and they grasped the lock handles.


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»I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone. My heart jumped when he spoke. I sought him, but I could not find him. I called him, but he did not answer.


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»The watchmen that went about the city found me, they struck me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took my veil from me.


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»I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him, that I am lovesick.«


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<i>Daughters of Jerusalem</i> »Is your beloved more than another beloved, O you fairest among women? Is your beloved more than another beloved that you so charge us?«


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»His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers. His lips are like lilies, dripping sweet smelling myrrh.


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»His legs are like pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.


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»His mouth is very sweet: yes, he is altogether handsome. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.«


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<i>Daughters of Jerusalem</i> »Where has your beloved one gone, O you fairest among women? Where has your beloved turned aside that we may seek him with you?«


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<i>The Shulamite</i> »My beloved went to his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.


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<i>The Beloved</i> »You are beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners.


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»Turn away your eyes from me, for they have overcome me. Your hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead.


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»Your teeth are like a flock of sheep which go up from the washing, whereof every one looks like twins, and there is not one barren among them.


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»My dove, my undefiled is the one. She is the only one of her mother; she is the choice one of her that bore her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her. The queens and the concubines praised her.


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»Who is she who looks as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?


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<i>The Shulamite</i> »I went down into the garden of nut trees to see the fruits of the valley, to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded.


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<i>Beloved and his Friends</i> »Return, return, O Shulamite return, return, that we may look at you.« <i>The Shulamite</i> »What will you see in the Shulamite? It was the company of two camps.«


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<i>The Beloved</i> »How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O prince's daughter! The joints of your thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman.


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»Your navel is like a round goblet. It does not need liquor. Your belly is like a heap of wheat set about with lilies.


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»Your neck is as a tower of ivory. Your eyes like the fish pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim. Your nose is as the tower of Lebanon that looks toward Damascus.


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»Your head is like Carmel, and the hair of your head like purple; the king is held in the galleries.


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»I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs. Also your breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of your nose like apples.


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»The roof of your mouth is like the best wine for my beloved.« <i>The Shulamite</i> »The wine goes down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak.


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»Let us get up early to the vineyards. Let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth. There I will give you my love.


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»The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.


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»If only you were like my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! When I find you outside I would kiss you. I would not be despised.


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»I would lead you to my mother's house. She would instruct me. I would induce you to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate.


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<i>To the Daughters of Jerusalem</i> »His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me.


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<i>A Relative</i> »Who is this woman who comes up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?« »I raised you up under the apple tree. There your mother experienced birth pains.«


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<i>The Shulamite to her Beloved</i> »Set me as a signature ring seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For Love is as strong as death. Zeal <i>devotion</i> is as fixed as the grave. And zeal burns like coals of fire, the very flame of Jehovah.


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»Many waters cannot quench love. Rivers cannot wash it away. If a man would give all the riches of his house for love, it would be utterly despised.«


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<i>The Shulamites Brother</i> »We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister in the day when she will be spoken for?


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»If she were a wall, we would build upon her a palace of silver. If she were a door, we would enclose her with boards of cedar.«


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<i>The Shulamite</i> »I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers. I was the one who found favor in his eyes.


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»Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon. He leased the vineyard to keepers. Every one was to bring a thousand pieces of silver for its fruit.«


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<i>To Solomon</i> »My vineyard, which is mine, is before me. You, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that tend the fruit two hundred.«


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<i>The Beloved</i> »You who dwell in the gardens, the companions listen to your voice. Cause me to hear it.«


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<i>The Shulamite</i> »Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag upon the mountains of spices.«


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This is the vision seen by Isaiah the son of Amoz. It is about Judah and Jerusalem at the time of Kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.


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Listen, heaven, and pay attention, earth! Jehovah has spoken: »I raised my children and helped them grow, but they have rebelled against me.


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»The bull knows its owner, and donkey knows where its master feeds it. But Israel does not know. My people do not understand!«


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Woe to the sinful nation, people heavy with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, sons who are corrupt! They have forsaken Jehovah! They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They have turned away from him.


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Why do you still want to be beaten? Why do you continue to rebel? Your whole head is infected. Your whole heart is sick.


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From the bottom of your feet to the top of your head there is no healthy spot left on your body. You have only bruises, sores, and fresh wounds. They have not been cleansed, bandaged, or soothed with oil.


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Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Foreigners destroy your fields in your presence. Your fields are devastated and taken over by strangers.


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My people, the daughter of Zion is left like an empty hut in a vineyard. It is like a shack in a cucumber field, like a city under attack.


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Listen to the word of Jehovah, you rulers of Sodom! Pay attention to the Law of our God, you people of Gomorrah!


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Jehovah says: »What do your many animal sacrifices mean to me? I have had enough of your burnt offerings of rams and enough fat from your fattened calves. I am not pleased with the blood of bulls, lambs, or male goats.


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»Do not bring any more worthless grain offerings. Your incense is disgusting to me! So are your New Moon Festivals, your days of worship, and the assemblies you call. I cannot endure your evil assemblies!


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»I hate your New Moon Festivals and your appointed festivals. They are a burden to me. I am tired of putting up with them.


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»When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you offer many prayers, I will not listen because your hands are full of blood.


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»Learn to do good <i>well right</i> . Seek justice. Correct oppressors. Defend orphans. Plead the case of widows.«


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»Come now, let us reason together <i>make things right correct matters</i> between us!« Says Jehovah. »Though your sins are like scarlet, they will become as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they will become as white as wool.


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How the faithful town has become a prostitute! She was full of justice, and righteousness lived in her. But now murderers live there!


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Your rulers are rebels, friends with thieves. They all love bribes and run after gifts. They never defend orphans. They do not listen to the widows' pleas.


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That is why Jehovah, Jehovah of Hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, says: »How horrible it will be when I take revenge on my opponents! I will avenge myself against my enemies.


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»I will turn my power against you <i>turn the back of my hand upon you</i> . I will remove your impurities with bleach. I will get rid of all your worthless qualities.


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»I will give you judges like you had long ago, advisers like you had in the beginning. After that you will be called the Righteous City, the Faithful City.«


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You will be ashamed of the oaks that you wanted to worship. You will be embarrassed by the garden that you have chosen for your gods.


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Strong people will become tinder for a fire. Their work will be the spark. Both of them will burn together. There will be no one to put out the fire.


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In the last days the mountain of the house of Jehovah will be established as the highest of the mountains and exalted above the hills. All the nations will stream to it.


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Then many people will come and say: »Let us go to the mountain of Jehovah, to the House of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways so that we may live by them.« The law will go out from Zion. The word of Jehovah will go out from Jerusalem.


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Then he will judge disputes between nations and settle matters between many people. They will beat <i>hammer</i> their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations will not fight against each other, and they will not learn war anymore.


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Jehovah, you have abandoned your people, the descendants of Jacob, because they are filled with Eastern influences. They practice witchcraft like the Philistines, and they make deals with foreigners.


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Their land is full of silver and gold. There is no limit to their treasures. Their land is also full of horses. There is no limit to their chariots.


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Their land is full of idols. They worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.


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Go in among the rocks and hide underground because of Jehovahs terrifying presence and the magnificence of his majesty.


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The arrogant people will be humbled. High and mighty people will be brought down. On that day Jehovah alone will be exalted.


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All who are proud will be humbled. Jehovah of Hosts will have his day against all who are arrogant and conceited.


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Then arrogant people will be brought down. High and mighty people will be humiliated. On that day Jehovah alone will be honored.


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People will go into caves in the rocks and into holes in the ground because of Jehovahs terrifying presence and the honor of his majesty when he rises to shake the earth.


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That day people will throw their silver and gold idols, that they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and the bats.


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They will go into caves in the rocks and into cracks in the cliffs because of Jehovahs terrifying presence and the honor of his majesty when he rises to shake the earth.


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Stop trusting people, whose breath <i>life</i> is in their nostrils. How can they be worth anything?


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Jehovah of Hosts, the Almighty <i>Ruler Sovereign</i> is going to take all support and supply of food and water from Jerusalem and Judah.


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People will oppress each other. Everyone will harass his neighbor. The young will tyrannize the old. The common people will taunt their superiors.


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A person will grab one of his relatives from his father's family and say: »You have a coat. You will be our leader. This pile of ruins will be under your control.«


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Then the relative will cry out: »I am not a healer! I do not have any food or a coat in my home. Do not make me a leader of the people.«


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Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because what they say and what they do is against Jehovah! They are defiant in his honored presence.


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The expression on their faces will be held against them. They boast about their sins! They are like those of the people of Sodom. They do not even bother to hide them. How horrible it will be for these people. They have brought disaster on themselves.


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How horrible it will be for the wicked! Disaster will strike them. What they have done to others will be done to them.


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Children oppress my people! Women rule over them. O My people! Those who guide you lead you astray. They confuse the direction of your paths.


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Jehovah enters into judgment with the elders and princes of his people: »It is you who have devoured the vineyard. The plunder of the poor is in your houses.


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»What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the face of the poor?« Declares Jehovah of Hosts.


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Jehovah also said: »Because the daughters of Zion are proud and walk with heads held high and seductive eyes, and go along with mincing steps and tinkle the bangles on their feet,


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»Jehovah will cause sores to appear on the heads of the women of Zion. Jehovah will make their foreheads bare.«


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On that day Jehovah will take away their fine things: jingling anklets, headbands, crescent-shaped necklaces,


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Instead of the smell of perfume, there will be the smell of decay. They will wear ropes instead of belts. They will have baldheads instead of beautiful hair. They will wear sackcloth instead of expensive clothes. Their beauty will be scarred with brand marks.


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Seven women will grab one man and say: »We will eat our own food and provide our own clothes. Just let us marry you and be called by your name. Take away our disgrace.«


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In that day the Branch of Jehovah will be beautiful and glorious. And the fruit of the earth will be the delight <i>pride joy</i> and the adornment of the survivors of Israel.


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It will come about that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy along with everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem.


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Jehovah will wash away the filth of the daughters <i>women</i> of Zion and purge the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning.


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Then Jehovah will create over the entire area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night. A canopy <i>shelter</i> will be over all as the glory <i>honor</i> .


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There will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain.


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Let me sing to my loved one a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hill.


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He dug the soil all around and removed its stones. He planted it with the choicest vine. And he built a tower in the middle of it and also hewed out a wine vat in it. Then he expected it to produce good grapes, but it only produced worthless ones.


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»What more could have been done for my vineyard than what I have already done for it? When I waited for it to produce good grapes, why did it produce only sour, wild grapes?


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»Here is what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge and break down the wall that protects it. I will let wild animals eat it and trample it down.


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»It will turn into a desert, neither pruned nor cultivated. It will be covered with thorns and briars. I will command the clouds not to send rain.«


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I am Jehovah of Hosts <i>All Powerful</i> ! Israel is the vineyard, and Judah is the garden I tended with care. I had hoped for honesty and for justice, but dishonesty and cries for mercy were all I found.


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Cursed are those who are joining house to house, and putting field to field, till there is no more living-space for any but themselves in all the land!


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With my own ears I heard Jehovah of Hosts say: »Many houses will become empty. Large, beautiful houses will be without people to live in them.


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»A ten-acre vineyard will produce only six gallons of wine, and two quarts of seed will produce only four quarts of grain.«


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How horrible it will be for those who get up early in the morning to look for a drink and who sit up late at night until they are drunk from wine.


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At their feasts there are lyres and harps, tambourines and flutes, and wine. Yet, they do not pay attention to what Jehovah is doing or respect what his hands have done.


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My people will go into exile because they do not understand what I am doing. Honored men will starve, and common people will be parched with thirst.


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That is why the grave's appetite increases. It opens its mouth very wide so that honored people and common people will go down into it. Those who are noisy and joyous will go down into it.


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People will be brought down. Everyone will be humiliated and the eyes of arrogant people will be abased <i>humbled</i> .


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Jehovah of Hosts shows his greatness by doing what is right. He reveals his holiness by judging his people.


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You say: »Let Jehovah hurry up and do what he says he will, so that we can see it. Let Israel's holy God carry out his plans. Let us see what he has in mind.«


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You are doomed! You call evil good and you call good evil. You turn darkness into light and light into darkness. You make what is bitter, sweet, and what is sweet you make bitter.


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You will go up in flames like straw and hay! You have rejected the law of the holy God Jehovah the All-Powerful Holy One of Israel. Now your roots will rot, and your blossoms will turn to dust.


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You are Jehovahs people, but you made him terribly angry, and he struck you with his mighty arm. Mountains shook, and dead bodies covered the streets like garbage. Jehovah is still angry. He is ready to strike you again.


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Jehovah raises up a flag for the nations far away. With a whistle he signals those at the ends of the earth. Look, they are coming very quickly!


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None of them grow tired or stumble. None of them slumber or sleep. The belts on their waists are not loose or their sandal straps broken.


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Their arrows are sharpened. All their bows are strung and ready to shoot. Their horses' hoofs are as hard as flint. Their chariot wheels are as quick as the wind.


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They roar like a lioness. They growl like a young lion. They growl as they snatch their prey and carry it off to where no one can rescue it.


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In that day they will roar over their prey as the sea roars. If they look at the land, they will see only darkness and distress. Thick clouds will darken even the light.


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In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw <i>discerned</i> Jehovah seated on a throne, high and exalted. The train of his robe filled the Temple.


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Above him were seraphs, each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.


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They called to one another: »Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah of Hosts. All the earth is full of his glory.«


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At the sound of their voices the foundations and thresholds trembled and the Temple was filled with smoke.


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»Woe to me!« I cried. »I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips <i>a sinner</i> and I live among a people of unclean <i>filthy</i> lips <i>speech language</i> . My eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of Hosts.«


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Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand. With tongs he seized it from the altar.


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He touched my mouth with it and said: »See! This has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away and your sin forgiven <i>pardoned atoned for</i> .«


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I heard the voice of Jehovah. He said: »Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?« And I said: »Here I am. Send me!«


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He said: »Go and tell this people: Hear constantly but do not understand. See constantly but do not perceive.


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»This peoples heart has become calloused. They hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.« <i>Septuagint</i>


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Then I said: »How long, O Jehovah? And He answered: »Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, until the houses are deserted and the land is utterly desolate.


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»Even if one out of ten people are left it will be destroyed <i>burned</i> again. When a strong tree or an oak is cut down, a stump is left. The holy seed is the stump.«


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In the days of Ahaz son of Jotham son of Uzziah, king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel went up to attack Jerusalem, but could not mount an attack against it.


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A report was made to the house of David saying: Aram has allied itself with Ephraim.« The heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook <i>their courage failed</i> as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.


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Jehovah said to Isaiah: »You and your son Shear-jashub should go out to meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the <i>laundrymans field</i> Fullers Field.


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»Say to him: Be careful, keep calm and do not be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood and because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah.


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»»Let us invade Judah. Let us tear it apart and divide it among us. Let us make the son of Tabeel king over Judah.«


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»»Because the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.


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»»The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only Remaliahs son. If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.« «


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Isaiah said: »Hear this you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also?«


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Therefore Jehovah will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel <i>God with us</i> .


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But before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.


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Jehovah will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah. He will bring the king of Assyria upon you.


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»In that day Jehovah will whistle for the flies that are at the distant branches of the Nile River in Egypt and for the bees that are in Assyria.


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»All of them will come and settle in the deep valleys, in the cracks in the cliffs, on all the thorn bushes, and at all the water holes.


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»In that day Jehovah will hire the king of Assyria from beyond the Euphrates River to be a razor to shave the hair on your head, the hair on your legs, and even your beard.


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»They will give so much milk that he will have all he needs. Yes, the few survivors left in the land will have milk and honey to eat.


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»When that time comes, the fine vineyards, each with a thousand vines and each worth a thousand pieces of silver, will be overgrown with thorn bushes and briers.


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»People will go hunting there with bows and arrows. Yes, the whole country will be full of briers and thorn bushes.


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»All the hills where crops were once planted will be so overgrown with thorns that no one will go there. It will be a place where cattle and sheep graze.«


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Jehovah said to me: »Take a large writing tablet, and write on it with a pen: Maher Shalal Hash Baz <i>The Looting Will Come Quickly; the Prey Will Be Easy</i> .


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»I will have these dependable witnesses testify: the priest Uriah and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.«


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I slept with the prophetess. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. Jehovah told me: »Name him Maher Shalal Hash Baz.


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»Before the boy knows how to say »Father« or »Mother« the wealth of Damascus and the loot from Samaria will be carried away to the king of Assyria.«


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»These people have rejected the gently flowing water of Shiloah and find joy in Rezin and Remaliah's son.


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»That is why Jehovah is going to bring against them the raging and powerful floodwaters of the Euphrates River, that is, the king of Assyria with all his power. It will overflow all its channels and go over all its banks.


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»It will sweep through Judah. It will overflow and pass through. It will be neck-high. Its outspread wings will extend over your entire country, O Immanuel.«


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Be broken, you people. Be terrified. Listen all you distant parts of the earth. Prepare for battle and be terrified. Prepare for battle and be terrified!


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Make plans for battle, but they will never succeed. Give orders, but they will not be carried out, because God is with us!


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This is what Jehovah said with his powerful hand on me. He warned me not to follow the ways of these people:


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»Do not say that everything these people call a conspiracy is a conspiracy. Do not fear what they fear. Do not let it terrify you!


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»Remember that Jehovah of Hosts is holy. He is the one you should respect. He is the one you should reverence <i>venerate exalt</i> .«


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He will be a place of safety for you. But he will be a rock that makes people trip and a stumbling block for both kingdoms of Israel. He will be a trap and a snare for those who live in Jerusalem.


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I am here with the children Jehovah has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from Jehovah of Hosts, who lives on Mount Zion.


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People will say to you: »Ask for help from the mediums and the fortunetellers, who whisper and mutter.« Should people ask their God for help instead? Why should they ask the dead to help the living?


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They should go to the teachings and to the written instructions. If people do not speak these words, it is because there is no light <i>truth</i> in them.


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They will pass through the land when they are hard-pressed <i>destressed</i> and hungry. When they are hungry, they will be furious. Then they will look up and curse their king and God.


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They will look toward the nations of the earth and see only distress and gloom. They will go in anguish and be banished into darkness.


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There will be no more gloom for those who were suffering. In the past he humiliated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But in the future he will honor Galilee of the Nations, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan.


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The people who walk in darkness <i>ignorance lies</i> have seen a great light <i>truth</i> . A light has dawned on those who live in the land of the shadow of death <i>the grave calamity</i> .


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You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy. They rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder.


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As in the day of Midians defeat, you have shattered the yoke of his burdens: the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.


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Every warriors boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire.


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For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.


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Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on Davids throne and over his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of Jehovah of Hosts will accomplish this.


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All the people will know it. Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria who say with pride and arrogance of heart:


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»The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with cut stones. The fig trees have been cut down, but we will replace them with cedars.«


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The Arameans from the east and the Philistines from the west have devoured Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger has not turned away. His hand <i>power</i> is still stretched out <i>extended</i> .


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That is why Jehovah did not rejoice in their young people, nor show compassion to their orphans and widows. Everyone was godless and an evildoer, and every mouth spoke wickedness <i>foolishness vileness</i> . In all this his anger has not turned away. His hand is stretched out still <i>ready to apply his power</i> .


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This wickedness is like a brushfire. It burns not only briers and thorns but the forests, too. It sends up vast clouds of smoke.


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The land is blackened by the fury of Jehovah of Hosts. The people are fuel for the fire, and no one spares anyone else.


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They slice off what is on the right hand, but they will still be hungry. In the end they will even eat the flesh of their own arms <i>offspring turn upon themselves</i> .


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Manasseh will feed on Ephraim, Ephraim will feed on Manasseh, and both will devour Judah. But even then Jehovahs anger will not be satisfied. His hand is still poised to unleash his power.


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They deprive the poor of justice. They take away the rights of the needy among my people. They prey on widows and rob orphans.


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What will you do on the day you are called to account for these things, when destruction comes from far away? Where will you run for help? Where will you leave your wealth?


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There is nothing left but to crouch among prisoners and to fall with those who are killed. Even after all this, his anger will not disappear. His hand is stretched out <i>he is still ready to use his power</i> .


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»How horrible it will be for Assyria! It is the rod of my anger. My fury is in the staff of the Assyrians' hands.


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»I send him against a godless nation. I commission him against the people of my fury to capture booty and to seize plunder, and to trample them down like mud <i>clay</i> in the streets.


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»But the Assyrian emperor has his own violent plans in mind. He is determined to destroy many nations.


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»As my hand took hold of the kingdoms of the idols, kingdoms whose carved images were greater then those of Jerusalem and Samaria,


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»It will happen when Jehovah has performed all his work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem. He will say: I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty appearance.


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»The king of Assyria says: By the strength of my hand I have done it. By my wisdom and understanding I have done it! I am prudent! Also I have removed the boundaries of the nations. I have robbed their treasuries. I have brought down people like a mighty man!


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»I found the riches of nations as one finds a nest. I gathered the whole world as one gathers abandoned eggs. Not one of them flapped a wing, opened its mouth, or peeped.«


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Can an ax attack the person who cuts with it? Can a saw make itself greater than the person who saws with it? A rod cannot move the person who lifts it. A wooden stick cannot pick up a person.


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That is why the Almighty Jehovah of Hosts will send a degenerative disease against brave men. A flame will be turned into a raging fire under his power.


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The Light of Israel will become a fire and his Holy One a flame. It will burn and consume his thorns and his briers in a single day!


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It will completely destroy the splendor of his forests and fertile fields, as when a sick man wastes away.


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In that day the remnant of Israel, the survivors of the house of Jacob, will no longer rely on the one who defeated them. They will truly rely on Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel.


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Your people, O Israel, are like the sand of the sea. Yet only a remnant within them will return. Overwhelming and righteous destruction has been decreed.


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The Sovereign Lord Jehovah of Hosts, will carry out the complete destruction decreed upon the whole land.


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Therefore, this is what the Lord Jehovah of Hosts, declares: »O my people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians. They beat you with a rod and lift up a club against you, as Egypt did.


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»Jehovah of Hosts will stir up enemies against you as when he struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb. His wrath will come by way of the sea, as he did in Egypt.


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»In that day your burden will be lifted from your shoulders, their yoke from your neck; the yoke will be broken because you have grown so fat.«


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They go over the pass and make Geba their camping place for the night. Ramah trembles and Gibeah of Saul flees.


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This day they will halt at Nob. They will shake their fist at the mount of the Daughter of Zion, at the hill of Jerusalem.


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Behold, the Sovereign Lord Jehovah of Hosts will lop off the boughs with great power. The lofty trees will be cut down! The tall ones will be brought low.


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There must go forth a twig out of the stump of Jesse. A branch <i>sprout shoot descendant</i> from his roots will bear fruit.


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The Spirit of Jehovah will rest on him. The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and respect for Jehovah will be his.


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He will delight in the reverence of Jehovah. He will not judge by what his eyes see, nor make a decision by what his ears hear.


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But with righteousness he will judge the poor, and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth <i>power of his words</i> , and with the spirit <i>breath</i> of his lips he will destroy the wicked.


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The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the well-fed animal together. A little boy will lead them.


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Also the cow and the bear will graze. Their young will lie down together. And the lion will eat straw like the ox.


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The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra. The weaned child will put his hand on the viper's den.


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They will not hurt or destroy in my entire holy mountain. This is because the earth will be full of the knowledge of Jehovah just as the waters cover the sea.


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Then in that day the nations will search for and turn to the root of Jesse. He will stand as a signal for the peoples. His resting place will be glorious.


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Then it will happen in that day that Jehovah will again recover the second time with his hand the remnant of his people. They will remain, from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.


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He will lift up a standard for the nations and assemble the outcast ones of Israel. He will gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.


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Then the jealousy of Ephraim will depart. Those who harass Judah will be destroyed. Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, and Judah will not harass Ephraim.


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They will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines on the west. Together they will plunder the sons of the east. They will possess Edom and Moab, and the sons of Ammon will be subject to them.


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Jehovah will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt. He will wave his hand, his mighty Spirit, over the <i>Euphrates</i> River. He will strike it into seven streams and make men walk over on dry land.


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There will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant of his people who will be left. This will be as it was for Israel when they came up out of the land of Egypt.


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In that day you will say: »I will praise you, O Jehovah. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me.


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»Truly God is my salvation! I will trust and not be afraid. Jehovah Jehovah is my strength and my song! He has become my salvation.«


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In that day you will say: »Give thanks to Jehovah, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted.


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»Lift up a standard high on the mountain. Raise your voice to them. Shake the hand so they may enter the doors of the nobles.


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»I have commanded my consecrated ones. I have called my mighty warriors. My proud ones are to express my anger, those who rejoice in my majesty <i>excellency</i> .


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»Listen! A sound of tumult on the mountains is like that of many people! A sound of the uproar of kingdoms and nations gathered together! Jehovah of Hosts assembles <i>inspects</i> the army for battle.


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»They come from a far country, from the extremities of the heavens <i>horizons</i> . Jehovah and his instruments of indignation come to destroy the whole land.


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»Shout <i>wail howl</i> for the Day of Jehovah is near! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.


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»All hands will fall impaired <i>weakened</i> . Every man's heart will melt <i>courage will fail</i> .


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»They will be terrified! Pains and anguish will possess them. They will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look at one another in amazement with their faces reddened with excitement <i>aflame</i> .


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»Behold! The Day of Jehovah is coming! It will be cruel, with fury and burning anger. It will make the land desolation and exterminate the sinners from it.


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»The stars of heaven and their constellations will not shine forth their light. The sun will be dark when it rises and the moon will not shine its light.


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»I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity. I will also end the arrogance of the proud. I will demean <i>disgrace</i> the arrogance of tyranny.


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»Therefore I will make the heavens tremble. The earth will shake from its place at the fury of Jehovah of Hosts in the day of his burning anger.


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»They will each turn to his own people, and each one escape to his own land just like a hunted gazelle, or like sheep without a shepherd.


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»Their infant children will be dashed to pieces before their eyes. Their houses will be plundered and their wives raped.


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»And their bows will mow down the young men. They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb. Nor will they have compassion on children.


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Babylon, the beauty <i>honor glory</i> of kingdoms, the majesty of Chaldean pride, will be overthrew by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.


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»It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation! Nor will the Arab pitch his tent there. Nor will shepherds take their flocks there.


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»But desert animals will lie down there. Their houses will be full of owls! Shaggy goats <i>demons</i> will play there and ostriches will dance there.


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»Wild beasts will howl in her fortified towers and jackals in her luxurious temples. Her time also will soon come and her days will not be prolonged.«


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Jehovah will have compassion on Jacob and again choose Israel. He will resettle them in their own country. Foreigners will join them and unite with the descendants of Jacob.


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People will take them and bring them to their own place. The nation of Israel will possess nations as male and female slaves in Jehovahs land. They will take their captors captive and rule their oppressors.


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When that day comes, Jehovah will give you relief from your pain and suffering, from the hard slavery you were forced to do.


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You will mock the king of Babylon with this saying: »How the tyrant has come to an end! How his attacks have come to an end!


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»They struck the people with fury, with blows that did not stop. They ruled nations in anger, persecuting them without restraint.


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»Even the cypress trees rejoice over you. The cedars of Lebanon say: Since you have fallen, no lumberjack has come to attack us.


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»The grave below wakes up to meet you when you come. It wakes up those who are dead, all who were leaders on earth. It raises all who were kings of the nations from their thrones.


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»Your pride has been brought down to the grave along with the music of your harps. Maggots are spread out like a bed under you, and worms cover you.


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»O how you have fallen from heaven, you morning star <i>shining one</i> , and son of the dawn! How you have been cut down to the ground, you who conquered nations!


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»You thought: I will go up to heaven <i>Mount Zion</i> and set up my throne above God's stars <i>messengers</i> . I will sit on the mountain of meeting far away in the north where the gods assemble.


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»Those who see you stare at you. They look at you closely and say: Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook the kingdoms,


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However you are thrown out of your tomb like a rejected branch. You are covered with those who were killed in battle. You go down to the stones <i>bottom</i> of the pit like a trampled corpse.


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You ruined your country and killed your own people. For that reason, you will not be buried like other kings. None of your evil family will survive.


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»Prepare a slaughtering place! The sons of this king will die because of their ancestors' sins. None of them will ever rule the earth or cover it with cities.«


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Jehovah of Hosts declares: »I will attack Babylon and bring it to ruin. I will leave nothing! There will be no children, no survivors at all. I, Jehovah, have spoken.


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»I will turn Babylon into a marsh. Porcupines will live there. I will sweep Babylon with a broom that will sweep everything away.« I, the Sovereign Lord Jehovah have spoken.


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Jehovah of Hosts has sworn an oath: »What I have intended <i>devised</i> will happen. What I have determined to do will be done.


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»In my land of Israel I will trample them on my mountains. I will free my people from the Assyrian yoke and from the burdens they have had to bear.«


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This is my purpose <i>plan advise</i> for the world, and my arm <i>extended power</i> is stretched out to punish the nations.


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Jehovah of Hosts is determined to do this. He has stretched out his arm to punish, and no one can stop him.


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»The rod that beat you is broken, but you have no reason to be glad. When one snake dies, a worse one comes in its place. A snake's egg hatches a flying dragon.


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»Jehovah will be a shepherd to the poor of his people and will let them live in safety. But he will send a terrible famine on you Philistines. It will not leave any of you alive.


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»Howl and cry for help, all you Philistine cities! Be terrified, all of you! A cloud of dust is coming from the north. It is an army with no cowards in its ranks.«


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What then will one answer the messengers that come to us from Philistia? We will tell them that Jehovah has established Zion and in her the poor and afflicted of his people find refuge.


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Surely in a night Ar of Moab is devastated and ruined. Certainly in a night Kir of Moab is devastated and ruined.


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They have gone up to the temple and to Dibon, to the high places to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba. Everyone's head is bald and every beard is cut off.


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They have dress themselves with sackcloth in their streets. On their housetops and in their squares everyone is wailing, taken down with tears.


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Heshbon and Elealeh cry out. Their voice is heard all the way to Jahaz. Therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud and tremble with fear.


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My heart cries out for Moab! The people have fled to the town of Zoar, and to Eglath Shelishiyah. Some climb the road to Luhith. They weep as they go. Some escape to Horonaim, grieving loudly.


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Everywhere at Moab's borders the sound of crying is heard. It is heard at the towns of Eglaim and Beerelim.


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Dimons waters are full of blood. I will bring still more upon Dimon, a lion upon the fugitives of Moab and upon those who remain in the land.


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Send lambs as tribute to the ruler of the land, from Sela, across the desert, to the mountain of the Daughter of Zion.


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Like fluttering birds pushed from the nest, so are the women of Moab at the fords of the Arnon River.


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»Give us counsel and render a decision. Make your shadow like night at high noon. Hide the fugitives! Do not betray the refugees.


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»Let the Moabite fugitives stay with you. Be their shelter from the destroyer. The oppressor will come to an end. Destruction will cease! For the aggressor will vanish from the land.


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»In love a throne will be established and in faithfulness a man will sit on it. One shall sit upon it in truth and faithfulness. He will be from the tent of David. He will judge and seek justice and speed the cause of righteousness.«


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We have heard of the pride of Moab and of his arrogance. We know of his pride, conceit and empty boasting.


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The Moabites cry, they cry out together for Moab. Lament and grieve for the men and the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth.


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The fields of Heshbon and the vines of Sibmah wither. The rulers of the nations have trampled down the choicest vines, which once reached Jazer and spread toward the desert. Their shoots spread out and went as far as the sea.


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So I weep, as Jazer weeps, for the vines of Sibmah. O Heshbon, O Elealeh, I drench you with tears! The shouts of joy over your ripened fruit and over your harvests have been stilled.


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Joy and gladness are taken away from the orchards. No one sings or shouts in the vineyards! No one treads out wine at the presses, for I have put an end to the shouting.


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When the people of Moab appear at the worship site, they will only wear themselves out. They will come into the holy place to pray, but they will not be able to.


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Now Jehovah says: »Moab's honor will be despised within three years. I will count them like workers count the years left of their contracts. In spite of their great number, the survivors will be very few and powerless.«


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»The cities of Aroer <i>three places near Palestine</i> will be deserted forever. They will be places for flocks to lie down, and no one will make them afraid.


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»The fortress will disappear from Ephraim, and the kingdom <i>sovereignty</i> from Damascus. The remnant of Aram will be like the glory of the children of Israel, proclaims Jehovah of Hosts.


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»Then the glory of Jacob will be brought low, and the fat of his flesh will grow lean <i>riches, strength and glory will diminish</i> .


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It will be like reapers gathering the standing grain. Their arms harvest the ears, and as when one gleans the ears of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.


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Gleanings will be left in it, as when an olive tree is beaten: two or three berries in the top of the highest bough, four or five on the branches of a fruit tree, declares Jehovah the God of Israel.


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On that day people will regard their Maker. Their eyes will look <i>offer respect</i> to the Holy One of Israel.


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They will not have regard for the altars, the work of their hands, and they will not look to what their own fingers have made, either the sacred poles <i>Asherim</i> or the altars of incense.


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In that day their strong cities <i>of Syria and Israel</i> will be like a forsaken bough and an uppermost branch that they left because of the children of Israel. There will be desolation in the land.


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Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation. You have not been mindful of the Rock of your stronghold. Therefore you will plant pleasant plants and set out foreign <i>imported unusual</i> seedlings.


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In that day you will make your plant grow. In the morning you will make your seed flourish; but the harvest will be a heap of ruins in the day of grief and desperate sorrow.


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There will be trouble for the multitude of people, because they will roar like the roar of the seas. Woe to the rushing of nations that makes a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!


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The nations will rush like the raging of many waters. But God will rebuke them and they will flee far away. They will be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, like a rolling dust before the whirlwind.


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In the evening, sudden terror! Before the morning, they are gone! This is the portion of those who loot us, the lot of those who rob us.


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It sends messengers by sea in boats made of reeds that skim over the surface of the water. »Go, swift messengers, to a tall and smooth-skinned people, a people who are feared far and near, a strong and aggressive nation, whose land is divided by rivers.«


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Look when someone raises a flag on the mountains. Listen when someone blows a ram's horn, all you inhabitants of the world, you who live on the earth.


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Jehovah says this to me: »I will be still and watch from my dwelling place. My presence will be like scorching heat in the sunshine, like heavy dew in the heat of the harvest.


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»Before the harvest, when blossoms are gone and grapes are ripening from blossoms, he will cut off the shoots with pruning shears and chop off and take away the spreading branches.


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They will all be left for the birds of prey on the mountains and the wild animals. The birds of prey will feed on them in the summer. All the wild animals on earth will feed on them in the winter.


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»At that time gifts will be brought to Jehovah of Hosts from a tall and smooth-skinned people, a people who are feared far and near. It will be a strong and aggressive nation, whose land is divided by rivers. They will be brought to Mount Zion, the place where the name of Jehovah of Hosts is.«


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Jehovah rides on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt tremble before him. The hearts of the Egyptians melt <i>their courage fails</i> within them.


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»I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian. Brother will fight against brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.


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»The Egyptians will become discouraged. I will bring their plans to nothing. They will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead, the mediums and the spiritists.


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»I will hand the Egyptians over to the power of a cruel master, and a fierce king will rule over them.« This is the declaration of Jehovah of Hosts, the Almighty.


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The canals will stink. The streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up. The reeds and rushes will wither.


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The plants <i>rushes</i> along the Nile, at the mouth of the river will wither. Every sown field along the Nile will become parched and blow away to be no more.


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The fishermen will groan and lament. All who cast hooks into the Nile and throw nets on the water will be weak and sick.


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Those who work with combed flax will despair. The weavers of fine linen <i>and cotton</i> will lose hope.


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The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools. The wise counselors of Pharaoh give senseless advice. How can you say to Pharaoh: »I am one of the wise men, a disciple of the ancient kings?«


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Where are your wise men now? Let them show you and make known what Jehovah of Hosts has purposed <i>planned resolved</i> against Egypt.


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The officials of Zoan have become fools. The leaders of Memphis <i>Noph</i> are deceived. The cornerstones of her peoples have led Egypt astray.


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Jehovah has poured into them a spirit of dizziness. They make Egypt stagger in all that she does, as a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.


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A time is coming when the people of Egypt will be as timid as women. They will tremble in terror when they see that Jehovah of Hosts has stretched out his hand <i>extended His power</i> to punish them.


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The people of Egypt will be terrified of Judah every time they are reminded of the fate that Jehovah of Hosts has prepared for them.


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When that time comes, the Hebrew language will be spoken in five Egyptian cities. The people there will take their oaths in the name of Jehovah of Hosts. One of the cities will be called: »City of Destruction.«


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When that time comes, there will be an altar to Jehovah in the middle of the land of Egypt and a stone pillar dedicated to him at the Egyptian border.


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They will be a sign of the presence of Jehovah of Hosts in Egypt. When the people there are oppressed and call out to Jehovah for help, he will send someone to rescue them.


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Jehovah will make himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know Jehovah in that day. They will even worship with sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to Jehovah and perform it.


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Jehovah will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so they will turn to Jehovah, and he will respond to them and will heal them.


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In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will come to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.


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In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth.


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Jehovah of Hosts has blessed, saying: Blessed is Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.


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At that time Jehovah spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him: »Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet.« He did this and went around stripped and barefoot.


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Jehovah said: »Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush,


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so the king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared to Egypts shame.


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»That day the people who live on this coast will say: See what has happened to those we relied on, those we fled to for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?« 


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I have seen a vision of cruel events, a vision of betrayal and destruction. Army of Elam, attack! Army of Media, lay siege to the cities! God will put an end to the suffering that Babylon has caused.


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What I saw and heard in the vision has filled me with terror and pain. My hips are full of pain and convulsions like that of a woman in labor.


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My innermost being reels, horror overwhelms me. The twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.


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They set the table, they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink; Rise up, captains, oil the shields,


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»When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, a train of donkeys, a train of camels, Let him pay close attention, very close attention.«


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The watchman called out from the tower: »Sir, I stand on the watchtower every day. Every night, I stand guard at my post.


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»Look! Here come chariots and horsemen in pairs. Then he said: Babylon has fallen! She has fallen! All the idols they worship lie shattered on the ground.«


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You, my people, have been threshed and winnowed. I make known to you what I heard from Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel.


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This is the divine REVELATION ABOUT EDOM. He calls to me from Seir: »Watchman, what of the night? How much of the night is left? Watchman, what of the night?«


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The watchman replies: »Morning is coming, but also the night. If you would ask, then ask; and come back yet again.«


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This is what Jehovah says to me: »Within one year, as a servant bound by contract would count it, all the pomp of Kedar will come to an end.


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»The survivors of the bowmen, the warriors of Kedar, will be few.« Jehovah, the God of Israel, has spoken!


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You are a town full of commotion, a city of tumult and revelry. The sword did not kill your slain, nor did they die in battle.


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All your leaders have fled together. They have been captured without using the bow. All you who were caught were taken prisoner together. You fled while the enemy was still far away.


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I said: »Turn away from me. Let me weep bitterly. Do not try to console me over the destruction of my people.«


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The Lord Jehovah of Hosts has a day of tumult, trampling and terror in the Valley of Vision. It is a day of battering down walls and of crying out to the mountains.


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The defenses of Judah are stripped away. And you looked in that day to the weapons in the house of the forest.


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You saw that the City of David had many breaches in its defenses. You stored up water in the lower pool.


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You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or have regard for him who planned it long ago.


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In that day Jehovah God of Hosts called to weeping and mourning, to baldness and putting on sackcloth.


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Instead there was joy and festivity, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating meat and drinking wine. »Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.«


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Jehovah of Hosts has disclosed himself in my ears: »Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die,« says Jehovah of Hosts.


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Jehovah of Hosts says: »Go to this steward, to Shebna, who is master of the household, and say to him:


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»What right do you have here? Who are your relatives here that you have cut out a tomb here for yourself, cutting a tomb on the height, and carving a habitation for yourself in the rock?


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»He will surely turn violently and toss you like a ball into a large country! There you shall die, and there your glorious chariots will be the shame of your masters house.


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»I will clothe him with your robe and strengthen him with your belt. I will commit your responsibility into his hand. He will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.


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»I will lay the key of the house of David on his shoulder. He will open, and no one will shut and he will shut, and no one will open.


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»I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place. He will become a glorious throne to his fathers house.


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»They will hang all the glory of his fathers house on him, the offspring and the posterity, all vessels of small quantity, from the cups to all the pitchers.


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»Jehovah of Hosts says: In that day the peg that is fastened in the secure place will be removed and be cut down and fall. The load that was on it will be destroyed.« Jehovah has spoken.


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Wail, O ships of Tarshish! For Tyre is destroyed and left without house or harbor. From the land of Cyprus <i>Kittim</i> word has come to them.


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On the great waters came the grain of the Shihor. The harvest of the Nile River was the revenue of Tyre, and she became the marketplace of the nations.


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Be ashamed, O Sidon, and you, O fortress of the sea, for the sea has spoken: I have neither been in labor nor given birth. I have neither reared sons nor brought up daughters.


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Is this your exultant city founded in antiquity? Is this the city that sent its people to settle in distant lands?


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Who planned such a thing against Tyre, the city that produced kings? Its merchants are princes. Its traders are among the honored people of the world.


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Jehovah of Hosts planned this in order to dishonor all arrogant people and to humiliate all the honored people of the world.


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Jehovah has stretched his hand over the sea to shake kingdoms. He has commanded that Canaan's fortifications be destroyed.


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He said: »You will exult no more, O crushed virgin daughter of Sidon. Arise, pass over to Cyprus; even there you will find no rest.«


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Look at the land of the Chaldeans. This is the people that were not. Assyria appointed it for desert creatures. They erected their siege towers and they stripped its palaces. They made it a ruin!


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Now in that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years like the lifespan of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:


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»Take harp and walk about the city, O forgotten prostitute. Pluck the strings skillfully; sing many songs, that you may be remembered.«


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It will come about at the end of seventy years that Jehovah will visit Tyre. Then she will go back to her prostitutes wages and will play the wanton woman with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.


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The money she earns by commerce will be dedicated to Jehovah. She will not store it away, but those who worship Jehovah will use her money to buy the food and the clothing they need.


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The people will be like the one officiating, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor.


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The earth mourns and fades away, the world fades and withers, the exalted people of the earth mourn.


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The inhabitants of the earth pollute the earth. They transgress laws and violate statutes. They break the everlasting covenant.


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A curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are found guilty. Therefore, those living on the earth are burned, and few men are left.


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So will it be on the earth and among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest.


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Therefore in the east give glory to Jehovah. Exalt the name of Jehovah the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea.


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Listen to them as they sing to Jehovah from the ends of the earth: »Glory and praise to the righteous one!« But I say: »My heart is heavy with grief. I am discouraged, for evil still prevails, and treachery is everywhere.«


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Those who flee in terror will fall into a trap, and those who escape the trap will step into a snare. Destruction falls on you from the heavens. The world is shaken beneath you.


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The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard and it quakes like a shack in the wind. Its transgression is heavy upon it, and it will fall, never to rise again.


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They will be gathered like prisoners in the dungeon tower. They will be confined in prison and after many days they will be punished.


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Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed, For Jehovah of Hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, And his glory will be before his elders.


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O Jehovah, you are my God. I will exalt you and I will praise your name! You have done wonderful things with plans formed of old. You are faithful and true.


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You have made the city a heap, the mighty city a ruin. The palace of aliens is a city no more. It will never be rebuilt.


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You have been a refuge to the poor, a refuge to the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade from the heat. When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rainstorm,


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the noise of strangers like heat in a dry place, you subdued the heat with the shade of clouds; the song of the ruthless was stilled.


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On this mountain Jehovah of Hosts will make a feast of rich food for all peoples, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear of dregs.


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On this mountain He will destroy the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations.


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He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign Lord Jehovah will wipe away the tears from all faces. He will take away the disgrace of His people from the earth. Jehovah has spoken!


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On that day his people will say: »This is our God! We have waited for Him and now He will save us. This is Jehovah. We have waited for Him. Let us rejoice and be glad because He will save us.«


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Jehovahs power will be on this mountain. Moab will be trampled beneath him like straw that is trampled in a pile of manure.


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The Moabites will stretch out their hands in the manure like swimmers who stretch out their hands to swim. Jehovah will humble those arrogant people despite the movements of their hands.


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He will bring down Moab's high-fortified walls, level them, and throw them into the dust on the ground.


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»He humbles those who dwell on high, he lays the lofty <i>inaccessible</i> city low; he levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust.


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Yes, Jehovah, walking in the way of your Laws, we wait for you. Your name and your fame are the desire of our hearts.


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I yearn for you in the night. In the morning I long for you with all my being. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.


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Grace <i>favor</i> is shown to the wicked, but they do not learn righteousness. In a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and do not regard the majesty of Jehovah.


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O Jehovah, your hand is lifted high, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people and be put to shame. Let the fire reserved for your enemies consume them.


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They are now dead and they live no more. The deceased do not rise. You punished them and brought them to ruin. You wiped out all memory <i>memorial commemoration</i> of them.


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You have enlarged the nation, O Jehovah; you have enlarged the nation. You have gained glory for yourself. You have extended all the borders of the land.


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Jehovah, they came to you in their distress. When you disciplined them, they could barely whisper a prayer.


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Like a woman with child and about to give birth struggles and cries out in her pain, so were we in your presence, O Jehovah.


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We were with child, we writhed in pain, but we gave birth to wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth. We have not given birth to people of the world.


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But your dead will live. Their bodies will rise. You, who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.


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Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you. Hide yourselves for a little while until his rage has passed by.


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Behold! Jehovah is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose <i>reveal</i> the bloodshed upon her. She will conceal her slain no longer.


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In that day Jehovah will punish with his sword, his fierce, great and powerful sword. He will slay Leviathan the fleeing, coiling serpent, the monster of the sea.


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»I, Jehovah, watch over it. I water it continually. I guard it day and night so that no one may harm it.


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»I am not angry. If only there were briers and thorns confronting me! I would march against them in battle. I would set them all on fire.


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In days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will bud and blossom and fill the entire world with fruit.


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Has Jehovah struck her as he struck down those who struck her? Has she been killed as those were killed who killed her?


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By warfare and exile you contend with her. With his fierce blast he drives her out, as on a day the east wind blows.


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By this Jacobs guilt will be atoned for, and this will be the full fruitage of the removal of his sin. When he makes all the altar stones to be like chalk stones crushed to pieces, no Asherah poles or incense altars will be left standing.


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The fortified city stands desolate, abandoned settlements, forsaken like the desert. There the calves will graze, there they lie down; they strip its branches bare.


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When its twigs are dry, they are broken off and women come and make fires with them. For they have no understanding <i>discernment</i> . Their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor.


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In that day Jehovah will thresh from the flowing Euphrates River to the Wadi <i>streambed</i> of Egypt. You, O Israelites, will be gathered up one by one.


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A great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship Jehovah on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.


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Woe to the proud drunks who wear the crown of Ephraim for it is doomed! Its glory is fading like the crowns of flowers on their heads. They are at the entrance of a fertile valley. They are drunk from wine.


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Behold, Jehovah has a strong and mighty one <i>Assyria</i> . He will cast down to the earth with military power. It will be like a destructive thunderstorm with hail and a mighty flood of water.


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The fading flower of his glorious beauty is found at the head of the fertile valley. He looks at the first-ripe fig before the summer. He picks it with his hand and eats it.


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He will be a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, a source of strength to those who repel the attack at the gate.


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These also stagger from wine and reel from beer. Priests and prophets stagger from beer and are befuddled with wine. They reel from beer. They stagger when seeing visions. They stumble when rendering decisions.


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»Who is he is trying to teach? To whom is he explaining his message? To children weaned from their milk, to those just taken from the breast?


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»For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.«


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He said: »This is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest, and, this is the refreshing.« Yet they would not listen.


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But the word of Jehovah to them was: »Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little,« that they might go and fall backward, and be broken and snared and caught.


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Because you have said: »We have made a covenant with death, and with the grave we are in agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge. We have hidden under falsehood!«


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Therefore this is what The Sovereign Lord Jehovah says: »Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation. It is a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily.


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»I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plummet. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place.


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»Your covenant with death will be annulled. Your agreement with the grave will not stand when the overflowing scourge passes through. Then you will be trampled down by it.


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»As often as it passes through it will take you. Morning by morning it will pass over, and by day and by night. It will be a terror just to understand the report.«


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The bed is too short on which to stretch out, and the cover so narrow that one cannot wrap himself in it.


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Jehovah will rise up as at Mount Perazim. He will be angry as in the Valley of Gibeon. That he may do his work, his awesome work, and bring to pass his act, his unusual act.


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Do not be scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong. For I have heard from the Sovereign Lord Jehovah of Hosts that destruction is determined <i>decreed</i> upon the whole earth.


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Does the plowman keep plowing all day in order to sow seed? Does he keep turning his soil and breaking the clods?


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When he has leveled its surface, does he not sow the black cummin and scatter the cummin, plant the wheat in rows, the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its place?


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The black cummin is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cartwheel rolled over the cummin. But the black cummin is beaten out with a stick, and the cummin with a rod.


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Bread flour must be ground. Therefore he does not thresh it forever, break it with his cartwheel, or crush it with his horsemen.


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»You will have trouble Ariel. The years go by, year after year in Ariel the city where David camped! <i>Jerusalem</i> You celebrate your festivals on schedule.


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»I will still make you suffer Ariel. Your people will cry and mourn when I make you like the lion of God, Jerusalem. <i>Ariel is symbolic name for Jerusalem.</i>


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»From deep in the earth, you will call out for help. Your voice will sound like a mumble <i>indistinct voice</i> from out of the dust. It will be faint like a whisper.


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»Your cruel enemies will be swept away like dust in a windstorm. It will be sudden and unexpected like chaff in the wind.


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»Jehovah of Hosts will visit you with a thundering earthquake. A huge whirlwind will bring loud noise and a devouring fire.«


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The multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel <i>Jerusalem</i> will be like a bad dream, a vision in the night. Many will fight against her and bring distress to her.


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It will be like a hungry man who dreams that he eats. But when he awakes he is empty and still hungry! It will also be like a thirsty man who dreams that he drinks. When he awakes he is thirsty and weak and hungry. The multitude of nations that fight against Mount Zion will be like this.


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Jehovah has made you drowsy. He shut your eyes in a deep sleep you prophets and visionaries. He overwhelmed your leaders.


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His message is like a sealed book to you. You say to someone read this out loud. And they respond, »We cannot read it, because it is sealed.«


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»These people praise me with their words,« said Jehovah, »but they never draw near to me in their hearts <i>deepest thoughts</i> . Their reverence for me comes from the repetitious tradition of men.


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»I will do things that shock and amaze them. I will destroy the wisdom of those who claim to know and understand <i>discern</i> .«


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You are in for trouble, if you try to hide your plans from Jehovah! You think what you do in the dark cannot be seen. So you ask: »Who sees us, who knows us?«


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You have it all backwards. A clay dish does not say to the potter, »You did not make me.« And should the one made say to the maker, »You do not understand?«


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The deaf will be able to hear the words of the book read to them. The blind will be freed from gloom and darkness.


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The meek, the poor, and the needy will celebrate and shout because of Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel.


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God will destroy those who slander others. He will destroy those who prevent the punishment of criminals and those who tell lies to keep honest people from getting justice.


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Jehovah said to the house of Jacob: »I am the God of Israel, who rescued Abraham from trouble. My people will not be disgraced any longer. You will no longer be filled with shame.


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»When you see the children that I will give you, then you will acknowledge and sanctify my name. I am the Holy God of Israel! You will honor me and stand in awe of me.


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»Suffer you unwilling children,« says Jehovah. »You pursue a purpose that is not mine. You make a covenant sacrifice without my Spirit. You add sin to sin.


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»You go to Egypt for help without asking for my advice. You want Egypt to protect you. You put your trust in Egypt's military might.


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»Everyone will be ashamed because of a people who cannot help them. They cannot help. They can only offer shame and reproach.«


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THE PROPHESY ABOUT THE BEASTS OF THE NEGEV <i>southern land</i> : The Negev is a land of distress and anguish. Lions and lionesses live there. Vipers and poisonous snakes live there. They carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels to a nation that cannot help them.


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Egypt's help is completely useless. That is why I call her: »Rahab, who sits still.« <i>defamatory word for Egypt negative connotation</i>


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Write this on a tablet for them, and inscribe it in a book so that it will be there in the future as a permanent witness.


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They say to the seers: »Do not see the future.« They say to those who have visions: Do not have visions that tell us what is right. Tell us what we want to hear. Prophesy illusions.


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This is what the Holy One of Israel says: »You have rejected this warning, trusted oppression and deceit, and you leaned upon them for support.


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»For that reason your sin will be like a high wall with a bulging crack, ready to fall. All of a sudden it will fall.


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»It will break like pottery. It will be smashed. Nothing will be left of it. No piece will be big enough to carry live coals from a fireplace or to dip water from a reservoir.«


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The Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, says: »Return to me and be saved. You can have rest. You can be strong by being quiet and by trusting me.« But you do not want that!


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You have said: »No, we will flee on horses.« So you flee. You added: »We will ride on fast horses.« So those who chase you will also be fast.


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One thousand people will flee when one person threatens them. You will flee when five threaten you. Then you will be left alone like a flagpole on top of a mountain, like a signpost on a hill.


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Jehovah is waiting to be kind to you. He rises to have compassion on you. Jehovah is a God of justice. Blessed are all those who wait for him.


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You will live in Zion, in Jerusalem. You will not cry anymore. Jehovah will certainly have pity on you when you cry for help. As soon as he hears you, he will answer you.


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Jehovah may give you troubles and hardships. But your Teacher <i>Grand Instructor</i> will no longer be hidden from you. You will see your Teacher with your own eyes.


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You will hear a voice behind you say: »This is the way. Walk in it,« whether it turns to the right or to the left.


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Then you will dishonor your silver-plated idols and your gold-covered statues. You will throw them away like clothing ruined by stains. You will say to them: »Get out!«


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Jehovah will give you rain for the seed that you plant in the ground, and the food that the ground provides will be rich and nourishing. When that day comes, your cattle will graze in large pastures.


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The cattle and the donkeys that work the soil will eat a mixture of food that has been winnowed with forks and shovels.


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Brooks and streams will be on every lofty mountain and every high hill. When the day of the great slaughter comes, towers will fall.


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Then the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun. The light of the sun will be seven times as strong, like the light of seven days. When that day comes, Jehovah will bandage his people's injuries and heal the wounds he inflicted.


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The name of Jehovah is going to come from far away. His anger is burning. His burden is heavy. His lips are filled with fury. His tongue is like a devouring flame.


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His breath is like an overflowing stream. It raises neck high and sifts the nations with a sieve of destruction. It places a bit in the mouths of the people to lead them astray.


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You will sing a song like the song you sing on a festival night. Your hearts will be happy like someone going out with a flute on the way to Jehovahs mountain, to the rock of Israel.


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Jehovah will make his majestic voice heard. He will come with all his might, with furious anger, with firestorms, windstorms, rainstorms, and hailstones.


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The people of Assyria will be shattered at the sound of Jehovahs voice. He will strike them with his rod.


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To the sound of tambourines and lyres, Jehovah will pound on them. He will fight them in battle, swinging his fists <i>displaying his power</i> .


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Topheth was prepared long ago. It was made ready for the king. It was made deep and wide and piled high with plenty of burning logs. Jehovahs breath will be like a flood of burning sulfur, setting it on fire.


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How horrible it will be for those who go to Egypt for help! Cursed are those who rely on very strong warhorses, who depend on many chariots. They do not look to the Holy One of Israel. They do not seek Jehovah.


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He is wise and can bring about disaster. He does not take back his words. He rises against wicked people and against those who help troublemakers.


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The Egyptians are humans, not God. Their horses are flesh and blood, not spirit. Jehovah will stretch out his powerful hand <i>extend his power</i> . The one who gives help will stumble. The one who receives help will fall. Both will die together.


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This is what Jehovah said to me: »A lion, even a young lion, growls over its prey when a crowd of shepherds is called to fight it. It is not frightened by their voices or disturbed by the noise they make. So Jehovah of Hosts will come to fight for Mount Zion and on its hill.


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»Jehovah of Hosts will defend Jerusalem like a hovering bird. He will defend it and rescue it. He will pass over it and protect it.«


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When that day comes, all of you will reject the worthless gods of silver and gold, the idols that your sinful hands have made.


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Then Assyrians will be killed with a sword not made by human hands. The swords not made by human hands will destroy them. They will flee from battle, and their young men will be made to do forced labor.


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»In terror they will run to their stronghold, and their officers will be frightened at the sight of the battle flag.« Jehovah declares this. His fire <i>light</i> is in Zion and his furnace is in Jerusalem.


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Some day there will be a king who rules with integrity, and national leaders who govern with righteousness. Princes will rule for the sake of justice.


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Each of them will be like a shelter from the wind and a place to hide from storms. They will be like streams flowing in a desert, like the shadow of a giant rock in a barren land.


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They will not be impatient any longer, but they will act with understanding and will pay attention to the needs of the people.


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A fool speaks foolishly and thinks up evil things to do. He promotes wickedness and what he says insults Jehovah. He never feeds the hungry or gives thirsty people anything to drink.


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As for a rogue, his weapons are evil. He devises wicked schemes to destroy the afflicted with slander, even though the needy one speaks what is right.


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Rise up, you women who are at ease. Hear my voice and pay attention to my word, you complacent daughters.


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Within a year and some days you will be troubled, O complacent women for the vintage is ended, the fruit gathering will not happen.


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Tremble you women who are at ease. Be troubled you complacent ones. Undress and put sackcloth on your waist,


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For the land of my people where thorns and briars will grow for they are on the delightful houses and the exultant city.


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Because the palace has been abandoned, the populated city forsaken. Hill and watchtower have become caves forever. They will be a delight for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks.


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The Spirit will be poured out upon us from on high. Then the wilderness will be turned into a fertile field, and the fertile field will be considered a forest.


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Woe to you who destroy for you have not been destroyed! Woe to you who betray for you who have not been betrayed! When you stop destroying you will be destroyed; when you stop betraying you will be betrayed.


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Jehovah, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress.


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Your plunder, O nations, is harvested like young devouring locusts; like a swarm of cockroaches men pounce on it.


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He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge. Respect for Jehovah is the key to this treasure.


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The highways are deserted, no travelers are on the roads. The treaty is broken and its witnesses are despised. No one is respected.


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The land dries up and wastes away. Lebanon is ashamed and withers. Sharon is like a desert plain. Bashan and Carmel drop their leaves.


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»You conceive chaff and you give birth to straw. Your strength will be in vain. Fire will consume you.


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»You who are far away hear what I have done. You who are near will acknowledge <i>comprehend recognize</i> my power!«


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The sinners in Zion are terrified. The godless tremble. Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with long lasting fire?


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He who walks righteously and speaks what is right, who rejects gain from extortion and keeps his hand from accepting bribes, who stops his ears against plots of murder and shuts his eyes against contemplating evil.


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This man will dwell on the heights. His refuge will be the mountain fortress. His bread will be supplied, and he will have water.


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In your thoughts you will ponder the former terror: »Where is that chief officer? Where is the one who took the revenue? Where is the officer in charge of the towers?«


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You will see those arrogant people no more, those people of an obscure speech, with their strange, incomprehensible tongue.


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Look upon Zion, the city of our festivals. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved. Its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes broken.


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Jehovah will be the Almighty One <i>Powerful One Excellent One</i> . It will be like a place of broad rivers and streams. No galley with oars will ride them, no mighty ship will sail them.


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Your rigging hangs loose. The mast is not held secure and the sail is not spread. Then an abundance of spoils will be divided and even the lame will carry off plunder.


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Draw near, people of all nations! Gather around and listen. Let the whole earth and everyone living on it come here and pay attention.


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JEHOVAH IS ANGRY WITH ALL THE NATIONS. He is furious with all their armies. He has condemned them for destruction. He has handed them over to be slaughtered.


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Their dead bodies will be thrown out. A stench will rise from their corpses. The mountains will be laid waste with their blood.


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All the stars in the sky will dissolve. The heavens will be rolled up like a scroll. The stars will fade away like leaves fall from a vine or fruit from a tree.


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My sword is covered with blood in the heavens. It will fall on EDOM and on the people I have claimed for destruction.


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Jehovahs sword is covered with blood. It is covered with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of rams' kidneys. Jehovah will receive a sacrifice in Bozrah, a huge slaughter in the land of Edom.


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Wild oxen will be killed with them, young bulls along with rams. Their land will be drenched with blood. Their dust will be covered with fat.


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Jehovah will have a day of vengeance! He will have a year of retribution <i>recompense</i> in defense of Zion.


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Edom's streams will be turned to tar. Its soil will be turned to burning sulfur. Its land will become blazing tar.


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They will not be extinguished day or night, and smoke will always go up from them. Edom will lie in ruins for generations. No one will ever travel through it.


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Pelicans and herons will take possession of the land. Porcupines and crows will live there. He will stretch the measuring line of chaos and the plumb line of destruction over it.


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Its palaces are covered with thorns. Its fortresses have nettles and thistles. It will become a home for jackals and a place for ostriches.


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Hyenas will meet with jackals. Male goats will call to their mates. Screech owls will rest there and find a resting place for themselves.


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Arrow snakes will make their nests there, lay eggs, and hatch them. They will gather their young under their shadow. Vultures also will gather there, each one with its mate.


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Search Jehovahs book and read it out loud. Not one of these animals will be missing. Not one will lack a mate, because Jehovah has commanded it, and his Spirit will gather them together.


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He is the one who casts the lot for them, and his hand divides up the land for them with a measuring line. They will possess it permanently and live there for generations.


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The desert will sing and shout for joy! It will be beautiful like the Lebanon Mountains. It will be fertile as the fields of Carmel and Sharon. Everyone will see Jehovahs splendor. They will see his greatness and power.


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Tell the discouraged ones with anxious heart: »Be strong and do not be afraid! God is coming to your rescue! He is coming to punish your enemies.«


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The lame will leap and dance, and those who cannot speak will shout for joy. Streams of water will flow through the desert plain.


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The parched ground will become a lake, and dry land will be filled with springs. Marsh grass and reeds will grow where jackals used to live.


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There will be a highway there, called: »The Road of Holiness.« No sinner will ever travel that road. No fools will mislead those who follow it.


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No lions will be there. No fierce animals will pass that way! Those whom Jehovah has rescued will travel home by that road.


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They will reach Jerusalem with gladness, singing and shouting for joy. They will be happy forever. They will be forever free from sorrow and grief.


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It was Hezekiah's fourteenth year as king. King Sennacherib of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.


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The king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. He stood at the channel for the Upper Pool on the road to the Laundryman's Field.


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Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace and was the son of Hilkiah, Shebna the scribe, and Joah, who was the royal historian and the son of Asaph, went out to the field commander.


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He said to them: »Tell Hezekiah, This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What makes you so confident?


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»You give useless advice about getting ready for war. Whom do you trust for support in your rebellion against me?


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»When you trust Egypt, you trust a broken stick for a staff. If you lean on it, it stabs your hand and goes through it. This is what Pharaoh king of Egypt is like for everyone who trusts him.


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»Suppose you say: We are trusting Jehovah our God. He is the god whose places of worship and altars Hezekiah got rid of. Hezekiah told Judah and Jerusalem: Worship at this altar.« 


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»Now, make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses if you can put riders on them.


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»How can you defeat my master's lowest-ranking officers when you trust Egypt for chariots and horses?


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»Have I come to destroy this country without Jehovah on my side? Jehovah said to me: Attack this country, and destroy it.« 


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Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the field commander: »Speak to us in Aramaic, since we understand it. Do not speak to us in the Judean language as long as there are people on the wall listening.«


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However the field commander asked: »Did my master send me to tell these things only to you and your master? Did he not send me to the men sitting on the wall who will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine with you?«


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Then the field commander stood and shouted loudly in the Judean language: »Listen to the great king, the king of Assyria.


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»Do not let Hezekiah get you to trust Jehovah by saying: Jehovah will certainly rescue us, and this city will not be put under the control of the king of Assyria.


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»Do not listen to Hezekiah, because this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me! Come out, and give yourselves up to me! Everyone will eat from his own grapevine and fig tree and drink from his own cistern.


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»Then I will come and take you away to a country like your own. It is a country with grain and new wine, a country with bread and vineyards.


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»Do not let Hezekiah mislead you by saying to you: Jehovah will rescue us. Did any of the gods of the nations rescue their countries from the king of Assyria?


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»Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Did they rescue Samaria from my control?


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»Did the gods of these countries indeed rescue them from my control? Could Jehovah then rescue Jerusalem from my control?«


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Then Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace and was son of Hilkiah, Shebna the scribe, and Joah, who was the royal historian and the son of Asaph, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn in grief. They told him the message from the field commander.


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King Hezekiah heard it and he tore his clothes. He covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of Jehovah.


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Hezekiah sent Eliakim the palace administrator along with Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.


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They said to him: »Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress, rebuke and rejection. Children have come to birth, and there is no strength to deliver.


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»Perhaps Jehovah your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh. His master the king of Assyria has sent him to reproach the living God! He will rebuke the words Jehovah your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the remnant that survives.«


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Isaiah said to them: »Say to your master: Jehovah says: »Do not be afraid because of the words you have heard from the servants of the king of Assyria. For they have blasphemed me.


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»»Listen! I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land. I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.« «


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Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah. He had heard a report that the king had left Lachish.


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He heard this concerning Tirhakah king of Cush: »He has come out to fight against you.« So he sent messengers to Hezekiah and said:


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»Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you. He says to you: »Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.«


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»You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries. He destroyed them completely. And will you be delivered?


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»Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my forefathers deliver them? And what about the gods of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar?


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»Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, or of Hena or Ivvah?«


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Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. He went to the temple of Jehovah and spread it out before Jehovah.


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»O Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.


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»Give ear, O Jehovah, and hear! Open your eyes, O Jehovah, and see! Listen to all the words Sennacherib said to insult the living God.


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»They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them. But they were not gods! They were only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands.


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»Now, O Jehovah our God, deliver us from his hand. That way all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O Jehovah, are God.


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Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: »This is what Jehovah, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria,


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this is the word Jehovah spoke against him: »The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises and mocks you. The Daughter of Jerusalem tosses her head as you flee.


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»Who is it you have insulted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? It is against the Holy One of Israel!


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»By your messengers you have heaped insults on Jehovah. You said: With my many chariots I have ascended the heights of the mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon. I cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of its pines. I reach its remotest heights, the finest of its forests.


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»I dug wells and drank the water there. With the bottom of my feet I dried up all the streams of Egypt.


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»Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it. In days of old I planned it! And now I have brought it to pass, that you have turned fortified cities into piles of stone.


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»Their people are drained of power. They are dismayed and put to shame. They are like plants in the field, like tender green shoots, like grass sprouting on the roof, parched before it grows.


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»For the reason that you rage against me and because your insolence <i>arrogance</i> has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth. I will make you return by the way you came.«


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»This will be the sign for you, O Hezekiah: This year you will eat what grows by itself. The second year you will eat what springs from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.


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»Out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord Jehovah will accomplish this.


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»Therefore this is what Jehovah says concerning the king of Assyria: »He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. He will not come before it with shield, or build a siege ramp against it.


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The angel of Jehovah put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. The people got up the next morning and saw all the dead bodies!


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One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer cut him down with the sword. They escaped to the land of Ararat. Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.


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King Hezekiah became sick and almost died. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to see him. Isaiah said to him: »Jehovah tells you: You are to put everything in order because you will not recover. Get ready to die.« 


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»Remember, Jehovah, that I have served you faithfully and loyally. I have always tried to do what you wanted me to.« Then he cried bitterly.


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to go back to Hezekiah and say to him: »I Jehovah, the God of your ancestor David, have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will add fifteen more years to your life.


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»I will rescue you and this city of Jerusalem from the king of Assyria, and I will continue to protect the city.«


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»The sun made a shadow that went down the stairway of the upper palace of Ahaz. I am going to make the shadow go back ten steps.« So the sun on the stairway went back up the ten steps it had gone down.


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»I thought that in the prime of my life I would go down to the gates of the grave and be robbed of the rest of my life.


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»I thought that I would not see Jehovah in this world. Even with all the people in the world, I thought I would never see another person.


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»My life was over. You rolled it up like a shepherd's tent. You rolled up my life like a weaver. You cut me off from the loom. You ended my life in one day.


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»Until morning came, I thought you would crush my bones just like a hungry lion; both night and day you make an end of me.


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»I cry like a swallow <i>swift</i> . I mourn like a dove. My eyes are red from looking to you, Jehovah. I am terribly abused. Please come and help me.


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»There is nothing I can say in answer to you. For you are the one who has done this to me. My life has turned sour. I will limp until I die.


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»Your words and your deeds bring life to everyone, including me. Please make me healthy and strong again.


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»Yes, it was for my benefit that I suffered such distress. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction. You have put <i>thrown hurled</i> all my sins behind your back.


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»For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise. Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness.


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»The living, yes the living praise you, as I am doing today! Fathers tell their children about your faithfulness.


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»Jehovah will save me! We will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the Temple of Jehovah.«


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At that time Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of his illness and recovery.


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Hezekiah received the envoys gladly and showed them what was in his storehouses. He showed them the silver, the gold, the spices, the fine oil, his entire armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in his entire kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.


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Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked: »What did those men say, and where did they come from?« Hezekiah replied: »They came from the distant land of Babylon.«


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The prophet asked: »What did they see in your palace? »They saw everything in my palace,« Hezekiah said. »There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.«


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»The time will come when everything in your palace, and all that your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says Jehovah.


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»Some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away! They will become officers in the palace of the king of Babylon.«


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»The word of Jehovah you have spoken is good,« Hezekiah replied. For he thought: »There will be peace and security in my lifetime.«


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»Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed. Her sin has been paid for and she has received double for all her sins from Jehovahs hand.«


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A voice of one calling: »In the wilderness prepare the way for Jehovah. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.


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»Every valley will be raised up! Every mountain and hill made low. The rough ground will become level and the rugged places a plain.


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»The glory of Jehovah will be revealed and together all mankind will see it. For the mouth of Jehovah has spoken!«


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A voice shouts: »Cry out!« And I said: »What shall I cry?« The voice shouts: »All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.


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»The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of Jehovah blows on them. Surely the people are grass.


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You bring good news to Zion. Go up on a high mountain. You bring good news to Jerusalem. Lift up your voice with a shout! Lift it up and do not be afraid! Say to the towns of Judah: »Here is your God!«


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See the Sovereign Lord Jehovah comes with power. His arm <i>power</i> rules for him. See, his reward is with him and his recompense accompanies him.


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He tends his flock like a shepherd. He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart. He gently leads those that have young.


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Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the span of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance of the scale?


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Whom did Jehovah consult to enlighten him? Who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding?


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Truly the nations are like a drop in a bucket! They are regarded as dust on the scales! He weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.


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As for an idol, a craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it.


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A man too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot. He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple.


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Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told to you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded?


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He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.


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No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.


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»Lift your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these? The being that brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name created all these! Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.


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»Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel: My way is hidden from Jehovah! My God disregards my cause?


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»Do you not know? Have you not heard? JEHOVAH IS THE EVERLASTING GOD, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and no one can measure <i>find out</i> his understanding.


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»Those who hope in Jehovah will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary! They will walk and not be faint.«


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»Be silent before me, you islands! Let the nations renew their strength! Let them come forward and speak. Let us meet together at the place of judgment.


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»Who has stirred up one from the east, calling him in righteousness to his service? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow.


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»Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, Jehovah have done this with the first of them and with the last. I am he!«


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The craftsman encourages the goldsmith. He who smooths with the hammer spurs on him who strikes the anvil. He says of the welding: It is good. He nails down the idol so it will not topple.


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»However you, O Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham, my friend,


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»I took you from the ends of the earth. I called you from its farthest corners. I said: You are my servant. I have chosen you and have not rejected you.


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»Do not fear for I am with you! Do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.


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»All who rage against you will be ashamed and disgraced. Those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish.


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»Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all.


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»I AM JEHOVAH, YOUR GOD! I take hold of your right hand and say to you: Do not fear; I will help you.


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»Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob, O little Israel, for I will help you. This is the declaration of Jehovah, your Redeemer, and the Holy One of Israel.


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»See I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them. You will reduce the hills to chaff.


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»You will winnow them. The wind will pick them up and a gale will blow them away. But you will rejoice in Jehovah and glory in the Holy One of Israel.


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»The poor and needy search for water, but there is none! Their tongues are parched with thirst. But I Jehovah will answer them. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.


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»I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs.


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»I will put the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive in the desert. I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together.


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»People may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand <i>power</i> of Jehovah has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it.


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»Bring in your idols to tell us what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider them and know their final outcome. Or declare to us the things to come.


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»Tell us what the future holds, so we may know that you are gods. Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be shocked and filled with fear.


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»I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes! One from the rising sun calls on my name. He treads on rulers as if they were mortar, as if he were a potter treading the clay.


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»Who told of this from the beginning, so we could know, or beforehand, so we could say: He was right? No one told of this, no one foretold it. No one heard any words from you!«


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I look but there is no one. There is no one among them to give counsel! There is no one to give answer when I ask them.


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See they are all false <i>hurtful nonexistent</i> ! Their deeds amount to nothing! Their images are but wind and confusion.


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Here is my servant, whom I have strengthened. Here is the one I have chosen, with whom I am pleased. I have filled him with my Spirit, and he will bring justice to every nation.


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He will not break off a bent reed nor extinguish a flickering lamp. He will bring lasting justice to all.


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He will not lose hope or courage. He will establish justice on the earth. Distant lands eagerly wait for his law.


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God created the heavens and stretched them out. He fashioned the earth and all that lives there. He gave life and breath to all its people. And now Jehovah God says to his servant:


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»I, Jehovah, have called you and have given you power to see that justice is done on earth. I will make a covenant with all peoples and bring light <i>truth light of instruction</i> (Psalm 27:1) to the nations through you.


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»I ALONE AM JEHOVAH. THAT IS MY NAME. I WILL NOT GIVE MY GLORY TO ANOTHER! I will not let idols share my praise.


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»The things I predicted have now come true. Now I will tell you of new things even before they begin to happen.«


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Sing a new song to Jehovah. Sing his praise, all the world! Praise him, you that sail the sea. Praise him, all creatures of the sea! Sing, distant lands and all who live there!


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Let the desert and its towns praise God. Let the people of Kedar praise him! Let those who live in the city of Sela shout for joy from the tops of the mountains!


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Jehovah goes out to fight like a warrior. He is ready and eager for battle. He gives a war cry, a battle shout and he shows his power against his enemies.


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»I kept silent for a long time. I did not answer my people. The time to act has come. I cry out like a woman in labor.


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»I will destroy the hills and mountains and dry up the grass and trees. I will turn the river valleys into deserts and dry up the pools of water.


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»I will lead my blind people by roads they have never traveled. I will turn their darkness into light and make rough country smooth before them. I will keep my promises without fail.«


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Israel, you have seen so much, but what has it meant to you? You have ears to hear with, but what have you really heard?


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Jehovah is a God who is eager to save. He exalted his laws and teachings, and he wanted his people to honor them.


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Now his people have been plundered. They are locked up in dungeons and hidden away in prisons. They were robbed and plundered, with no one to come to their rescue.


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Who gave Israel up to the looters? It was Jehovah, against whom we sinned! We would not live as he wanted us to live or obey the teachings he gave us.


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So he made us feel the force of his anger and suffer the violence of war. Like fire his anger burned throughout Israel. Yet we never knew what was happening. We learned nothing at all from it.


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Jehovah created Jacob and formed Israel. Jehovah says: »Do not be afraid for I have reclaimed you. I have called you by my name. You are mine.


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»When you go through the sea, I am with you. When you go through rivers, they will not sweep you away. When you walk through fire, you will not be burned, and the flames will not harm you.


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»I AM JEHOVAH YOUR GOD, THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL, YOUR SAVIOR. Egypt is the ransom I exchanged for you. Sudan and Seba are the price I paid for you.


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»I honor you because you are precious to me and I love you. I will exchange others for you. Nations will be the price I pay for your life.


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»Do not be afraid for I am with you. I will bring your descendants from the east and gather you from the west.


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»I will say to the north, Give them up, and to the south, do not keep them. Bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the ends of the earth.


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»All nations have gathered together, and people have assembled. Who among them could have revealed this? Who among them could have foretold this to us? They should bring their witnesses to prove that they were right. Let the people hear them. Then they will say: It is the truth.«


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»YOU ARE MY WITNESSES,« DECLARES JEHOVAH! »I have chosen you as my servant so that you can know and believe in me and understand that I am the one who did this. No god was formed before me, and there will be none after me.


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»I have revealed it to you. I have saved you, and I have announced it to you. There was no foreign god among you. You are my witnesses that I am God, declares Jehovah.


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»From the beginning I was the one who did this. No one can rescue people from my power. When I do something, who can undo it?«


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This is what Jehovah, your redeemer, and the Holy One of Israel, says: »For your sake I will send an army to Babylon. I will bring back all the Babylonian refugees in the ships that they take pride in.


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He leads chariots and horses, an army and reinforcements. »They lie down together and do not get up again. They are extinguished and snuffed out like a wick.« This is what Jehovah says:


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»I am going to do something new. It is already happening. Do you recognize it? I will clear a way in the desert. I will make rivers on dry land.


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»Wild animals, jackals, and ostriches will honor me. I will provide water in the desert. I will make rivers on the dry land for my chosen people to drink.


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»You did not bring me sheep for your burnt offerings or honor me with your sacrifices. I did not burden you by requiring grain offerings or trouble you by requiring incense offerings.


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»You did not buy me any sugar cane with your money or satisfy me with the best part of your sacrifices. Rather, you burdened me with your sins and troubled me with your iniquities.


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»I alone am the one who is going to wipe away your rebellious actions for my own sake. I will not remember your sins anymore.


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»Remind me of what happened. Let us argue our case together. State your case so that you can prove you are right.


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»That is why I will corrupt the leaders of the holy place. I will claim Jacob for destruction. I will set up Israel for ridicule.«


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»This is what Jehovah says, the one who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.


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»I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground. I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring. I will give blessing to your descendants.


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»»One person will say: »I belong to Jehovah.« Another person will call himself by the name of Jacob. Still another will write on his hand: »Jehovahs.« And he will take the name Israel.


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»This is what Jehovah, Israels King and Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts says: I AM THE FIRST AND I AM THE LAST- APART FROM ME THERE IS NO GOD!


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»Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before me what has happened since I established my ancient people, and what is yet to come yes, let him foretell what will come.


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»Do not tremble. Do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses! Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock. There is not one!«


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All who make idols are nothing. The things they treasure are worthless. Those who would speak up for them are blind. They are shamefully ignorant.


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He and his kind will be put to shame. Craftsmen are merely men. Let them all come together and take their stand for they will be brought down to terror and infamy.


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The blacksmith takes a tool and works with it in the coals. He shapes an idol with hammers; he forges it with the might of his arm. He gets hungry and loses his strength. He drinks no water and grows faint.


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The carpenter measures with a line and makes an outline with a red chalk marker. He roughs it out with chisels and marks it with a compass. He shapes it in the form of man in all his glory, that it may dwell in a shrine.


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He cut down cedars, or cypress or oak. He let it grow among the trees of the forest, or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow.


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It is mans fuel for burning so he takes some to warm himself. He kindles a fire and bakes bread. But he also fashions a god and worships it. Yes he makes an idol and bows down to it.


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Half of the wood they burn in the fire. Over this half they roast meat that they can eat until they are full. They also warm themselves and say: We are warm. We can see the fire!


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But the rest of the wood they make into gods, carved statues. They bow to them and worship them. They pray to them and say: »Rescue us, because you are our gods.«


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They do not know or understand anything. Their eyes are plastered shut and cannot see. Their minds are closed and therefore they cannot understand.


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No one stops to think. No one has enough knowledge or understanding to say: »I burned half of the wood in the fire. I also baked bread over its coals. I roasted meat and ate it. Now I am making the rest of the wood into a disgusting thing and bowing to a block of wood.«


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They eat ashes because they are deceived. Their own misguided minds lead them astray. They cannot rescue themselves or ask themselves: »Is what I hold in my right hand a false god?«


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Jehovah says: »Israel, remember this! Remember that you are my servant. I created you to be my servant, and I will never forget you.


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»Shout for joy, you heavens! Shout, deep places of the earth! Shout for joy, mountains, and every tree of the forest! Jehovah has shown his greatness by saving his people Israel.«


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»I am Jehovah, your savior. I am the one who created you. I am Jehovah, the Creator of all things. I alone stretched out the heavens! No one helped me when I made the earth <i>I was by myself Who was with me?</i> .


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»I make fools of fortunetellers and frustrate the predictions of astrologers. The words of the wise I refute and show that their wisdom is foolishness.


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»I make the word of my servant come true. I accomplish the purpose of my messengers. I say of Jerusalem, 'She will be inhabited! And I say to the cities of Judah, 'You will be rebuilt! I will make your ruins raise up.


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»I say of Cyrus: He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please. He will say of Jerusalem, Let it be rebuilt, and of the Temple, Let its foundations be laid.«


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This is WHAT JEHOVAH SAYS ABOUT CYRUS, his anointed one: »I have held him by his right hand so he could conquer the nations ahead of him; that he could strip kings of their power, and open doors ahead of him so that the gates would not be shut.


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»I will go ahead of you, Cyrus. I will smooth out the rough places. I will break down the copper doors and cut through the iron bars.


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»I will give you treasures from dark places and hidden stockpiles. You will know that I, Jehovah the God of Israel, have called you by name.


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»For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen one, I have called you by name. I have given you a title of honor, although you do not know me.


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»I AM JEHOVAH AND THERE IS NO OTHER. THERE IS NO OTHER GOD BESIDES ME. I will strengthen you, although you do not know me.


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»From the east to the west <i>sunrise to sunset</i> people will know that there is no God except me. I am Jehovah, and there is no other.


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»I make light and create darkness. I make blessings and create disasters. I, Jehovah, do all these things.


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»Rain down from above, you heavens, and pour down righteousness, you skies. Let the earth open. Let salvation and righteousness sprout. Let them spring up for I Jehovah have created them.«


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»Does a clay pot dare argue with its maker, a pot that is like all the others? Does the clay ask the potter what he is doing? Does the pot complain that its maker has no skill?


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Jehovah, the Holy God of Israel, the one who shapes the future says: »You have no right to question me about my children or to tell me what I ought to do!


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»I am the one who made the earth. I created human beings to live there. With my power I stretched out the heavens. I control the sun, the moon, and the stars.


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»I have stirred Cyrus to action to fulfill my purpose and put things right. I will straighten out every road that he travels. He will rebuild my city, Jerusalem, and set my captive people free. No one has hired him or bribed him to do this.« Jehovah of Hosts has spoken.


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This is what Jehovah says: »The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, and those tall Sabeans will come over to you and will be yours. They will walk behind you. They will come to you in chains. They will bow down before you and plead with you. They will say: God is with you and there is no other. There is no other god!


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Jehovah will save Israel with an everlasting salvation. You will never be put to shame or disgraced, to ages everlasting.


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Jehovah says: »Who created the heavens? He who is God. He fashioned and made the earth. He founded it and he did not create it to be empty but formed it to be inhabited.« He says: »I am Jehovah, and there is no other.


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»I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness. I have not said to Jacobs descendants: Seek me in vain. I, Jehovah, speak the truth; I declare what is right.


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»Come here, you refugees from the nations. Ignorant people carry wooden idols and pray to gods that cannot save anyone.


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»Speak and present your case. Yes, let them consult one another. Who revealed this in the distant past and predicted it long ago? Was it not I, Jehovah? There is no other God except me. There is no other righteous God and Savior besides me.


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»Turn to me and be saved! Turn to me all who live at the ends of the earth for I am God, and there is no other.


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»I have bound myself with an oath. A word has gone out from my righteous mouth that will not be recalled. Every knee will bow to me and every tongue will swear allegiance.


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»It will be said of me: Certainly, righteousness and strength are found in Jehovah alone. All who are angry with him will come to him and be ashamed.


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Bel bows down and Nebo stoops low. Their idols are borne by beasts of burden. The images that are carried about are burdensome. They are a burden for the weary.


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They stoop and bow down together. They are unable to rescue the burden and they go off into captivity.


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»Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel. I have upheld you since you were conceived. I have carried you since your birth.


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Even in your old age with gray hair I am he, I am he who will support you. I have made you and I will bear your burden <i>take care of you</i> . I will sustain <i>support strengthen</i> you and I will rescue you <i>keep you safe</i> .


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»Some pour out gold from their bags and weigh out silver on the scales. They hire a goldsmith to make it into a god. They bow down and worship it.


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»They lift it to their shoulders and carry it. They set it up in its place and there it stands. From that spot it cannot move. Though one cries out to it, it does not answer. It cannot save him from his troubles!


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»Remember the former things, the things of long ago. I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me.


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»I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.


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I summon a bird of prey from the east. I summon a man to fulfill my purpose from a far off land. What I have said I will bring about. What I have determined <i>purposed</i> I will do.


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»I bring near my righteousness. It is not far away. My salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to Zion, my splendor to Israel.«


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»Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans! For you will no longer be called tender and delicate.


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»Take the millstones and grind meal. Remove your veil, strip off the skirt; uncover the leg and cross the rivers.


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»Your nakedness will be uncovered and your shame will be exposed. I will take vengeance. I will not spare a man.«


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»Sit silently and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans. You will no longer be called the queen of kingdoms.


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»I was angry with my people. I profaned my heritage and gave them into your hand. You did not show mercy to them. You made your yoke very heavy on the aged.


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»You said: I will be a queen for a very long time! You did not consider these things or remember their outcome.


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»Hear this you sensual one! You dwell securely and say in your heart: I am, and there is no one besides me. I will not sit as a widow. I will not lose children. (Revelation 18:2-8)


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»Two things will come on you suddenly in one day: Loss of children and widowhood. They will come on you in full measure in spite of your abundance of sorceries, in spite of the great power of your spells.


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»You felt sure of yourself in your evil. You thought that no one could see you. Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray. Then you said to yourself: I am God! There is no one else like me.


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»Disaster will come upon you, and none of your magic can stop it. Ruin will come on you suddenly, ruin you never dreamed of!


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Keep all your magic spells and charms. You have used them since you were young. Perhaps they will be of some help to you. Perhaps you can frighten your enemies.


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»You are powerless in spite of the advice you get. Let your astrologers come forward and save you! Let those people who study the stars, who map out the zones of the heavens tell you from month to month what is going to happen to you.


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»Surely they are like stubble. The fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame. Here are no coals to warm anyone and no fire to sit by.


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»That is all they can do for you, these you have labored with and trafficked with since childhood. Each of them goes on in his error. No one can save you.


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Listen to this, people of Israel, you that are descended from Judah. You swear by the name of Jehovah and claim to worship the God of Israel. However you do not mean a word you say.


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Yet you are proud to say that you are citizens of the holy city and that you depend on Israel's God, whose name is Jehovah of Hosts.


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Jehovah says to Israel: »Long ago I predicted what would take place. Then suddenly I made it happen.


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»I predicted your future long ago. I announced events before they took place, to keep you from claiming that your idols and images made them happen.


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»All I foretold has now taken place. You have to admit my predictions were right. Now I will tell you of new things to come, events that I did not reveal before.


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They are created now, not in the past. You have not heard about them before today, so you cannot say that you already knew about them.


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»You have never heard about them. You have never known about them. Your ears have never been open to hear them before. I know that you have acted very treacherously and that you have been called a rebel since you were born.


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»For my name's sake I will be patient. For my glory's sake I will hold my anger back from you, and not destroy you.


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»I did it for myself and because of my name. I will not let my name be shamed <i>profaned</i> . I will not give my glory to another.


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»My hand laid the foundation of the earth. My right hand stretched out the heavens. When I call for them, they both stand.


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»Gather together, all of you, and listen. What idol has revealed such things? Jehovah loves Cyrus. He will carry out Jehovahs plan against Babylon. He will use his strength against the Babylonians.


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»Come here. Listen to this! From the beginning I have spoken nothing in private. From the time it took place, I was there. Now the Lord Jehovah has sent me, and his Spirit.


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This is what Jehovah your Defender <i>Redeemer</i> , the Holy One of Israel, says: »I am Jehovah your God. I teach you what is best for you. I lead you where you should go.


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»If only you had listened to my commandments! Your peace would be like a river that never runs dry. Your righteousness would be like waves on the sea.


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»Your descendants would be like sand. Your children would be like its grains. Their names would not be cut off or wiped out in my presence.«


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Get out of Babylon! Flee from the Babylonians! Shout for joy as you tell it and announce it. Shout it out to the ends of the earth. Say: »Jehovah has reclaimed his servant Jacob.


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»They were not thirsty when he led them through the deserts. He made water flow from a rock for them. He split a rock, and water gushed out.


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Listen to this, you islands! Pay attention you people far away. Jehovah chose me long before I was born. He recorded my name while I was in my mothers womb.


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He made my tongue like a sharp sword. He hid me in the palm of his hand. He made me like a sharpened arrow and hid me in his quiver.


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I said: »I have toiled in vain. I have spent my energy for nothing and vanity. Yet, to be sure, the justice due to me is with Jehovah. My reward is with my God.«


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Jehovah formed me in the womb to be his servant. I am to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to him. Jehovah honors me. My God has become my strength.


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He says: »It is a small thing that you are my servant. You will raise up the tribes of Jacob and restore the preserved ones of Israel. I will also make you a light to the nations that my salvation will reach to the end of the earth.«


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Israels Holy God and Savior says to the one who is deeply despised, hated by the nations and is the servant of rulers: »Kings will see you released and will rise to show their respect. Princes will also see it and they will bow low to honor you.«


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This is what Jehovah says: »In the time of favor I will answer you. I will appoint you as my promise to the people. You will restore the land. You will make them inherit the desolate inheritance.«


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Say to those who are bound: »Go forth, to those in the darkness and show yourselves. They will feed along the roads and their pasture is on all bare heights.


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»They will never be hungry or thirsty. The sun and the burning hot wind will not strike them. The one who has compassion on them will lead them and guide them to springs.


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»They will come from far away. They will come from the north and from the west. They will come from the land of Sinim.«


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Shout for joy, O heavens! Rejoice, O earth! Break into joyful shouting, O mountains! For Jehovah has comforted his people. He will have compassion on his afflicted.


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Can a woman forget her nursing child? Will she have no compassion on the child from her womb? Although mothers forget, I will not forget you.


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Lift up your eyes and look around for they all gather together and come to you. »As I live,« declares Jehovah, »you will certainly wear them like jewels and bind them on like a bride does.«


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»Even if you are destroyed and demolished, and your land is in ruins, you will be too crowed for your people. Those who devoured you will be long gone.


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»The children removed from you will say to you: This place is too crowed for me. Make room for me to live here.


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»You will think in your heart: Who brought these children to birth? I am barren <i>sterile</i> and bereaved of my children. I am an exiled wonderer. Who gave birth to these? From where did these come?


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»Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations,« said Jehovah. »I will set up my standard for the peoples. They will bring your sons and your daughters in their bosom and carried on their shoulders.


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»Kings will be your guardians. Their princesses will be your nurses. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth. They will lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am Jehovah. Those who hopefully wait for me will not be put to shame.


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Certainly Jehovah says: »The captives of the strong man will be taken away. The prey of the tyrant will be rescued. I will contend with the one who grapples with you and I will save your sons.


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»I will feed oppressors with their own flesh. They will be intoxicated with their own blood as if by sweet wine. Everyone will know that I am Jehovah, your Savior and Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.«


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This is what Jehovah says: »Where are your mother's divorce papers? Did I give her any to get rid of her? To which of my creditors did I sell you? You were sold because of your sins. I got rid of your mother because of your rebellion.


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»Why was no one here when I came? Why was no one here to answer when I called? Am I too weak to reclaim you? Do I not have the power to rescue you? I dry up the sea with my command, and I turn rivers into deserts. Their fish stink because there is no water, and people die of thirst.


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The Lord Jehovah will teach me what to say, so I will know how to encourage tired people. Morning after morning he will wake me to listen like a student.


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I will offer my back to those who whip me. I will offer my cheeks to those who pluck hairs out of my beard. I will not turn my face away from those who humiliate me and spit on me.


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The Lord Jehovah helps me. That is why I will not be ashamed. I have set my face like a flint <i>firm and resolute</i> . I know that I will not be put to shame.


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The one who pronounces me innocent is near. Who will bring a case against me? Let us confront each other! Who accuses me? Let him draw near to me!


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The Lord Jehovah helps me. Who will find me guilty? They will all wear out like a garment and moths will eat them.


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Who among you respects Jehovah and obeys his servant? Let those who walk in darkness and have no light trust the name of Jehovah and depend upon their God.


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But all of you light fires and arm yourselves with flaming torches. So walk in your own light and among the torches you have lit. This is what you will receive from me: You will be tormented.


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»Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek Jehovah. Look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug out.


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»Look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was only one. I blessed him and made him many.«


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Jehovah will surely comfort Zion. He will look with compassion on all her ruins. He will make her deserts like Eden and her wastelands like the garden of Jehovah. Joy and gladness will be found in her along with thanksgiving and the sound of singing.


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»Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation. The law will go out from me. My justice will become a light to the nations.


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»My righteousness is near. My salvation is on the way and my arm <i>power</i> will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to me and wait in hope for my arm <i>power</i> .


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»Lift up your eyes to the heavens. Look at the earth below. The heavens will vanish like smoke and the earth will wear out like a garment. Its inhabitants die like flies <i>gnats</i> . But my salvation will last forever! My righteousness will never fail.


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»Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have my law in your hearts. Do not fear the reproach of men or be terrified by their insults.


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»The moth will eat them up like a garment. The worm will devour them like wool. But my righteousness will last forever! My salvation will last through all generations.«


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Awake, awake! Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of Jehovah. Awake, as in days gone by, as in generations of old. Was it not you who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced that monster through?


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Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed might cross over?


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Jehovahs ransomed will return. They will enter Zion with singing! Everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.


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»I, even I, am the one who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mortal men? The sons of men are like grass!


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»You forget Jehovah your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. Will you live in constant terror of the human oppressor, who is bent on your destruction? Will you fear your enemies from morning until night?


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»The cowering prisoners will soon be set free. They will not die in their dungeon, nor will they lack bread.


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»I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand <i>protection of my power, Holy Spirit</i> . I set the heavens in place and laid the foundations of the earth. Yet I say to Zion: You are my people!« 


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Awake, awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of Jehovah the cup of his wrath, you who have drained to its dregs the goblet that makes men stagger.


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Of all the sons she bore there was none to guide her; of all the sons she reared there was none to take her by the hand.


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These double calamities have come upon you. Who can comfort you? You experience ruin and destruction, famine and sword. Who can console you?


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Your sons have fainted. They lie at the head of every street. They are like antelope caught in a net. They are filled with the rage of Jehovah and the rebuke of your God.


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This is what your Lord Jehovah says, your God, who defends his people: »See, I have taken out of your hand the cup that made you stagger. You will never drink from that cup, that cup of wrath, again.


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»I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, who said to you: Lie down that we may walk all over you. You made your back like the ground like a street to be walked over.« 


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Awake, awake, O Zion, put on your strength. Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city. The uncircumcised and defiled will not enter you again.


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Shake off your dust! Rise up and sit enthroned, O Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck, O captive Daughter of Zion.


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The Lord Jehovah says: »At first my people went down to Egypt to live as aliens. Now Assyria has oppressed them.«


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»What do I have here?« Declares Jehovah. »For my people have been taken away for nothing. Those who rule them mock,« declares Jehovah. »And all day long my name is constantly blasphemed.


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»Therefore my people will all know my name! In that day they will know that it is I who foretold it. Yes, it is I!«


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How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace and who bring good tidings of good things! For they proclaim salvation and say to Zion: »Your God reigns as king!« <i>Hebrew: Elohiym malak: God rules!</i>


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Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices. Together they shout for joy. They will see it with their own eyes when Jehovah returns to Zion.


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Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem! Jehovah has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem.


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Jehovah will lay bare his holy arm <i>show his holy power</i> in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.


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Get out of her my people! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the vessels of Jehovah.


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You will not leave in haste or go in panic. For Jehovah will go before you. The God of Israel will be your rear guard.


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There were many who were appalled at him and his appearance was disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness.


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He will startle <i>amaze astonish</i> many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.


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THIS IS THE PEOPHESY ABOUT THE MESSIAH. Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm <i>power</i> of Jehovah been revealed?


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He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him. Nothing in his appearance will make us desire him.


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He was despised and rejected by men. He was a man of sorrows familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised. We did not consider him to be worth much.


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He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows. We considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.


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But he was pierced for our transgressions! He was crushed for our iniquities! The punishment that brought us peace was upon him. There has been healing for us because of his wounds.


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We are all like sheep. We have gone astray! Each of us has turned to his own way. Jehovah has caused the iniquity <i>sin</i> of all of us to be laid on him.


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He was oppressed and afflicted and yet he did not open his mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. He was silent like sheep ready to be sheared. He did not open his mouth.


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He was oppressed, judged and taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? He was removed from the land of the living. He was destroyed because of the transgression of my people.


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He was buried like a criminal in a rich mans grave. He had done no wrong, nor was any deceit in his mouth.


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It was Jehovahs will to allow him to be crushed. Even though Jehovah makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of Jehovah will prosper in his hand.


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After his suffering he will see the light and be satisfied. By his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many. He will bear their iniquities.


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Therefore I will give him a portion among the great. He will divide the spoils with the strong. This is because he poured out his life unto death. He was numbered with the transgressors. He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.


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»Sing joyfully, O barren woman, you who never bore a child! Burst into song and shout for joy, you who were never in labor! More are the children of the desolate woman than of the woman, who has a husband,« proclaims Jehovah.


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»Enlarge the place of your tent. Stretch your tent curtains wide and do not hold back. Lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.


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»For you will spread out to the right and to the left. Your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.


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»Do not be afraid. You will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace. You will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.«


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»For your Maker is your husband. Jehovah of Hosts is his name! The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. He is called the God of all the earth.


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»Jehovah will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit; a wife, who married young, only to be rejected, says your God.


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»In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,« says Jehovah your Redeemer.


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»To me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again.


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»Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,« says Jehovah. »I have compassion on you.«


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»O afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will build you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with sapphires.


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»I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.


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»You will be established in righteousness. Tyranny will be far from you. You will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed and it will not come near you.


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»I created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. I also created the destroyer who will work havoc.


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»Weapons forged against you will not prevail! You will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of Jehovah and this is their vindication from me,« declares Jehovah.


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Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the water. You, who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.


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Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.


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Give ear and come to me; listen to me, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.


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You will summon nations you do not know. Nations that do not know you will run to you, because of Jehovah your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor.


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Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to Jehovah, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.


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»As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.


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»As the rain and the snow come down from the sky, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,


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so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.


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»You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.


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»Instead of the thornbush the pine tree will grow. Instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for Jehovahs fame. It will be for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed.«


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Jehovah says: »Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed.


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»Blessed is the man who does this, the man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.


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»No foreigner bound to Jehovah should say: Jehovah will surely exclude <i>separate</i> me from his people. No eunuch should complain: I am only a dry tree.«


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For Jehovah says: »To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me. They hold fast to my covenant.


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»I will give to those within my Temple and its walls a memorial and a name that is better than sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off.


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»Foreigners have become allied with Jehovah, to serve Jehovah, to love the name of Jehovah, and to worship him. They keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and hold fast to my covenant.


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»I will bring them to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar. My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.«


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The Sovereign Lord Jehovah declares: »He who gathers the exiles of Israel, I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered.«


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Israels watchmen are blind. They all lack knowledge they are all mute dogs. They cannot bark. They just lie around and dream, they love to sleep.


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They are dogs with mighty appetites. They never have enough! They are shepherds who lack understanding. They all turn to their own way and each one seeks dishonest <i>unjust</i> gain.


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»Come, each one cries, let me get wine! Let us drink our fill of beer! And tomorrow will be like today, or even far better.«


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The righteous perishes and no man takes it to heart. Merciful men are taken away, while no one considers that the righteous is taken away from evil.


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With whom are you effeminate <i>self-indulgent</i> ? With whom do you open wide your mouth and offer your tongue? Are you not children of transgression, offspring of falsehood and deceit?


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Are you inflaming yourselves with gods under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?


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»Is your portion among the smooth stones of the stream? They indeed are your lot! Even to them you have poured a drink offering. You have offered a grain offering. Should this give me comfort?


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»You ordained your memorial behind the doors and their posts. You revealed <i>uncovered</i> yourself to those other than me. You went to them. You enlarged your bed and made a covenant with them. You have loved their bed, where you saw their naked manhood.


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»You went to the king with ointment and much perfume. You sent your messengers far off, and descended even to the grave.


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»You are wearied because of the length of your trip. Yet you did not say: I give up. There is no hope. You have found the renewal of your strength. Therefore you were not grieved.


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»Who frightened you? Who made you afraid, that you have lied and not remembered me? You did not take it to your heart. Is it not because I have held my peace from of old that you do not reverence <i>respect</i> me?


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»When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you. But the wind will carry them all away. A breath will take them. But he who puts his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain.


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»One will say: Heap it up! Heap it up! Prepare the way; Take the stumbling block out of the way of my people.«


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The High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy, says: I dwell in the high and holy and also with him who has a contrite and humble spirit. I revive the spirit of the humble, and the heart of the contrite ones.


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For I will not contend <i>rebuke</i> forever! Nor will I always be angry! The spirit would fail before me, and those whom I have made.


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Because of the iniquity of his covetousness gain I was angry and struck him. I hid and was angry. He went on backsliding in the way of his heart <i>his heart directed course of life</i> .


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I have seen his ways, and will heal him. I will also lead him, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners.


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I create the fruit <i>praise</i> of the lips: Peace, peace to the near and the far off, says Jehovah, and I will heal him.


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»Cry aloud! Do not hold back! Raise your voice like a ram's horn. Tell my people about their rebellion and the descendants of Jacob about their sins.


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»They seek me day by day. They delight to know my ways like a nation that has done righteousness and has not forsaken the ordinance of their God. They ask me for justice and delight. They are pleased that God is near.


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»Why have we fasted and you do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and you do not notice? Behold, on the day of your fast you find desire, and mistreat all your workers.


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»You fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast today to make your voice heard on high.


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»Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one's head like a reed <i>rush</i> and for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to Jehovah?


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»Is this not the fast I choose to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke?


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»Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into the house? When you see the naked, should you cover him and not hide yourself from your own flesh?


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»Your light will break out like the dawn. Your recovery will speedily spring forth. Your righteousness will go before you and the glory of Jehovah will be your rear guard.


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»Then you will call, and Jehovah will answer! You will cry and he will say: Here I am. If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,


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and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom will be like midday.


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Jehovah will continually guide you. He will satisfy your desire in scorched places and give strength to your bones. You will be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.


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Those among you will rebuild the ancient ruins. You will raise up the age-old foundations. You will be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the streets in which to dwell.


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»If because of the Sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and you call the Sabbath a delight and the holy of Jehovah honorable, and honor it, desisting from your ways, from seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word,


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»you will take delight in Jehovah! I will make you ride on the heights of the earth. I will feed you the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of Jehovah has spoken!«


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But your wrongs have separated you from your God. Your sins have made him hide his face so that he does not even hear you.


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Your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers are desecrated with sin. You speak lies, and you mutter wicked things.


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No one calls for justice and no one pleads his case truthfully. People trust pointless arguments and speak lies. They conceive trouble and give birth to evil.


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They hatch viper eggs and weave spider webs. Those who eat their eggs will die. When an egg is crushed, a poisonous snake is hatched.


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Their webs cannot be used for clothes. They cannot cover themselves with their works for their works are evil. Their hands have committed acts of violence.


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Their feet run to do evil. They hurry to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are evil. Ruin and destruction are on their highways.


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They do not know the way of peace. There is no justice on their highways. They made their paths crooked. Those who walk on them will never know peace.


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That is why justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We hope for light and we walk in darkness. We hope for brightness but we walk in gloom.


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We grope like blind men along a wall. We grope like people without eyes. We stumble at noon as if it were evening. We are like dead people among the living.


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We all growl like bears. We coo like doves. We hope for justice, but there is none. We hope for salvation, but it is far from us.


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You are aware of our many rebellious acts. Our sins testify against us. Our rebellious acts are with us. We know our iniquities.


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We rebelled and denied Jehovah. We turned away from our God. We spoke about oppression and revolt. We conceived and uttered lies in our hearts.


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Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away. Truth has fallen in the street, and honesty cannot come in.


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Truth is missing. Those who turn away from evil become victims. Jehovah sees it, and what he saw displeased him because there is no justice.


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He sees that there is no one to help. He is astounded that there is no one to intercede. So he saves him with his own power. His righteousness supports him.


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He puts on righteousness like a coat of armor and a helmet of salvation on his head. He wears clothes of vengeance. He wraps himself with zeal as a coat.


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He will pay them back according to their deeds. He will pay back his opponents with wrath and punish his enemies. He will pay back the people who live on the coastlands.


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The people from the sunset <i>the west</i> will respect the name of Jehovah. Those from the rising of the sun <i>the east</i> will reverence his glory. He will come like a rushing stream that the Spirit <i>wind breath</i> of Jehovah drives.


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»This is my promise to them,« says Jehovah. »My Spirit is on you and my words that I put in your mouth will not leave you. They will be with your children and your grandchildren permanently,« says Jehovah


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»Darkness now covers the earth! Thick darkness overwhelms the nations. But Jehovah shines for you. His glory appears to you.


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»Look up, look around, and watch. All of your people assemble and come to you. Your sons come from far away. Your daughters are carried in their arms.


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»Then you will see this and rejoice. Your heart will shake with joy. The riches of the sea will be brought to you. The wealth of the nations will come to you.


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»Many camels will cover your land, young camels from Midian and Ephah. Everyone from Sheba will come. They will bring gold and incense. They will sing the praises of Jehovah.


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»All of the flocks from Kedar will gather and come to you. The rams of Nebaioth will serve you. They will be sacrificed as acceptable offerings on my altar. So I will honor my beautiful Temple.


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»Surely the coastlands wait with hope for me. The ships from Tarshish are the first to bring your children from far away. They bring their silver and their gold with them to honor the name of Jehovah your God, the Holy One of Israel, because he has honored you.


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»Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. I struck you because of my anger, but in my favor I have compassion on you.


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»Your gates will always be open. They will never be closed day or night so that people may bring you the wealth of the nations. Even their kings are led as prisoners.


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»Nations and kingdoms that do not serve you will be destroyed. The nations will definitely be ruined.


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»Lebanon's glory will come to you: Cedar, fir, and cypress trees will come to beautify my holy place. I will honor the place where my feet rest.


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»The sons of those who oppress you will bow in front of you. All who loathe you will bow at your feet. They will call you the city of Jehovah, Zion, the city of the Holy One of Israel.


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»You have been abandoned and hated. No one has passed through you. But now I will make you a foundation of everlasting pride, a joy for all generations.


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»You will drink milk from other nations and nurse at royal breasts. Then you will know that I am Jehovah, your Savior, the Mighty One of Jacob, and your Defender <i>Protector</i> .


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»I will bring gold instead of copper. I will bring silver instead of iron, copper instead of wood, and iron instead of stone. I will appoint peace as your governor and righteousness as your ruler.


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»You will no longer hear about violence in your land or desolation and destruction within your borders. You will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise.


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»The sun will no longer be your light during the day. The brightness of the moon will not give you light, for Jehovah will be your everlasting light. Your God will be your glory.


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»Your sun will no longer go down, nor will your moon disappear. Jehovah will be your everlasting light, and your days of sadness will be over.


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»Then all your people will be righteous and they will possess the land everlastingly. They will be the seedlings I have planted, the honored work of my hands.


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»The smallest of them will become a thousand. The weakest of them will become a mighty nation. At the right time I, Jehovah, will make it happen quickly.«


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The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah is upon me, because Jehovah has anointed me to announce good news to the lowly and meek. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners.


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To proclaim the favorable Year of Jehovah and the day of vengeance of our God. To comfort all who mourn,


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to present a garland, instead of ashes, to those who mourn in Zion, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. They will be called oaks of righteousness. They are the planting of Jehovah, that he may be glorified.


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They will rebuild the ancient ruins. They will raise up the former devastations. And they will repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations.


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»Strangers will stand and shepherd your flocks. Foreigners will be your farmers and your vinedressers.


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»You will be called the priests of Jehovah. You will be spoken of as ministers of our God. You will eat the wealth of nations, you will boast in their riches.


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»Instead of your shame there will be a double portion. Instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion. Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land. Everlasting joy will be theirs.


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»For I, Jehovah, love justice. I hate robbery in the burnt offering. Therefore I will faithfully give them their recompense and make an everlasting covenant with them.


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»Then their offspring will be known among the nations, and their descendants in the midst of the peoples. All who see them will recognize them because they are the blessed offspring of Jehovah.«


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I will rejoice greatly in Jehovah. I will exult in my God for he has clothed me with garments of salvation. He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.


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For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up, the Lord Jehovah will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.


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For Zion's sake I will not remain silent. For Jerusalem's sake I will not rest until its righteousness shines like the sunrise and its salvation burns brightly like a torch.


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»The nations will see your righteousness. All kings will see your glory. You will be given a new name that Jehovah will designate.


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»You will no longer be called »Deserted,« and your land will no longer be called »Destroyed.« You will be named »My Delight.« Your land will be named »Married« <i>owned as a wife</i> . Jehovah is delighted with you, and your land will be married.


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»Your sons will marry you like a young man marries a woman. Your God will rejoice over the same way a bridegroom rejoices over his bride.


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»I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem. They will never be silent day or night. Whoever calls on Jehovah, do not allow yourselves any rest,


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and do not give him any rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it an object of praise throughout the earth.«


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Jehovah has sworn with his right hand and with his mighty arm <i>of power</i> : »I will never again let your enemies eat your grain, nor will foreigners drink the new wine that you produced.


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»Those who harvest grain will eat it and praise Jehovah. Those who gather grapes will drink wine in my holy courtyards.«


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Pass through! Pass through the gates! Prepare a way for the people! Build up! Build up the highway! Clear away the stones! Raise a flag <i>standard</i> for the people!


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Jehovah has announced to the ends of the earth: »Tell my people, Zion, your salvation is coming. His reward for us and recompense are with him.«


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They will be called the holy people reclaimed <i>repurchased</i> by Jehovah! You will be called »searched for,« a »City Not Deserted.«


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Who is this coming from Bozrah in Edom with his clothes stained bright red? Who is this dressed in splendor, going forward with great strength? It is I, Jehovah! I am coming to announce my victory. I am powerful enough to save you!


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»I have trampled alone in the winepress. No one was with me. In my anger I trampled on people. In my wrath I stomped on them. Their blood splattered my clothes so all my clothing has been stained.


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»I looked, but there was no help. I was astounded that there was no outside support. So my own arm <i>power</i> brought me salvation. My anger supported me.


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»In my wrath I trampled on people. In my rage I made them drunk and poured their blood on the ground.«


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I will acknowledge Jehovahs acts of loving-kindness, and sing the praises of Jehovah, because of everything that Jehovah has done for us. He has done many good things for the nation of Israel because of his compassion and the abundance of his loving-kindness.


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In all their difficulty he was concerned, and he was the messenger who saved them. In his love and compassion he reclaimed <i>redeemed</i> them. He always held them and carried them in the past.


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But they rebelled and grieved <i>offended and hurt</i> his Holy Spirit. So he turned against them as their enemy. He fought against them.


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His people finally remembered Moses and the days of old. Where is the one who brought them out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is the one who put his Holy Spirit in the midst of them?


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Where is the one who sent his powerful arm to support the right hand of Moses? Where is the one who divided the water in front of them to make an everlasting name for himself?


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Where is the one who led them through the deep water? Like horses in the wilderness, they did not stumble.


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Just like animals going down into a valley, they were given rest by Jehovahs Spirit. In this way you guided your people to make an honored name for yourself.


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Look down and see from heaven, from your holy and beautiful dwelling. Where is your determination <i>zeal</i> and might? Where is the longing of your heart and your compassion? Do not hold back.


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You are our Father. Even though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not pay attention to us, O Jehovah, you are our Father. Your name is our Defender From Everlasting.


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O Jehovah, why do you let us wander from your ways and become so stubborn that we are unable to respect you? Return for the sake of your servants. They are the tribes that belong to you.


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Your holy people possessed the land for a little while. Our enemies have trampled on your holy place.


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Be like the fire that kindles brushwood and makes water boil. Come down to make your name known to your enemies. The nations may tremble in your presence.


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When you did awe-inspiring things that we did not expect, you came down and the mountains quaked at your presence.


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No one has ever heard and no one has paid attention. No one has perceived any god except you. You help those who wait for you.


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You greeted the one who gladly does right and remembers your ways. You were angry because we sinned. We continued to sin for a long time. Can we still be saved?


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All of us have become unclean, and all our righteous acts are like permanently stained rags. All of us wither like leaves, and our sins carry us away like the wind.


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No one calls on your name or tries to hold on to you. You have hidden your face from us. You allowed us be ruined by our sins.


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But now, Jehovah, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are our potter. We are the work of your hands.


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Our holy and beautiful Temple where our ancestors praised you has been burned to the ground. All that we valued has been ruined.


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Despite these things, Jehovah, will you restrain yourself? Will you be silent and make us suffer beyond measure?


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»I permitted myself to be sought by those who did not ask for me. Those who did not seek me found me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said: Here I am, here I am.


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»All day long I held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations <i>thoughts</i> ,


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»a people who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick.


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»They sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil. They eat the flesh of pigs. Their pots are full of unclean meat.


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»They say: Keep away! Do not come near me, for I am too sacred for you! Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day.


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»See, it stands written before me. I will not keep silent but will pay back in full; I will pay it back into their laps


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both your sins and the sins of your fathers, says Jehovah. This is because they burned sacrifices on the mountains and defied me on the hills. I will measure into their laps the full payment for their former deeds.«


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Jehovah says: »As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes and men say, Do not destroy it, there is yet some good in it, so will I do in behalf of my servants; I will not destroy them all.


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I will bring forth offspring from Jacob, and from Judah those who will possess my mountains. My chosen people will inherit them and my servants will live there.


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Sharon will be pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds, for my people who seek me.


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»But as for you who forsake Jehovah and forget my holy mountain, which spread a table for the God of Fortune <i>Babylonian diety</i> and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,


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»I will destine you for the sword, and you will all bend down for the slaughter! I called but you did not answer. I spoke but you did not listen. You did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.«


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Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah says: My servants will eat, but you will go hungry. My servants will drink, but you will go thirsty. My servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame!


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My servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts, but you will cry out from anguish of heart and wail in brokenness of spirit.


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You will leave your name to my chosen ones as a curse. The Sovereign Lord Jehovah will put you to death, but to his servants he will give another name.


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Whoever invokes a blessing in the land will do so by the God of <i>amen, so be it</i> truth; he who takes an oath in the land will swear by the God of truth. For the past troubles will be forgotten and hidden from my eyes.


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»Behold! I WILL CREATE A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.


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»Be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.


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»I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people. The sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.«


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»Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years. He who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth. The sinner who reaches a hundred will be considered accursed.


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»No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people. My chosen ones will long enjoy the works of their hands.


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»They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune. For they will be a people blessed by Jehovah, they and their descendants with them.


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»The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the bull, but dust will be the serpents food. They will neither harm nor destroy on my entire holy mountain,« Jehovah proclaims.


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This is what Jehovah says: »Heaven is my throne. Earth is my footstool. Where can you people build a house or resting place for me?


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»I have made all these things. That is why all these things have come into being,« declares Jehovah. »I will pay attention to those who are humble and sorry for their sins and who tremble at my word.


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»Whoever kills a bull is like someone who kills a person. Whoever sacrifices a lamb is like someone who breaks a dog's neck. Whoever offers a grain sacrifice is like someone who offers pig's blood. Whoever burns incense is like someone who worships an idol. People have certainly chosen their own ways, and they delight in detestable things.


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»Therefore I will choose harsh treatment for them and bring on them what they fear. I called, but no one answered. I spoke, but they did not listen. They did what I consider evil. They chose what I do not like.«


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»Listen to the word of Jehovah, all who tremble at his word. Your brothers, who hate you, exclude you because of my name. They say: Let Jehovah show his glory and then we will see your joy. But they will be put to shame.


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»Listen to the uproar from the city. Listen to the sound from the temple. It is the sound of Jehovah paying back his enemies as they deserve.


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»Before a woman goes into labor, she gives birth. Before she has labor pains, she delivers a male child.


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»Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a country be born in one day? Can a nation be born in a moment? When Zion went into labor, she also gave birth to her sons.


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»Do I bring a mother to the moment of birth and not let her deliver?« Asks Jehovah. »Do I cause a mother to deliver and then make her unable to have children?« Asks your God.


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»You will nurse and be satisfied from her comforting breasts. You will nurse and be satisfied at her full breasts.«


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This is what Jehovah says: »I will offer you peace like a river and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream. You will nurse and be carried in Jerusalem's arms and cuddled on her knees.


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When you see it, your heart will rejoice and you will flourish like new grass. The power of Jehovah will be made known to his servants, but he will condemn his enemies.


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Jehovah will come with fire and with his chariots like a thunderstorm. He will pay them back with his burning anger and punish them with flames of fire.


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Jehovah will judge with fire, and he will judge all people with his sword. Jehovah will strike many people dead.


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»People make themselves holy and prepare themselves for their garden rituals. They go into the garden and devour pork, disgusting things, and mice. They will come to an end at the same time, declares Jehovah.


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»Because of their actions and their thoughts, I am coming to gather the nations of every language. They will come and see my glory.


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»I will set up a sign among them and send some of their survivors to the nations: to Tarshish, Put and Lud, Meshech, Rosh, Tubal, Javan, and to the distant coastlands who have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will tell about my glory among the nations.


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They will bring all your brothers from every nation like a grain offering to Jehovah. They will come on horses, in chariots, in wagons, on mules and camels to my holy mountain, Jerusalem, declares Jehovah. They will come like the people of Israel who bring their grain offerings in clean dishes to Jehovahs temple.


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»The new heaven and earth that I am about to make will continue in my presence,« declares Jehovah. »So your descendants and your name will also continue in my presence.


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»From one month to the next and from one week to the next all people will come to worship me,« declares Jehovah.


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»Then they will go out and look at the corpses of those who have rebelled <i>sinned</i> against me. The worms that eat them will not die. The fire that burns them will not go out and they will disgust all humanity.«


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The words of Jeremiah, son of Hilkiah. He was one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin.


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Jehovah spoke his word to Jeremiah. This happened when King Josiah, son of Amon, was in his thirteenth year as king of Judah.


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Jehovah also spoke when Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, was king of Judah. It was during the eleven years that Zedekiah, another son of Josiah, was king of Judah. Jehovah continued to speak to Jeremiah until the people of Jerusalem were taken away into captivity in the fifth month of the year.


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»Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart for my holy purpose. I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.«


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Jehovah said to me: »Do not say, I am only a child. You must go wherever I send you. You must say whatever I command you to say.


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Then Jehovah stretched out his hand and touched my mouth. Jehovah said to me: »I have put my words in your mouth.


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»Today I have appointed you in charge of nations and kingdoms. You will uproot and tear down. You will destroy and overthrow. You will build and plant.«


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Jehovah spoke his word to me again. He asked: »What do you see Jeremiah?« I answered: »I see a branch of an almond tree.«


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Again Jehovah asked: »What do you see?« I answered: »I see a boiling pot, and its top is tilted away from the north.«


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»I am going to call every family and kingdom from the north, says Jehovah. They will come, and they will set up their thrones at the entrance of Jerusalem's gates. They will attack all the walls around the city and all the cities of Judah.


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»I will pronounce judgment against my people because of all their wickedness. They abandoned me. They burned incense to other gods. They worshiped what their hands have made.


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»Strengthen yourself, Jeremiah! Stand up, and say to them whatever I tell you to say. Do not be terrified in their presence, or I will make you even more terrified in their presence.


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»Today I have made you like a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a copper wall. You will be able to stand up to the whole land. You will be able to stand up to Judah's kings, its officials, its priests, and all the common people.


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»They will fight you but they will not defeat you. I am with you, and I will rescue you,« declares Jehovah.


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»Go and announce to Jerusalem, This is what Jehovah says: »I remember the unfailing loyalty of your youth, the love you had for me as a bride. I remember how you followed me into the desert, into a land that was not sown <i>farmed</i> .


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»»Israel was dedicated <i>consecrated</i> to Jehovah. It was the best part of the harvest. All who consumed it became guilty, and disaster struck them,« « says Jehovah.


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Jehovah says: »What bad thing <i>injustice</i> did your fathers find in me that they went so far away from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless <i>lead astray</i> themselves.


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»They did not ask: Where is Jehovah who brought us from Egypt? He led us through the desert, through a wasteland and its pits, a land of drought and the shadow of death. No one lives there or travels there.


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»I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and its produce. You came and made my land unclean. You made my heritage disgusting.


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»The priests did not ask: Where is Jehovah? Those who deal with my Law did not know me. The rulers rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied in the name of Baal and followed things that could not help <i>profit</i> them.«


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»That is why I will bring charges against you, proclaims Jehovah, and I will bring charges against your grandchildren.


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»Go over to the coasts of Cyprus <i>Kittim</i> , and see. Send someone to Kedar and observe closely. See if there has ever been such a thing as this.


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»Has any nation ever exchanged gods? Their gods are not really gods. Yet my people have exchanged their glory for something that does not help them.


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»My people have done two things wrong: <i>l</i> They have abandoned me, the fountain <i>source</i> of living waters. They have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. (Revelation 4:11)


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»Are the people of Israel slaves? Were they born into slavery? Why, then, have they become someone's property?


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»Young lions have roared at them. Young lions have turned the land into waste. The cities have been destroyed, without inhabitant.


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»Men from Noph <i>Memphis, capital city of Egypt</i> and Tahpanhes have shaved the crown of your head, Israel.


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»Why are you going to Egypt to drink water from the Nile <i>Shihor</i> River? You will not gain anything by going to Assyria to drink water from the Euphrates River.


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»Your own wickedness will correct you. Your apostasies <i>unfaithful ways</i> will punish you! You should know and see how evil and bitter it is for you when you abandon Jehovah your God! You do not respect <i>reverence</i> me,« says the Sovereign Lord Jehovah of Hosts.


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»Long ago you broke off your yoke, tore off your bonds, and said that you would not be a slave. You lay down and acted like a prostitute on every high hill and under every large tree.


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»I planted you like a choice grapevine from the very best seed. Now you have turned against me and have become a wild vine.


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»If you wash with detergent and use a lot of soap, I would still see the stains from your wickedness,« says the Lord Jehovah.


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»How can you say, I have not been dishonored and have not gone after the Baal gods? »Look how you have behaved in the valley. Acknowledge what you have done. You are like a young camel that swiftly runs here and there.


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»You are like a wild donkey accustomed to the desert. You sniff at the wind while in heat. All who seek you will not get tired. They will find you during your monthly period.


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»Do not run until your feet are bare and your throats are dry. But you say that it is useless. You love foreign gods and follow them.


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»As a thief feels ashamed when he is caught, so the nation of Israel will feel ashamed. Their kings, princes, priests, and prophets will also feel ashamed.


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»You call wood your father. You call stone your mother. You turned your backs, not your faces, to me. But when you are in trouble, you ask me to come and rescue you.


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»Where are the gods that you made for yourselves? Let them come and rescue you when you have trouble. You have as many gods as you have cities, Judah!


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»I have punished your children without results. They did not respond to correction. You killed my prophets like a raging lion.


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»O you people of this generation consider the word of Jehovah! Have I been a wilderness, a land of thick darkness, for Israel? Why do my people say that they are free to wander around and no longer come to me?


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»A young woman cannot forget her jewelry or a bride her breastband <i>sash girdle</i> . Yet, my people have forgotten me for countless days.


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»You have bloodstains from innocent poor people on your clothes. You did not kill them for breaking in to your home.


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»You will also leave this place with your hands over your head, because Jehovah has rejected those you trust. They will not help you.«


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It is said: »If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, her first husband should not go back to her again.« The land would become completely polluted. »You have behaved like a prostitute who has many lovers. Now you want to come back to me!« Says Jehovah.


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»Lift up your eyes to the bare hills and see. You have had sex with men in every place. You sat by the roadside waiting for them like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled <i>corrupted profaned</i> the land with your prostitution and wickedness.


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»Accordingly the rain has been withheld, and there have been no spring showers. Yet, you have the unashamed <i>conspicuous impudent</i> look of a prostitute, and you refuse to be ashamed.


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»Will you hold a grudge forever? Will you always be angry? You have said and done all the evil things that you could.«


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During the reign of King Josiah, Jehovah asked me: »Did you see what unfaithful Israel did? She went up every high mountain and under every large tree, and she acted like a prostitute there.


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»I thought that after she had done all this she would come back to me. But she did not come back, and her treacherous <i>unstable unreliable false</i> sister Judah saw her.


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»Judah saw that I sent unfaithful Israel away because of her adultery and that I gave Israel her divorce papers. But treacherous Judah, her sister, was not afraid. She also acted like a prostitute.


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»Because she was not concerned about her prostitution. She polluted the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.


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»Even after all this, Israel's treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart. She was deceitful,« says Jehovah.


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»Go and proclaim this message to the north: Come back, unfaithful Israel. It is Jehovah speaking. I will no longer frown on you because I am merciful, declares Jehovah. I will no longer be angry with you.


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Admit that you have done wrong! You have rebelled against Jehovah your God. You have given yourself to foreign gods under every large tree. You have not obeyed me, says Jehovah.


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Return, you disobedient people, proclaims Jehovah. I am your husband. I will take you, one from every city and two from every family, and bring you to Zion.


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»I will give you shepherds after my own heart. They will be shepherds who feed <i>shepherd lead tend</i> you with knowledge and understanding <i>learning reasoning insight</i> .


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»In those days you will be fertile, and your population will increase in the land, says Jehovah. Men will no longer talk about the Ark of the Covenant of Jehovah. It will no longer come to mind. They will not remember it, miss it, or make another one.


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»At that time, they will call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah. All nations will gather in Jerusalem because the name of Jehovah will be found there. They will no longer follow their own stubborn, evil ways.


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»Then the nation of Judah will live with the nation of Israel. They will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave their ancestors as their own inheritance.


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»I wanted to treat you like children and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful property among the nations. I thought you would call me Father and not turn away from me.


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»But like a wife who is unfaithful to her husband, so you, O house of Israel, were unfaithful me,« says Jehovah.


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A voice is heard on the bare hills. It is the crying and the pleading of the people of Israel. They are perverted and have forgotten Jehovah their God.


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»Return you backsliding children, and I will forgive you for being unfaithful. See, we have come to you because you are Jehovah our God.


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»Truly the sound from the hills and mountains is the noise of false worship. Truly Jehovah our God will be our salvation.


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»Ever since we were young, the shameful worship of Baal has taken everything our ancestors worked for, their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters.


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»We must lie down in our shame and let our humiliation cover us. Ever since we were young, we and our fathers have sinned against Jehovah our God. We have not obeyed Jehovah our God.«


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Jehovah says: »If you come back, Israel, if you come back to me, if you take your disgusting idols out of my sight and you do not stray from me,


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if you take the oath, as Jehovah lives in an honest, fair, and right way, then the nations will be blessed, and in him they will glory.«


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Jehovah says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem: »Break up your unplowed fields, and do not plant among thorns.


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»Be circumcised by Jehovah, and get rid of the foreskins of your hearts <i>cleanse your hearts</i> , people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. If you do not, my fury will blaze like a fire. It will burn, and no one will be able to put it out. This is because of the evil you do.«


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Report this message in Judah. Make it heard in Jerusalem. Say: »Blow the ram's horn throughout the land. Shout loudly and say: Assemble together! Let us go into the fortified cities.


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»Raise the flag to signal people to go to Zion. Take cover! Do not just stand there! I am bringing disaster and widespread destruction from the north.


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»A lion has come out of its lair. A destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his place and is on his way to destroy your land. Your cities will be ruined. No one will live in them.


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»Dress in sackcloth, beat your breasts <i>mourn</i> , and cry because Jehovahs burning anger has not turned back from us.


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»In that day,« declares Jehovah, »the king and the officials will lose their courage. The priests will be stunned. The prophets will be amazed and astonished.«


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I said, »Lord Jehovah, you have greatly deceived these people and Jerusalem. You said that everything would go well for them, but a sword is held at their throats <i>threatens their lives</i> .«


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Then it will be said to these people and to Jerusalem: »A hot wind from the heights will blow in the desert toward my people. It will not be a wind that winnows or cleanses.


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»The enemy comes up like clouds. His chariots are like a raging wind. His horses are swifter than eagles. How horable it will be for us! We will be destroyed!«


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»O Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart so that you may be saved. How long will your wicked thoughts lodge within you?


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»Warn the nations about this. Tell it to Jerusalem. Hostile troops are coming from a distant country. They shout battle cries against the cities of Judah.«


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»They surround Judah like men guarding a field, because Judah has rebelled against me,« declares Jehovah.


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O my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. My heart pounds in side of me. My heart is pounding! I cannot keep quiet because I hear a ram's horn sounding the alarm for war.


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Destruction upon destruction is proclaimed. The whole land is ruined. My tents are suddenly destroyed. Their curtains are torn in an instant.


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»My people are fools. They do not know me. They are stupid people. They do not understand. They are experts in doing wrong, and they do not know how to do good.«


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I see that the fertile land has become a desert. Its cities are torn down because of Jehovah and his burning anger.


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»The earth will mourn, and the sky will grow black. I have spoken, and I have determined it. I will not change my plans, and I will not turn back!«


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All the people in the city will flee at the sound of riders and archers. They will go off into the thickets and climb among the rocks. The entire city will be abandoned. No one will live in it.


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You are going to be destroyed! What are you going to do? Why do you dress in scarlet <i>crimson</i> and put on gold jewelry? Why do you wear eye shadow? You are making yourself beautiful for nothing. Your lovers despise you. They want to kill you.


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I hear a woman in labor. I hear the woman cry with anguish as she gives birth to her first child. My people Zion gasp for breath. They stretch out their hands and say: »How horrible it is for us! My life is exhausted by the presence of murderers!«


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People of Jerusalem, run through your streets! Look around and see for yourselves! Search the marketplaces! Can you find one person who does what is right and tries to be faithful to God? If you can, Jehovah will forgive Jerusalem.


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Jehovah looks for faithfulness. He struck you, but you paid no attention. He crushed you, but you refused to learn. You were stubborn and would not turn from your sins.


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I thought: »These are only the poor and ignorant. They a foolish. They do not know what their God requires, what Jehovah wants them to do.


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»I will go to the great men <i>leaders</i> and talk with them. Surely they know what their God requires, what Jehovah wants them to do. But all of them have rejected Jehovahs authority and refuse to obey him.«


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That is why lions from the forest will kill them. Wolves from the desert will tear them to pieces, and leopards will prowl through their towns. If those people go out, they will be torn apart because their sins are numerous and time after time they have turned from God.


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Jehovah asked: Why should I forgive the sins of my people? They have abandoned me and have worshiped gods that are not real. I fed my people until they were full, but they committed adultery and spent their time with prostitutes.


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»Why should I not punish the people of Judah?« Says Jehovah, »Should I take retribution <i>vengeance</i> ?«


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»Go up through her vineyards and destroy them. But do not execute a complete destruction. Strip away her branches, for they are not Jehovahs.


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They lied about Jehovah. They said: »It is not he, bad things will not happen to us. We will not see sword or famine.«


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Jehovah, the God of hosts says: »Because you have spoken this word and I am making my words fire in your mouth. This people are wood and will be consumed.


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»I am bringing a nation against you from afar, O house of Israel, declares Jehovah. It is an enduring nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know. You cannot understand <i>comprehend make sense of</i> what they say.


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»They will devour your harvest and your food. They will devour your sons and your daughters. They will devour your flocks and your herds. They will devour your vines and your fig trees. They will demolish with the sword your fortified cities in which you trust.


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»They will ask: Why has Jehovah our God done all this to us? Answer them: »You have abandoned me and served foreign gods in your land. So you will serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.« «


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»Hear this, you stupid and senseless people! You have eyes, but you cannot see. You have ears, but you cannot hear.«


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»Do you not reverence <i>respect</i> me?« Asks Jehovah. »Do you not tremble <i>with awe</i> in my presence? I made the sand a boundary for the sea, a permanent barrier it cannot cross. Although the waves toss continuously, they cannot break through. Although they roar, they cannot cross it.


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»They do not say in their hearts, to themselves: We should respect Jehovah our God. He sends rain at the right time, the autumn rain and the spring rain. He makes sure that we have harvest seasons.«


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»Wicked men are found among my people. They lie in ambush like bird catchers. They set traps and catch men.


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»Like cages filled with birds, their houses are filled with deceit. That is why they become powerful and rich.


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»They grow big and fat. Their evil deeds have no limits. They have no respect for the rights of others. They have no respect for the rights of orphans. But they still prosper. They do not defend the rights of the poor.


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Prophets prophesy falsehoods. Priests rule under the prophets' directions, and my people love this. But what will you do when the end comes?«


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Flee for safety people of Benjamin. Run from the midst of Jerusalem! Blow a rams horn in Tekoa and raise a signal over Beth-haccerem. Evil looks down from the north. There is great destruction.


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Shepherds and their flocks will come to her. They will pitch their tents around her. They will pasture each in his place.


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Prepare for war against her. »Arise, and let us attack at noon.« »Woe to us, for the day declines <i>is nearly over</i> , for the shadows of the evening lengthen!«


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Jehovah of Hosts says: »Cut down trees and build up a siege against Jerusalem. This city should be punished, for there is only oppression in her.


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»As a well pours out its water, so Jerusalem pours out her wickedness. Violence and destruction are heard in her. Sickness and wounds are ever before me.


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»Be warned, O Jerusalem, I will be alienated from you. I will make you desolation, a land not inhabited.«


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Jehovah of Hosts says: »They will thoroughly glean as the vine the remnant of Israel. Pass your hand again like a grape gatherer over the baskets.«


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»To whom can I speak and give warning that they may hear? Their ears are closed and they cannot listen. Behold, the word of Jehovah has become a reproach to them. They have no delight in it.


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I am full of the wrath of Jehovah. I am weary with holding it in. Pour it out on the children in the street and on the gathering of young men together. For both husband and wife will be taken, the aged and the very old.


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»Their houses, their fields and their wives will be turned over to others. I will stretch out my hand <i>extend my power</i> against the inhabitants of the land,« declares Jehovah.


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»From the least of them even to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for gain! From the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely!


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»Superficially they have healed the brokenness of my people. They declare: Peace! Peace! »But there is no peace.«


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»Are they ashamed because of the abomination they have done? They are not even ashamed! Not at all! They do not even know how to blush. Therefore they will fall among those who fall. When I punish them, they will be cast down,« says Jehovah.


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Jehovah says: »Stand by the way <i>of life</i> and see and ask for the ancient paths. Walk in the good way and you will find rest.« But you said: »We will not walk in it!«


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»I set watchmen over you. I said: Listen to the sound of the trumpet! But they said: We will not listen!«


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»Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on this people as the fruit of their plans. This is because they have not listened to my words, and have rejected my law.


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»What purpose does frankincense come to me from Sheba and the sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable and your sacrifices are not pleasing to me.«


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Therefore, Jehovah says: »I am laying stumbling blocks before this people. They will stumble against them, Fathers and sons together; Neighbors and friends will perish.«


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Jehovah says: »Behold, a people is coming from the northland! A great nation will be aroused from the remote parts of the earth.


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»They seize bow and spear. They are cruel and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses. They are arrayed as a man for the battle against you, O daughter of Zion!«


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We have heard the report! Our hands are limp. Anguish has seized us! We have pain like a woman in childbirth.


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Do not go out into the field. Do not walk on the road. The enemy has a sword and terror is on every side.


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O my people put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn as for an only son, a lamentation most bitter. For suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.


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»I have made you an assayer and a tester among my people. You will know and assay their course of life.«


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All of them are stubborn rebels. They go about telling false stories. They are copper and iron. They are all corrupt, all of them!


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The bellows blow fiercely and the fire consumes the lead. The refining goes on in vain, but the wicked are not separated.


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»Stand at the gate of Jehovahs house and proclaim there this word: Hear the word of Jehovah, all you of Judah who enter by these gates to worship Jehovah!


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»Thus says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: »Amend <i>make right</i> your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place.


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»»Do not trust in deceptive words. They say: This is the Temple of Jehovah, the Temple of Jehovah, and the Temple of Jehovah.


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»»For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor,


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if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin,


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then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land I gave to your fathers from generation to generation and for a very long time.« «


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»Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known?


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»Then come and stand before me in this house. It is called by my name. You say, We are safe to do all these abominations.


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»Has this house, called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,« declares Jehovah.


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»But go to my place in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell from the beginning, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.


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»For the reason that you did all these things,« says Jehovah, »I spoke to you. I rose up early and spoke. But you did not hear, and I called you but you did not answer.


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»Consider what I will do to the house that is called by my name. It is the house in which you trust. It is the place I gave you and your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.


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»I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, all the offspring of Ephraim.


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»As for you, do not pray for this people. Do not lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me for I do not hear you.


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»The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire. The women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to spite me.


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Therefore the Lord Jehovah says: »My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground. It will burn and not be quenched.«


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Thus says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: »Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat flesh.


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»For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.


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»I gave them this command: Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. You will walk in all the way that I command you that it may be well with you.«


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»Yet they did not obey or incline their ear. They walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart. They went backward and not forward.


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»Since the day your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all my servants the prophets, daily rising early and sending them.


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»Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear. Instead they stiffened their neck <i>became stubborn</i> . They did more evil than their fathers.


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»You will speak all these words to them. But they will not listen to you. You will call them but they will not answer you.


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»You will say to them: This is the nation that did not obey the voice of Jehovah their God or accept correction. Truth has perished and truth has been removed from their mouth.


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Cut off your hair and cast it away. Take up a cry of sorrow and grief on the bare heights. Jehovah has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.


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»The sons of Judah have done what is evil in my sight,« declares Jehovah. »They placed their detestable things in the house called by my name, to defile it.


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»They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire. I did not command this. I would never think of such a thing. <i>It would not come from my heart.</i>


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»Days are coming, says Jehovah, when it will no longer be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom <i>Ben-hinnom</i> , but the valley of the Slaughter. They will bury in Topheth because there is no other place.


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»The dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth. No one will frighten them away.


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»I will cause the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem. The land will become a ruin.«


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Jehovah says: »At that time the bones of the kings and the leaders of Judah, the bones of the priests and the prophets, and the bones of the others who lived in Jerusalem will be taken out of their graves.


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»They will be spread out and exposed to the sun, the moon, and all the stars in the sky. These are the things that they had loved, served, gone after, sought, and worshiped. Their bones will not be gathered or buried, but they will become manure on the ground.


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»Then the few who remain from these wicked people will want to die rather than live where I will scatter them, declares Jehovah of Hosts.


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»Say to them: This is what Jehovah says: »When someone falls, he gets back up. When someone turns away from me, he returns.« «


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»The people of Jerusalem turned away from me without ever returning. They still cling to deceit. They refuse to return.


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»I paid attention and listened, but they were not honest. They do not turn away from their wickedness. They do not ask: What have we done? They go their own ways like horses charging into battle.«


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»Even storks know when it is time to return. Mourning doves, swallows <i>swifts</i> , and cranes know when it is time to migrate. But my people do not know that I, Jehovah, am urging them to return.


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»How can you say you are wise and that you have Jehovahs Laws? The scribes have used their pens to spread falsehoods.


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»Wise people are put to shame, confused, and trapped. They have rejected the word of Jehovah. They do not really have any wisdom.


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»So I will give their wives to other men. I will give their fields to new owners. From the least even to the greatest everyone is greedy for gain. From the prophet even to the priest everyone is deceitful.


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»They heal the brokenness of the daughter of my people superficially. They say: Peace! Peace! But there is no peace.


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»Were they ashamed because of the abomination they had done? They certainly were not ashamed! And they did not know how to blush. For that reason they will fall among those who fall. At the time of their punishment they will be brought down,« Says Jehovah.


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»I will surely snatch them away,« declares Jehovah. »There will be no grapes on the vine and no figs on the fig tree. The leaf will wither and what I have given them will pass away.«


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»Why are we sitting still? Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified <i>mother</i> cities. Let us perish there, because Jehovah our God has doomed us. He has given us poisoned water to drink, for we have sinned against Jehovah.


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From Dan is heard the snorting of his horses. At the sound of the neighing of his stallions the whole land quakes. For they come and devour the land and its fullness, the city and its inhabitants.


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»I am sending serpents against you, adders, for which there is no charm. They will bite you,« says Jehovah.


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Behold, listen! The cry of the daughter of my people from a distant land: »Is Jehovah not in Zion? Is her King not within her?« »Why have they provoked me with their graven images, with foreign idols?«


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For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am broken. I mourn and dismay has taken hold of me.


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Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician <i>healer</i> there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?


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Oh that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears. Then I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!


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I wish I had a dwelling in the desert. I would abandon my people and go away from them. They are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.


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They bend their tongue like their bow. Lies and not truth prevail in the land. They move from evil to evil. »They do not know me,« says Jehovah.


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»Let everyone be on guard against his neighbor. Do not trust any brother because every brother deals craftily <i>cunningly</i> , and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.


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»Everyone deceives his neighbor and does not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies. They wear themselves out committing sin.


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Thus says Jehovah of Hosts: »Behold, I will refine them and assay them. What else can I do, because of the daughter of my people?


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»Their tongue is a deadly arrow. It speaks deceit! With the mouth one speaks peace to his neighbor, but inwardly he sets an ambush for him.«


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»I will punish them for these things,« declares Jehovah. »I will punish this nation and I will not be satisfied.«


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I will cry and weep for the mountains. I will sing a funeral song for the pastures in the wilderness. They are destroyed so that no one can travel through them. No one can hear the sound of cattle. Birds and cattle have fled. They are gone.


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I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins. It will be a gathering place of jackals. I will make the cities of Judah desolation, without inhabitant.


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»Who is the wise man that may understand this? Who is he to whom the mouth of Jehovah has spoken? Let him declare it? Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a desert, so that no one passes through?«


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Jehovah said: »They have forsaken the Law I set before them. They have not obeyed my voice nor walked according to it.


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»They have walked after the stubbornness of their heart and after the Baals as their fathers taught them.


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»Therefore Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel says: Behold! I will feed this people with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.


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I will scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. I will send the sword <i>violence and warfare</i> after them until I have annihilated them.


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»Jehovah of Hosts says: Consider the mourning women that they may come. Send for the wailing women that they may come!


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Let them hurry and take up a wailing for us. Let our eyes shed tears and our eyelids flow with water.


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A voice of wailing is heard from Zion: »How we are ruined! We are put to great shame for we have left the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.«


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Listen to the word of Jehovah, you women, and open your ears to hear his words. Teach your daughters how to cry. Teach your neighbors funeral songs.


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Death has come through our windows and entered our palaces. Death has cut down the children in the streets and the young men in the market places.


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»This is what Jehovah says: »Dead bodies will fall like manure on the field. They will be like grain that has been cut but not gathered.« «


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This is what Jehovah says: »Do not let wise people brag about their wisdom. Do not let strong people brag about their strength. Do not let rich people brag about their riches.«


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»If they want to brag, instead let them advocate <i>glory celebrate</i> that they understand and know me. They should advocate that I, Jehovah, act out of love, righteousness, and justice on the earth. This kind of celebration pleases me,« declares Jehovah.


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»The days are coming,« proclaims Jehovah, »when I will punish all who are circumcised <i>only in the flesh</i> . Yet they are not circumcised <i>in the heart</i> .


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»I will punish Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, and Moab. I will punish all who shave the hair on their foreheads or live in the desert. Even though all these nations are uncircumcised, all Israel has uncircumcised hearts.«


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This is what Jehovah says: »Do not learn the practices of the nations. Do not be frightened by the signs in the sky because they frighten the nations.«


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The peoples customs are erroneous and empty. It is wood cut from the forest. It is the work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.


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»They decorate it with silver and with gold. They fasten it with nails and with hammers so that it will not tip over.


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»They are like scarecrows in cucumber fields. They cannot speak. They must be carried, for they cannot walk! Do not fear them! For they can do no harm and they can do no good.«


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Who would not respect you, O King of the nations? It is your right! There is none like you among all the wise men of the nations.


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Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz. It is the work of a craftsman and of the hands of a goldsmith. Violet and purple are their clothing. They are all the work of skilled men.


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Jehovah is the true <i>faithful right</i> God! He is the living God and the everlasting king. The earth quakes at his wrath. The nations cannot endure his indignation.


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You will say to the idolaters: »The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.«


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He who made the earth by his power, and established the world by his wisdom; also stretched out the heavens by his understanding.


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He speaks, and the water in the sky produces a storm. He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning flash with the rain. He brings wind out of his storehouses.


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Every man is stupid lacking knowledge. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. His molten images are deceitful. There is no breath in them.


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Jacobs share is not like this. For he made everything! Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. Jehovah of Hosts is his name.


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Jehovah says: »I am evicting the inhabitants of the land at this time. I will cause them distress that they may be found.«


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Oh, I am wounded! My wound is serious. Then I thought that this is my punishment, and I will bear it.


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My tent is destroyed. All the ropes are broken. My children have left me and have disappeared. There is no one to set up my tent again or put up my tent curtains.


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The shepherds are foolish. They do not look to Jehovah for help. That is why they will not succeed and all their flocks will be scattered.


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The report has arrived. Listen! An incredible uproar is coming from the land of the north. Its army will destroy Judah's cities and make them homes for jackals.


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O Jehovah, I know that humans are not able to govern their own lives. Humans cannot administer their own steps.


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Correct me, O Jehovah but please be fair. Do not correct me when you are angry. Otherwise, you will reduce me to nothing.


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Pour out your fury on the nations who do not know you and on people who do not worship you. They have devoured the descendants of Jacob. They have devoured them completely. They have destroyed their homes.


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»It is the covenant I made with their ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt. Egypt was like an iron smelter <i>furnace</i> to them. I told them to obey me and to do everything that I commanded. I told them that if they obeyed, they would be my people and I would be their God.


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»Then I would keep the promise I made to their ancestors that I would give them the rich and fertile land which they now have.» « I answered: « Amen <i>Yes</i> Jehovah.«


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Jehovah said to me: »Go to the cities of Judah and to the streets of Jerusalem. Proclaim my message there and tell the people: Listen to the terms of the covenant and obey them.


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»I solemnly warned your fathers in the day that I brought them up from the land of Egypt. Even to this day I persistently warned them, saying: Listen to my voice.


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»Yet they did not obey or incline their ear <i>pay attention</i> . They walked, each one, in the stubbornness of his evil heart! Therefore I brought on them all the words of the covenant I commanded them to do. But they did not do it.«


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Jehovah said to me: »A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


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»They went back to the evil ways of their ancestors and refused to obey my words. They followed other gods and worshiped them. The nations of Israel and Judah have rejected the covenant that I made to their ancestors.«


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»Therefore Jehovah says: I am going to bring a disaster on them that they cannot escape. Although they will cry out to me, I will not listen to them.


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»Then the cities of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem will cry to the gods to whom they have been sacrificing. But these gods will never rescue them in a time of distress.


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»Judah, you have as many gods as you have cities. You have set up many altars in Jerusalem to sacrifice to Baal. You have as many detestable altars as there are streets in Jerusalem.


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»Jeremiah, do not pray for these people. Do not cry or pray for them. I will not listen when they call to me for help in times of trouble.


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»What right do these people I love have to be in my house when they do so many deceitful things? Can the meat from their sacrifices turn tragedy away from them? They exult <i>celebrate</i> when they do evil.


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»Jehovah called you a large olive tree that has fine-looking fruit to look at. He will set fire to you with a mighty lightning storm, and your branches will be broken.


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»Jehovah of Hosts planted you. He has pronounced disaster on you. This is because of the evil things that Israel and Judah have done. They have made him infuriated by burning incense as an offering to Baal.


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I was like an unquestioning lamb brought to the slaughter. I did not know that they were plotting against me. They were saying: »Let us destroy the tree with its fruit. Let us cut Jeremiah off from this world of the living so that we will not be reminded of him anymore.«


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O Jehovah of Hosts, you are a fair judge. You test motives and thoughts. I want to see you take revenge on them. For that reason I presented my case to you.


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This is what Jehovah says: »The people of Anathoth want to kill you. They say: Do not prophesy in the name of Jehovah, or we will kill you.«


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This is what Jehovah of Hosts says: »I am going to punish them. The young men will die by the sword because of war. Their sons and daughters will die by famine.


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»I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth. It will be a year of punishment. There will be no survivors.«


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Jehovah, if I argued my case with you, you would prove to be right. Indeed, I must question you about matters of justice. Why are the wicked so prosperous? Why do dishonest people succeed with impunity?


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You plant them, and they take root. They grow and bear fruit. You are near their lips, but far from their mind.


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But, you know me, Jehovah. You see what I do and how in my heart I love you. Drag them away like sheep to be butchered. Guard them until it is time for them to be slaughtered.


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How long will our land be dry and the grass in every field be withered? Animals and birds are dying because of the wickedness of our people. These people say: »God does not see what we are doing.«


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Jehovah says: »Jeremiah, if you get tired racing against people, how can you race against horses? If you cannot even stand up in open country, how will you manage in the thicket by the Jordan?«


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»Even your relatives, members of your own family, have betrayed you. They join in the attacks against you. Do not trust them, even though they speak friendly words.


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Jehovah says: »I have abandoned Israel. I have rejected my chosen nation. I have given the people I love into the power of their enemies.


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»My chosen people have turned against me. Like a lion in the forest they have roared at me, and so I hate them.


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»My chosen people are like a bird attacked from all sides by hawks. Call the wild animals to come and join in the feast!


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»Many foreign rulers have destroyed my vineyard. They trampled down my fields and turned my beautiful land into a desert.


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»They made it a wasteland. It lies desolate before me. The whole land has become a desert, and no one cares.


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»Across the entire desert highlands people have come to plunder. Jehovah has sent war to destroy the entire land. No one can live in peace.


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»My people planted wheat. They gathered weeds! They worked hard and got nothing for it. Because of my fierce anger their crops have failed.«


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Jehovah says: »I have something to say about Israel's neighbors who have ruined the land I gave to my people Israel. I will take those wicked people away from their countries like an uprooted plant, and I will rescue Judah from them.


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»But after I have taken them away I will have mercy on them. I will bring each nation back to its own land and to its own country.


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»If with all their hearts they will accept the religion of my people and will swear: As Jehovah lives, as they once taught my people to swear by Baal, then they will also be a part of my people and will prosper.


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»However if any nation will not obey I will completely uproot it and destroy it.« I, Jehovah, have spoken.


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Jehovah told me: »Go and buy a linen belt. Wear it on your hips for a while, but do not put it in any water.«


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»Take off the linen belt. Go to the Euphrates River and hide the belt in a crack between some large rocks.«


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I went back and dug the belt out of the hiding place, but the cloth had rotted, and the linen belt was ruined. It was good for nothing.


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»The people of Judah are evil and stubborn. They do not listen to me. They do whatever they want and even worship other gods. When I am finished with these people, they will be good for nothing, just like this linen belt.


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»This belt is tight around your waist, and that is how tightly I held onto the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. I wanted them to be my people. I wanted to make them famous, so that other nations would praise and honor me, but they refused to obey me.


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»Speak this word to them: Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, »Every jug is to be filled with wine. When they say to you, Do we not know that every jug is to be filled with wine?


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»»Say to them: Jehovah says I am about to fill all the inhabitants of this land, the kings that sit for David on his throne, the priests, the prophets and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with drunkenness!


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»»I will dash them against each other, both the fathers and the sons together, declares Jehovah. I will not show pity nor be sorry nor have compassion so as not to destroy them.« «


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Give glory to Jehovah your God before he brings darkness and before your feet stumble on the dusky mountains. You hope for light. He makes it into deep darkness and turns it into gloom.


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If you will not listen, I will cry secretly over your arrogance. I will cry bitterly, and my eyes will flow with tears because Jehovahs flock will be taken captive.


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Say to the king and his mother: »Come down from your thrones, because your crowns have fallen off your heads.«


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The cities in the Negev will be locked up. There will be no one to reopen them. All the people of Judah will be taken away into captivity.


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»Look up, and see those who are coming from the north. Where is the flock that was given to you? Where are your beautiful sheep?


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»What will you say when God makes the people you thought were your friends your new masters? Will pain grip you like a woman in labor?


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»If you ask yourself: Why do these things happen to me? It is because you have so many sins. Your clothes have been torn off and your limbs are bare.


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»Can Ethiopians change the color of their skin or leopards change their spots? Can you do good when you are taught to do wrong?


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»This is your fate, the destiny I have planned for you,« proclaims Jehovah. »You have forgotten me and trusted in false gods.


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»I have seen you commit adultery and scream with delight. I have seen you act like a brazen prostitute on the hills and in the fields. How hideous it will be for you, Jerusalem! Will you ever be clean?«


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Judah mourns and its gates collapse. The people of Judah are filled with bereavement as they sit on the ground. Their cry goes up from Jerusalem.


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Important people send their assistants out for water. They do not find any water at the cisterns. They return with their containers empty. They cover their heads, because they are ashamed and dishonored.


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There is no rain in the land and the ground is cracked. The farmers are disappointed. They cover their heads.


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Wild donkeys stand on the bare hills. They sniff the wind like jackals. Their eyesight fails because they have no green plants.


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Do something, Jehovah, for the sake of your name, even though our iniquities testify against us. We have been unfaithful <i>like apostates</i> and have sinned against you.


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You are Israel's hope, its savior in times of trouble. Why are you like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who stays only one night?


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Why are you like someone taken by surprise, like a mighty man who cannot help? You, O Jehovah, are among us. We are called by your name. Do not leave us!


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This is what Jehovah says about these people: »They love to wander. They do not keep their feet where they belong. Therefore Jehovah is not happy with them. He will remember their crimes and punish their sins.«


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»Even if they go without food, I will not listen to their cries for help. Even if they sacrifice burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not be pleased with them. But I will destroy these people with wars, famines, and plagues.«


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I said: »Alas, O Lord Jehovah, prophets are telling them: You will not see wars or famines, for I will give you lasting peace in this place.«


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Jehovah then told me: »These are the lies that the prophets are telling in my name: They claim that I sent them. They claim that I commanded them. They claim that I spoke to them. They even dreamed up visions to tell you. Their predictions are worthless! They are the products of their own imagination.


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»I did not send these prophets. Yet, they prophesy in my name that there will be no wars or famines in this land. So this is what I, Jehovah, say about them: Wars and famines will bring an end to these prophets.


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»The people to whom they prophesy will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem. They will be victims of famines and wars. No one will bury them, their wives, their sons, or their daughters. I will pour on them the destruction that they deserve.


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»Say this to them: My eyes flow with tears day and night without stopping because my dear people will suffer massive destruction. It will be a very serious blow.


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»If I go to the field, I see those killed because of war. If I go to the city, I see those sick because of famine. Prophets and priests wander through a land they have not heard of.«


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Have you completely rejected Judah? Do you despise Zion? Why have you struck us so hard that we cannot heal? We hope for peace, but no good comes from it. We hope for a time of healing, but there's only terror.


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O Jehovah, we recognize our wickedness and the wrongs done by our ancestors. We have sinned against you.


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For the sake of your name, do not despise us. Do not dishonor your glorious throne. Remember your promise to us. Do not break it.


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The valueless gods of the nations cannot make it rain. The skies cannot give showers by themselves. But you can, O Jehovah our God. We hope in you because you do all these things.


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Jehovah said to me: »I would not feel sorry for these people, even if Moses and Samuel were standing in front of me. Send them away from my presence, and let them go.


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»When they ask you where they should go, say to them: This is what Jehovah says: Those who are to die will die. Those who are to die in wars will die in wars. Those who are to die in famines will die in famines. Those who are to die in captivity will die in captivity.


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»I will appoint over them four kinds of punishment, declares Jehovah. I will send swords to kill, dogs to drag away, and birds of the air and animals of the earth to devour and destroy.


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»I will make these people a horrifying <i>shocking</i> sight to all the kingdoms on the earth. This will happen because of what Judah's King Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, did in Jerusalem.


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»Who will take pity on you, Jerusalem? No one will mourn for you. No one will bother to ask how you are doing.


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»You left me, declares Jehovah. You turned your back on me. So I will stretch out my hand against you <i>use my power against you</i> and destroy you. I am tired of showing compassion to you.


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»I will separate them with a winnowing shovel at the city gates. I will make them childless. I will destroy my people because they will not change their ways.


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»Their widows will be more numerous than the grains of sand on the seashore. At noontime I will send a destroyer against the mothers of young men. I will suddenly bring anguish and terror to them.


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»A mother who gives birth to seven sons will grow faint and breathe her last. She will die, ashamed and humiliated, while it is still daylight. I will put survivors from these people to death in the presence of their enemies, says Jehovah.


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Sadness is mine! Why did my mother bring me into the world? I have to quarrel and argue with everyone in the whole earth. I have not lent any money or borrowed any; yet everyone curses me.


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Jehovah said: »I will certainly rescue you for a good. I will certainly make your enemies plead with you in times of evil and in times of distress.


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»Jehovah said to me: I will send enemies to carry away the wealth and treasures of my people. This will punish them for the sins they have committed throughout the land.


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»I will make them serve their enemies in a land they know nothing about. My anger is like fire, and it will burn forever.«


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Then I said: »O Jehovah you understand. Remember me and help me. Let me have revenge on those who persecute me. Do not be so patient with them that they succeed in killing me. Remember that it is for your sake that I have suffered reproach.


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»You spoke to me, and I listened to every word. I belong to you, Lord Jehovah. Your words filled my heart with joy and happiness.


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»I did not spend my time with other people laughing and having a good time. In obedience to your orders I stayed by myself and was filled with anger.


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»Why do I suffer constant pain? Why is my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you indeed be to me like a deceptive stream with water that is unreliable?«


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Therefore Jehovah says: »If you return I will restore you. You will stand before me. If you extract the precious from the worthless, you will become my spokesman. They for their part may turn to you. But you must not turn to them.«


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»I will make you a fortified wall of copper to these people. Though they fight against you, they will not prevail over you. For I am with you to save you and deliver you, declares Jehovah.


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Jehovah says this about the sons and daughters born in this place, and about their mothers who bear them, and their fathers who begot them in this land:


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»They will die of lethal diseases. They will not be mourned or buried. They will be as dung on the surface of the ground and die by sword and famine <i>war and starvation</i> . Their carcasses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth.«


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Jehovah says: »Do not enter a house of mourning, or go to lament or to console them. I have withdrawn my peace from this people,« declares Jehovah, »even my loving kindness and compassion.«


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»Both great and small men will die in this land. They will not be buried, they will not be lamented, nor will anyone gash himself or shave his head for them.


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»Men will not break bread in mourning for them in order to comfort anyone for the dead. Nor will they give them a cup of consolation to drink for anyone's father or mother.


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»This is what Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to put a stop to the sounds of joy and happiness and the sounds of brides and grooms in this place. This will happen in your lifetime, even as you watch.«


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»When you tell the people all these things, they will ask you: Why does Jehovah threaten us with all these disasters? What have we done wrong? How have we sinned against Jehovah our God?«


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»Tell them: It is because your ancestors abandoned me, says Jehovah. They followed other gods, served them, worshiped them, and abandoned me. They did not obey my law.


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»You have done worse than your ancestors. All of you are following your own stubborn, evil ways that keep you from listening <i>obeying</i> to me.


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»Therefore I will throw you out of this land into a land that you and your ancestors have not heard of. There you will serve other gods day and night because I will no longer have pity on you.« 


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»That is why the days are coming,« declares Jehovah, »when people will no longer begin an oath with: Jehovah brought the people of Israel out of Egypt and as Jehovah lives.


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»But they will say: Jehovah brought the people of Israel out of the land of the north and all the lands where he had scattered them. They will say this because I will bring them back to the land that I gave their fathers.


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»I am going to send for many fishermen,« says Jehovah, »and they will catch the people of Israel. After that, I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt for them on every mountain and hill and even in the cracks in the rocks.


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»I see everything that they do. They cannot hide anything from me. Their wickedness cannot be hidden; I can see it.


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»First, I will have them pay twice as much for their wickedness and their sin, because they have polluted my land. They have filled my property with the lifeless statues of their detestable and disgusting idols.


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Jehovah is my strength and my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. Nations come to you from the most distant parts of the world and say: Our ancestors have inherited lies, worthless and unprofitable gods.


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»That is what I will teach them. This time I will make my power and my strength known to them. THEN THEY WILL KNOW THAT MY NAME IS JEHOVAH.«


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Jehovah says: Judah's sin is written with an iron pen. It is engraved with a diamond point on the tablet of their hearts and on the horns <i>strength authority</i> of their altars.


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Even their children remember their altars and their poles <i>images</i> dedicated to the goddess Asherah beside large trees on high hills


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and on mountains in the open country. I will turn your wealth and all your treasures into loot. I will do this because of your worship sites and your sin throughout all your territory.


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You will lose the inheritance that I gave you. I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you have not heard of. I will do this because you have stirred up the fire of my anger. It will burn for a very long time.


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This is what Jehovah says: »Cursed is the person who trusts humans, who makes flesh and blood his strength and whose heart turns away from Jehovah.


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»He will be like a bush in the desert and will not see when prosperity comes. He will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, a land of salt without inhabitant.


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»Blessed is the man who trusts in Jehovah, whose refuge and security <i>confidence and hope</i> is Jehovah.


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»For he will be like a tree planted by the water. It extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes. Its leaves will be green. It will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit.


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»I, Jehovah, search the heart and examine the mind <i>inner man</i> . I give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds.


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»A person who gets rich dishonestly is like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay. During his lifetime, he will lose his wealth. In the end, he will be a wicked fool.«


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You will put to shame all that forsake you, O Jehovah, the hope of Israel. Those who turn away on earth will be written down, for they have forsaken Jehovah, the fountain of living water.


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Heal me, O Jehovah, and I will be healed! Save me and I will be saved! For you are my song of praise.


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I have not hurried away from being your shepherd. I have not longed for the day of destruction. You know what I used to say.


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Let those who persecute me be put to shame. Do not let me be put to shame. Let them be dismayed, but let me not be dismayed. Bring on them a day of disaster. Crush them with twofold destruction!


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Jehovah said to me: »Go and stand in the public gate, through which the kings of Judah come in and go out, as well as in all the gates of Jerusalem.


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Say to them: »Listen to the word of Jehovah, kings of Judah, and all Judah and all inhabitants of Jerusalem who come in through these gates:


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»Jehovah says: Take heed for yourselves, and do not carry any load on the Sabbath day or bring anything in through the gates of Jerusalem.


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»You shall not bring a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day nor do any work. You should keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your forefathers.


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»Yet they did not listen or incline their ears. They stiffened their necks in order not to listen or take correction.


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»But it will come about, if you listen attentively to me, declares Jehovah, to bring no load in through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but to keep the Sabbath day holy by doing no work on it,


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then there will come in through the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David. They will ride in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. This city will be inhabited for a very long time.


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»They will come in from the cities of Judah and from the environs of Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the lowland, from the hill country and from the Negev. They will bring burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings and incense. They will also bring sacrifices of thanksgiving to the house of Jehovah.


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»If you do not listen to me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying a load and coming in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem. And it will not be quenched.« «


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When a clay pot he was working on was ruined, he would rework it into a new clay pot the way he wanted to make it.


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»Nation of Israel, can I do with you as this potter does with clay?« Nation of Israel, »You are in my hands like the clay in the potter's hands.


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»However if the nation that I threatened turns away from doing wrong. Then I will change my plans about the disaster I planned to do to it.


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»If that nation does what I consider evil and does not obey me I will change my mind about the good that I promised to do to it.


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»Now say to the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem, This is what Jehovah says: I am going to prepare a disaster and make a plot against you. Turn from your evil ways, change your lives, and do good.


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»But they will answer, It is useless! We will live the way we want to. We will go our own stubborn, evil ways.


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»This is what Jehovah says: Ask among the nations if anyone has ever heard anything like this. The people of Israel have done a very horrible thing.


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»Does the snow of Lebanon forsake the rock of the open country? Or is the cold flowing water from a foreign land ever snatched away?


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»My people have forgotten me. They burn incense to worthless gods and they have stumbled from their ways. They stray from the ancient paths to walk in pathways and not on a highway.


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»They make their land desolation. It becomes an object of perpetual hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished and shake his head.


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»Like an east wind I will scatter them before the enemy. I will show them my back and not my face in the day of their calamity.«


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Then they said: »Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah. Surely the law is not going to be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the wise man, nor the divine word to the prophet! Come on and let us strike him with our tongue, and let us pay no attention to any of his words.«


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Should good be repaid with evil? For they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before you to speak good on their behalf. I tried to turn away your wrath from them.


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Therefore, give their children over to famine and deliver them up to the power of the sword. Let their wives become childless and widowed. Let their men also be smitten to death and their young men struck down by the sword in battle.


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Let an outcry be heard from their houses when you suddenly bring raiders upon them. For they have dug a pit to capture me and hidden snares for my feet.


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Yet You, O Jehovah, know all their deadly designs against me. Do not forgive their iniquity or blot out their sin from your sight. But may they be overthrown before you. Deal with them in the time of your anger!


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Jehovah says: Go and buy a potter's earthenware jar, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the senior priests.


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Then go out to the valley of Ben-hinnom <i>Hinnom Valley</i> , which is by the entrance of the potsherd gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you.


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Say: »Hear the word of Jehovah, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: thus says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, »»Behold I am about to bring adversity upon this place. The ears of everyone who hears of it will quiver with fear.


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»»This is because they have forsaken me. They have made this an alien place and have burned sacrifices in it to other gods. These are gods that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known. They have filled this place with the blood of the blameless <i>innocent</i> .« «


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»They have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal. This is not something I commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter my mind <i>heart conscience</i> .« 


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»»Therefore days are coming, declares Jehovah, when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather the valley of Slaughter.


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»I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place. I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their carcasses as food for the birds of the sky and the animals of the earth.


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»I will also make this city a desolation and an object of hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its disasters.


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»I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they will eat one another's flesh in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life will cause them.« 


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»Say to them: Jehovah of Hosts says: »Like this I will break this people and this city. It is just like one breaks a potter's vessel that cannot again be repaired. They will bury in Topheth because there is no other place for burial.« 


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»This is how I will treat this place and its inhabitants,declares Jehovah, I will make this city like Topheth.


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»The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled like Topheth. They burned sacrifices to the heavenly hosts and poured out drink offerings to other gods on the rooftops of all of their houses.«


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Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where Jehovah had sent him to prophesy. He stood in the court of Jehovahs house and said to all the people:


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»Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel says: I am about to bring on this city and all its towns the entire disaster that I have declared against it. This is because they have stiffened their necks <i>vigorously resisted</i> so as not to heed my words.«


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Pashhur the priest, son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of Jehovah, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.


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Pashhur had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put him in the stocks that were at the upper Benjamin Gate, which was by the house of Jehovah.


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The next day Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks. Jeremiah said to him: »Pashhur is not the name Jehovah has called you. He has called you Magor-missabib.


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»For Jehovah says: Behold, I am going to make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of their enemies while you watch. I will hand over all Judah to the hand <i>control</i> of the king of Babylon. He will carry them away as exiles to Babylon and will slay them with the sword.


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»I will also hand over all the wealth of this city, all its produce and all its costly things. I will even give all the treasures of the kings of Judah to the hand of their enemies. They will plunder them and take them away to Babylon.


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»You, Pashhur, and all who live in your house will go into captivity. You will enter Babylon, and there you will die and be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have falsely prophesied.«


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O Jehovah, You have deceived me. I was deceived! You have overcome me and prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me.


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Each time I speak, I cry aloud. I proclaim violence and destruction! For me the word of Jehovah has resulted in reproach and derision all day long.


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But if I say: »I will not remember him or speak anymore in his name,« then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in. I cannot endure it.


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For I have heard the whispering of many: »Terror on every side! Denounce him; yes, let us denounce him!« All my trusted friends are watching for my fall. They say: »Perhaps he will be deceived, so that we may prevail against him and take our revenge on him.«


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Jehovah is with me like a powerful champion. Therefore my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will be utterly ashamed! They have failed with an everlasting disgrace that will not be forgotten.


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Yet, O Jehovah of Hosts you test the righteous. You see the mind and the heart. Let me see your vengeance on them for to you I have revealed my cause.


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Sing to Jehovah, praise Jehovah! He has delivered the needy one from the hand <i>domination</i> of evildoers.


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Cursed is the man who brought the news to my father, saying: »A baby boy has been born to you!« He made him very happy.


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But let that man be like the cities Jehovah overthrew without relenting. Let him hear an outcry in the morning and a shout of alarm at noon.


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He did not kill me before birth, so that my mother would have been my grave, and her womb ever pregnant.


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Why did I ever come forth from the womb to look on trouble and sorrow? My days have been spent in shame!


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This is the word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah. King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malchijah, and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah. The king said to Jeremiah:


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»Please inquire of Jehovah on our behalf. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is warring against us. Perhaps Jehovah will deal with us with all his wonderful acts, so that the enemy will withdraw from us.«


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Jehovah the God of Israel says: »Behold, I am about to turn back the weapons of war you control. The weapons you use to make war against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who besiege you outside the wall. I will gather them into the center of this city.


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»I will war against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm <i>with my great power</i> . I will extend my anger, wrath and great indignation.


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»I will also strike down the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast. They will die of a great pestilence.« 


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»»Afterwards,« declares Jehovah: »I will hand over Judah's King Zedekiah, his officials, the people, and everyone else in this city who survives the plague, war, and famine. They will be handed over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and to their enemies who want to kill them. Nebuchadnezzar will kill them with swords. He will not spare them, show them compassion, or care for them.« 


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»Also say to this people, Jehovah says: »Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.


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»He who dwells in this city will die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence. He who goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live. He will have his own life as booty.« 


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»»For I have set my face against this city for harm and not for good, declares Jehovah. It will be surrendered to the king of Babylon and he will burn it with fire.«


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»O house of David, Jehovah says: »Administer justice every morning. Deliver the person who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. That way I may not have to offer my wrath like fire and burn with none to extinguish it, because of the evil of your deeds.« 


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»I am against you, O valley dweller, O rocky plain, declares Jehovah. You men say: »Who will come down against us? Or who will enter into our habitations?


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»But I will punish you according to the results of your deeds, declares Jehovah. I will kindle a fire in its forest that will devour all its environs.«


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»Listen to the word of Jehovah, you officials, you people who come into these gates, and you, king of Judah, the one sitting on David's throne.


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This is what Jehovah says: »Judge fairly, and do what is right. Rescue those who have been robbed from those who oppress them. Do not mistreat foreigners, orphans, or widows, and do not oppress them. Do not kill innocent people in this place.


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»If you do what I say, then the kings who sit on David's throne will ride through the gates of this palace in chariots and on horses along with their officials and their people.« 


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»But if you do not do what I say, I will take an oath on myself, declares Jehovah, this palace will become a pile of rubble.


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»Jehovah says concerning the house of the king of Judah: You are like Gilead to me, like the summit of Lebanon. Most assuredly I will make you like a wilderness, like cities that are not inhabited.


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»I will set apart destroyers against you, each with his weapons. They will cut down your choicest cedars and throw them on the fire.


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»Many nations will pass by this city. They will say to one another: Why has Jehovah done thus to this great city?


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»They will answer: Because they abandoned the covenant of Jehovah their God and bowed down to other gods and served them.« 


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»Do not weep for the dead or mourn for him. Weep continually for the one who goes away. For he will never return or see his native land.


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»This is what Jehovah says about King Josiah's son Shallum, who succeeded his father as king of Judah and left this place: He will never come back here again.


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»Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness and his upper rooms without justice. Woe to him who uses his neighbor's services without pay and does not give him his wages.


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»Woe to him who says: I will build myself a roomy house with spacious upper rooms, and cut out its windows. I will panel it with cedar and paint it bright red <i>vermilion</i> .


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Do you become a king because you are competing in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him.


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He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy. Then it was well. »Is that not what it means to know me?« Says Jehovah.


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»Your eyes and your heart are intent only upon your own dishonest gain. You are shedding innocent blood and on practicing oppression and extortion.«


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Therefore Jehovah tells us about Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: »They will not cry for him: Alas, my brother! And, Alas, sister! They will not mourn him: Alas for the master! And, »Alas for his splendor!«


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He will be buried with a donkey's burial. He will be dragged off and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.


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»Go up to Lebanon and cry out! Lift up your voice in Bashan. Cry out also from Abarim, for all your lovers have been crushed.


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I spoke to you in your prosperity. But you said: I will not listen! This has been your practice from your youth, that you have not obeyed my voice.


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»The wind will sweep away all your shepherds. Your lovers will go into captivity. Then you will surely be ashamed and humiliated because of all your wickedness.


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»You who dwell in Lebanon nested in the cedars. How you will groan when pangs come upon you, Pain like a woman in childbirth!«


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»As I live, says Jehovah, even though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were a signet ring on my right hand, yet I would pull you off.


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»As I live,« says Jehovah, »I will hand you over to those who want to kill you, those you fear, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Babylonians.


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»I will throw you and your mother into another land. You were not born there, but you will die there.


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»This Jehoiakin is like a rejected and broken pot that no one wants. Is that why he and his descendants will be thrown out and cast into another land they have never heard of?


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»This is what Jehovah says: Write this about Jehoiakin: »He will be childless. He will not prosper in his lifetime. None of his descendants will succeed him as king. They will not sit on David's throne and rule Judah again.« «


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This is what Jehovah the God of Israel says concerning the shepherds who are tending my people: »You have scattered my flock and driven them away. You have not attended to them. I am about to attend to you for the evil of your deeds,« says Jehovah.


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»Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture. Then they will be fruitful and multiply.


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»I will also raise up shepherds over them who will tend them. They will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing, proclaims Jehovah.


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»The days are coming,« declares Jehovah, »when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch. He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land.


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»In His days Judah will be saved. Israel will dwell securely. This is his name by which he will be called, Jehovah Is Our Righteousness.


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»Therefore the days are coming,« declares Jehovah, »when they will no longer say, As Jehovah lives, the one who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt.


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»Instead, Jehovah lives, the one who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the northland and from all the countries where I had driven them. Then they will live on their own soil.«


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My heart is broken within me. All my bones tremble! I have become like a drunken man, even like a man overcome with wine. This is because of Jehovah and because of his holy words.


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The land is full of adulterers! The land mourns because of the curse. The pastures of the wilderness have dried up. Their course also is evil and their might is not right.


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»The prophets and priests are godless. Even in my Temple I have found them doing evil,« declares Jehovah.


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»That is why their own way will become like a slippery path in the dark. They will be chased away, and they will fall down in the dark. I will bring disaster on them. It is time for them to be punished,« proclaims Jehovah.


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»Say this about the prophets of Samaria: I saw something disgusting. The prophets of Samaria prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray.


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»Say this about the prophets of Jerusalem: I see something horrible. The prophets of Jerusalem commit adultery and live a lie. They support those who do evil so that no one turns back from his wickedness. They are all like Sodom to me, and those who live in Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.«


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This is what Jehovah of Hosts says about the prophets: »I will give them wormwood to eat and poison to drink. The prophets of Jerusalem have spread godlessness throughout the land.«


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This is what Jehovah of Hosts says: »Do not listen to what the prophets are saying to you. They fill you with false hope. They speak about visions that they dreamed up. These visions are not from Jehovah.


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»They keep saying to those who despise me, Jehovah says: Everything will go well for you. They tell all who live by their own stubborn ways: Nothing bad will happen to you.«


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Who is in Jehovahs inner circle and sees and hears his word? Who pays attention and listens to his word?


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The anger of Jehovah will not turn back until he has performed and carried out the purposes <i>intent</i> of his heart. In the last days you will clearly understand it.


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»If they had stood in my council they would have announced my words to my people. They would have turned them back from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds.«


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»Can a man hide himself in hiding places so I do not see him?« asks Jehovah. »Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?« Declares Jehovah.


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»I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy falsely in my name. They say: I had a dream! I had a dream!«


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»How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets, who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart?


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»They think the dreams they tell will make my people forget my name, just as their ancestors forgot my name and turned to Baal worship.


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»The prophet who has had a dream should say it is only a dream. The prophet who has heard my message should proclaim that message faithfully.« »What good is chaff compared with wheat?« Says Jehovah.


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»I am also against those prophets,« says Jehovah, »They speak their own words and claim they came from me!«


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»Listen to what I, Jehovah, say! I am against the prophets who tell their dreams that are full of lies. They tell these dreams and lead my people astray with their lies and their boasting. I did not send them or order them to go. They are of no help at all to the people. I Jehovah have spoken!«


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Jehovah said to me: »Jeremiah, when one of my people or a prophet or a priest asks you, what is Jehovahs message? You are to say: You are a burden to Jehovah, and he is going to get rid of you.


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»If any of my people or a prophet or a priest even uses the words: Jehovahs infallable utterance, I will punish them and their families.


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»Each one of you should ask your friends and your relatives: What answer has Jehovah given? What has Jehovah said?


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»So you must no longer use the words: Jehovahs infallable utterance, because if any of you do, I will make my message a real utterance to you. The people have perverted the words of their God, the living God, the Lord Jehovah.


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»»I will certainly pick you up and throw you far away from me, both you and the city that I gave to you and your ancestors.


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Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon carried away captive Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the officials of Judah. He also captured the craftsmen and smiths from Jerusalem and brought them to Babylon. Then Jehovah showed me two baskets of figs set before the Temple of Jehovah!


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One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, and the other basket had very bad figs that could not be eaten because they were rotten.


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Then Jehovah said to me: »What do you see, Jeremiah?« I said: »Figs. The good figs are very good. The bad figs are very bad. They cannot be eaten because they are rotten.«


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»Jehovah the God of Israel says: Like these good figs, so I will regard the captives of Judah as good. I have sent them out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans.


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»I will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them to this land again. I will build them up and not overthrow them. I will plant them and not uproot them.


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»I will give them a heart <i>will desire</i> to know me. I am Jehovah! They will be my people, and I will be their God! They will return to me with their whole heart.


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»Like the bad figs that cannot be eaten because they are rotten,« says Jehovah, »so I will abandon Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land and the ones who dwell in the land of Egypt.


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»»I will make them a horrifying sight to all the kingdoms of the earth. They will be a disgrace and an example. They will become something ridiculed and cursed wherever I scatter them.


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»»I will send wars, famines, and plagues until they disappear from the land that I gave to them and their ancestors.« «


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Jehovah spoke his word to Jeremiah about all the people of Judah when Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, was in his fourth year as king. This was the first year that Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon.


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The prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and to everyone who lived in Jerusalem. He said:


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»Jehovah continued to speak his word to me for twenty-three years. This covered the time from when Josiah, son of Amon, was in his thirteenth year as king of Judah until today. I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.


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»Jehovah has sent all his servants the prophets to you. Yet, you have not listened or paid attention to them.«


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The prophets said: »Turn from your evil ways and the evil you have done, and live in the land that Jehovah permanently gave to you and your ancestors.


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»Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them. Do not make me furious about the idols your hands have shaped. Then I will not harm you.«


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»You have not listened to me, declares Jehovah. You have made me furious about the idols your hands have shaped. You have brought harm upon yourselves.


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so I am going to send for all the families from the north. I will also send for my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon,« says Jehovah. »I will bring the families from the north to attack this land, its people, and all these surrounding nations. I am going to destroy them and turn them into something terrible, something ridiculed, and something permanently ruined.


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»I will take from them the sounds of joy and happiness, the sounds of brides and grooms, the sound of mills, and the light of lamps.


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»This whole land will be ruined and become a wasteland. These nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.« 


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»When the seventy years are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation for their crimes, declares Jehovah. I will turn Babylon into a permanent wasteland.


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»I will bring on that land all the disasters I threatened to do to it, everything that Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations, everything written in this book.


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»Many nations and great kings will make slaves of the people of Babylon. I will pay them back for what they have done.«


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»This is what Jehovah the God of Israel said to me: Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my fury, and make all the nations to whom I am sending you drink from it.


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»When they drink from it, they will stagger and go insane because of the wars that I am going to send them.«


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So I took the cup from Jehovahs hand. I made all the nations to whom Jehovah sent me drink from it.


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Jerusalem and the cities of Judah as well as its kings and officials drank from it. When they drank from it, they became wastelands and ruins, something ridiculed and cursed, until today.


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I also made these people drink from it: Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, officials, all his people,


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and all the foreign people living among them; all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of Philistia, those from the cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, and Ekron, and the people left in Ashdod;


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all the kings of the north, near and far, one after another-all the kingdoms of the earth. Last of all, the king of Sheshach will drink from the cup.


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»Jehovah said: Say to them, This is what Jehovah of Hosts, »the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk, vomit, fall down, and do not get up because of the wars that I am going to send you.« 


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»If they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink from it, say to them: This is what Jehovah of Hosts says: »You must drink from it!


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»I am going to bring disaster on the city that is named after me. Do you think you will go unpunished? You will not go unpunished! I am declaring war on all those who live on earth, declares Jehovah of Hosts.


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»That is why you will prophecy all these things to them and say: Jehovah roars from above. He thunders from his holy dwelling place. He roars against his land. He shouts like those who stomp grapes. He shouts against all those who live on earth.


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»The sound is echoing to the ends of the earth because Jehovah has brought charges against the nations. He will judge all humans. He will kill the wicked, declares Jehovah.


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»This is what Jehovah of Hosts says: Disaster is spreading from nation to nation. A great storm is brewing from the distant corners of the earth.


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»On that day those killed by Jehovah will stretch from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned, taken away, or buried. They will become like manure on the ground.


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»Mourn, you shepherds, and cry. Roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock. The time has come for you to be slaughtered. The time has come for you to be scattered, and you will break like fine pottery.


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»The shepherds are crying and the leaders of the flock are mourning because Jehovah is stripping their pasture.


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»He has left his lair like a lion. Their land has been ruined because of the heat of the oppressor, because of the fury of his anger.«


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Jehovah said to me: »Stand in the court of the Temple and proclaim all I have commanded you to say to the people who come from the towns of Judah to worship there. Do not omit anything.


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»Perhaps the people will listen and give up their evil ways. If they do I will change my mind about the destruction I plan to bring on them for all their wicked deeds.


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»Jehovah told me to say to the people: I Jehovah said that you must obey me by following the teaching that I gave you.


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»»You are to pay attention to the words of my servants, the prophets, whom I kept sending to you. You have never obeyed what they said.


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If you continue to disobey I will do to this Temple what I did to Shiloh, and all the nations of the world will use the name of this city as a curse.« «


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As soon as I had finished saying all that Jehovah commanded me to say, they grabbed me and shouted: »You ought to be killed for this!


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»Why have you said in Jehovahs name that this Temple will become like Shiloh and that this city will be destroyed and no one will live in it?« Then the people crowded around me.


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When the leaders of Judah heard what had happened, they hurried from the royal palace to the Temple and took their places at the New Gate.


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The priests and the prophets said to the leaders and to the people: »This man deserves to be sentenced to death because he has spoken against our city. You heard him with your own ears.«


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Then I Jeremiah said: »Jehovah sent me to proclaim everything that you heard me say against this Temple and against this city.


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»You must change the way you are living and the things you are doing. You must obey Jehovah your God. If you do, he will change his mind about the destruction that he said he would bring on you.


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»But if you put me to death, you and everyone else in Jerusalem will be guilty of murdering an innocent man. This is because everything I spoke came from Jehovah.«


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The judges and the other people told the priests and prophets: »Since Jeremiah only told us what Jehovah our God had said, we do not think he deserves to die.«


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»Years ago when Hezekiah was king of Judah, a prophet named Micah from the town of Moresheth said: Jehovah of Hosts says, »Jerusalem will be plowed under and left in ruins. Thorns will cover the mountain where the Temple now stands.« 


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Then the leaders continued: »No one put Micah to death for saying that. Instead, King Hezekiah prayed to Jehovah with reverence and trembling and asked him to have mercy. Then Jehovah decided not to destroy Jerusalem, even though he had already said he would. People of Judah, if Jeremiah is killed we will bring a terrible disaster on ourselves.


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»There was another man prophesying in the name of Jehovah. His name was Uriah, son of Shemaiah, from Kiriath Jearim. He prophesied against this city and this land as Jeremiah did.


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»When King Jehoiakim and all his personal troops and officials heard what Uriah said the king wanted to put him to death. But Uriah heard about it and fled in fear to Egypt.


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»They brought Uriah from Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim. The king executed Uriah and threw his body into the burial ground for the common people.«


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Ahikam, son of Shaphan, supported Jeremiah. So Jeremiah was not handed over to the people to be put to death.


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This is what Jehovah said to me: »Make leather straps and a wooden yoke, and strap the yoke on your neck.


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»Then send messages to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon, with messengers who have come to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem.


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»Give them an order for their masters: This is what Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Say this to your masters,


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»I used my great strength and my powerful arm to make the earth along with the people and the animals on it. I give it to anyone I please.


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»Now I have handed all these countries over to my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I have even made wild animals serve him.


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»All nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson until Babylon is defeated. Then many nations and great kings will make him their slave.


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»Suppose nations or kingdoms will not serve or surrender to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will punish those nations by wars, famines, and plagues, until I have put an end to them by Nebuchadnezzar's power,« says Jehovah.


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»Do not listen to prophets, mediums, and interpreters of dreams, fortunetellers, or sorcerers who tell you, You will never serve the king of Babylon.


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»They prophesy lies to you. They will cause you to be taken far from your lands. I will scatter you, and you will die.


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»If a nation surrender to the king of Babylon and serve him I will let it stay in its own land. People will farm the land and live on it,« says Jehovah.« «


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I spoke the same message to King Zedekiah of Judah: »Surrender to the king of Babylon, serve him and his people, and you will stay alive.


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»Why should you and your people die in wars, famines, and plagues? Jehovah has threatened the nations that do not serve the king of Babylon.


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»Do not listen to the prophets who tell you, You will never serve the king of Babylon. They prophesy lies to you.


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»I did not send them,« declares Jehovah. »They prophesy lies in my name. So I will scatter you, and you and the prophets will die.«


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I also spoke this message to the priests and all the people. This is what Jehovah said to me: »Do not listen to the prophets who tell you that the utensils of Jehovahs Temple will be brought back from Babylon soon. They prophesy lies to you.«


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»Do not listen to them. Instead, serve the king of Babylon, and live. Why should this city be turned into rubble?


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»If they are prophets and Jehovah is speaking to them, they should beg Jehovah of Hosts not to allow the utensils that are left in Jehovahs Temple, in the royal palace of Judah, and in Jerusalem to be taken away to Babylon.


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»Jehovah of Host reports concerning the pillars, concerning the sea, concerning the stands and concerning the rest of the vessels that are left in this city,


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which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he carried into exile Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem.


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»Thus says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the House of Jehovah and in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem,


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»They will be carried to Babylon and they will be there until the day I visit them,« declares Jehovah. »Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.« «


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That same year, in the fifth month of the fourth year that Zedekiah was king, Hananiah son of Azzur, a prophet from the town of Gibeon, spoke to me in the Temple. In the presence of the priests and of the people he told me


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»Within two years I will bring back to this place all the temple treasures that King Nebuchadnezzar took to Babylon.«


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»I will also bring back the king of Judah, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, along with all of the people of Judah who went into exile in Babylon. I will break the power of the king of Babylon. I Jehovah have spoken!«


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In the presence of the priests and of all the people who were standing in the Temple, I said to Hananiah:


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»Amen! I hope Jehovah will do this! I certainly hope he will make the prophecy come true and will bring back from Babylon all the Temple treasures and all the people who were taken away as prisoners.


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»The prophets who spoke long ago before my time and yours predicted that war, starvation, and disease would come to many nations and powerful kingdoms.


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»A prophet who predicts peace can only be recognized as a prophet whom Jehovah has truly sent when that prophet's predictions come true.«


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He said in the presence of all the people: »Jehovah said that this is how he will break the yoke that King Nebuchadnezzar has put on the neck of all the nations. He will do this within two years.« Then I left.


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»Go and tell Hananiah: Jehovah has said, »You may be able to break a wooden yoke, but he will replace it with an iron yoke.«


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»The Lord Jehovah, the God of Israel, said: He will put an iron yoke on all these nations and that they will serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Jehovah said that he would make even the wild animals serve Nebuchadnezzar.« «


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Then Jeremiah the prophet told the prophet Hananiah: »Listen, Hananiah! Jehovah did not send you. You are making these people believe a lie.


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»Because of this, Jehovah says: I am going to get rid of you. Before this year is over you will die because you have told the people to rebel against Jehovah.«


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The prophet Jeremiah sent a letter from Jerusalem to the rest of the leaders among the captives. He also sent it to the priests, the prophets, and all the people that Nebuchadnezzar took away as captives from Jerusalem to Babylon.


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This was after King Jehoiakin and his mother, the court officials, the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and metal workers left Jerusalem.


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He sent the letter with Shaphan's son Elasah and Hilkiah's son Gemariah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah had sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. The letter said:


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»This is what Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, says to all those who were taken captive from Jerusalem to Babylon:


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Get married and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and let your daughters get married so they can have sons and daughters. Grow in number there and do not decrease.


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Work for the good of the city where I have taken you as captives. Pray to Jehovah for that city. When it prospers, you will also prosper.


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»This is what Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Do not let the prophets or the mediums among you trick you. Do not even listen to your own dreams.


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»This is what Jehovah says: When Babylon's seventy years are over I will come to you. I will keep my promise to you and bring you back to this place.


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I know the plans that I have for you, says Jehovah. They are plans for peace and not disaster. They are plans to give you a future filled with hope.


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I will let you find me, declares Jehovah. I will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have scattered you, declares Jehovah. I will bring you back from the place where you are being held captive.


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»This is what Jehovah says about the king who sits on David's throne. And this is what he says about all the people who live in this city, the people who are your relatives and who were not taken away as captives:


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Jehovah of Hosts says: »I am going to send them wars, famines, and plagues. These people are like rotten figs to me, figs that are so bad that they cannot be eaten.


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»I will chase them with wars, famines, and plagues. I will make them a terror to all the kingdoms on the earth. They will become something cursed, ridiculed, and hissed at, and they will be a disgrace among all the nations where I scatter them.


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They did not listen to me, says Jehovah. I sent them my servants the prophets again and again, but they refused to listen, says Jehovah.


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»Therefore listen to the word of Jehovah, all you captives who were sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.


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»This is what Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, says about Kolaiah's son Ahab and about Maaseiah's son Zedekiah, who prophesy lies to you in my name: I am going to hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will kill them as you watch.


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Because of them, all the captives from Judah who are in Babylon will use this curse: »May Jehovah curse you as he cursed Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned to death.«


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They have done scandalous and disgraceful things in Israel. They committed adultery with their neighbors' wives and spoke lies in my name. I did not command them to do this. »»I know what they have done. I am a witness,« says Jehovah.«


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This is what Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: »You sent letters in your own name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah, son of Maaseiah, and to all the priests. These letters said:


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Jehovah made you priest instead of Jehoiada so that there would be officials for Jehovahs temple. You should put every madman who acts like a prophet in prison and in shackles.


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That is why Jeremiah sent this message to us in Babylon: You will be captives a long time. Build houses, and live in them. Plant gardens, and eat what they produce,--« «»


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»Send this message to all the captives. This is what Jehovah says about Shemaiah from Nehelam: »Shemaiah prophesied to you, but I did not send him. He has made you believe a lie.


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»Jehovah says: I will punish Shemaiah from Nehelam. I will also punish his descendants. No one from his family will be left alive. He will not see the blessings that I am going to send my people, declares Jehovah, because he has encouraged rebellion against Jehovah.« «


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»The days are coming,« says Jehovah, »when I will bring my people Israel and Judah back from captivity. I will bring them back to the land that I gave their ancestors, and they will take possession of it.« 


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»Ask now and see: Can a man give birth to a child? Why, then, do I see every strong man holding his stomach in pain like a woman giving birth to a child? Why has every face turned pale?


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»How terrible that day will be! There will be no other day like it. It will be a time of calamity for the descendants of Jacob, but they will be rescued from it.«


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»On that day,« declares Jehovah of Hosts, »I will break the yokes off your necks and tear off your ropes. Foreigners will no longer make you serve them.


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»Do not be afraid, my servant Jacob,« proclaims Jehovah. »Do not be terrified, Israel. I am going to rescue you from a faraway place. I am going to rescue your descendants from where they are captives. The descendants of Jacob will again have peace and security, and no one will frighten them.«


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»I am with you. I will rescue you,« declares Jehovah. »I will completely destroy all the nations where I scattered you, but I will not completely destroy you. I will correct you with justice. I will not let you go entirely unpunished.«


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»All your lovers have forgotten you, and they do not want you anymore. I have punished you as an enemy would. I have corrected you as a cruel person would. You are very wicked, and you have many sins.


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»Why do you cry about your wound, your injury that cannot be cured? I have done this to you. You are very wicked, and you have many sins.


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»That is why everyone who devours you will be devoured, and all your enemies will be taken away as captives. Those who looted you will be looted. Those who stole from you in war will have things stolen from them.«


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»I will restore your health and heal your wounds,« proclaims Jehovah. »People call you an outcast: Zion, no one cares for you.«


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»This is what Jehovah says: »I am going to bring the captives back to Jacob's tents and show compassion on their homes. Cities will be built on the ruins, and fortified palaces will be built in their rightful place.


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»The people who live there will sing songs of praise. The sound of laughter will be heard from there. I will make them numerous, and their number will not decrease. I will bring them honor, and they will not be considered unimportant.


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»Their children will be like they were long ago. Their community will be established in my presence, and I will punish everyone who oppresses them.


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»Their leader will be someone from their own people. Their ruler will come from among them. I will bring him near, and he will come close to me. Who would dare to come near me?« Declares Jehovah.


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The storm of Jehovah will come with his anger. Like a driving wind, it will swirl down on the heads of the wicked.


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Jehovahs burning rage will not turn back until he has done everything he intends to do. You will understand this clearly in the last days.


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Jehovah proclaims: »At that time I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.«


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Jehovah says: »The people who survived the sword <i>war</i> found favor in the wilderness. Israel went to find its rest.«


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Jehovah appeared to him from afar, saying: »I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore I have drawn you with loving-kindness.


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»I will build you and you will be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel! You will take up your tambourines and go to the dances of the merrymakers.


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»There will be a day when watchmen on the hills of Ephraim call out: Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to Jehovah our God.«


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Jehovah says: »Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations.« Proclaim! Give praise and say, O Jehovah, save your people, the remnant of Israel.


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I am bringing them from the North Country. I will gather them from the remote parts of the earth. Among them are the blind and the lame, the woman with child and she who is in labor with child. As a great company they will return here.


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With weeping they will come. By supplication I will lead them. I will make them walk by streams of waters on a straight path in which they will not stumble. For I am a father to Israel and Ephraim is my firstborn.


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Hear the word of Jehovah, O nations. Declare in the coastlands afar off. Say: »He who scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.


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»Jehovah will free the descendants of Jacob and reclaim them from those who are stronger than they are.


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»They will come and shout for joy on top of Mount Zion. They will stream to it to enjoy Jehovahs blessings: fresh grain, new wine, olive oil, lambs and calves. Their lives will be like well-watered gardens, and they will never suffer again.«


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»Then young women will rejoice and dance along with young men and old men. I will turn their mourning into joy. I will comfort them. I will replace their sorrow with joy.


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»I will satisfy the priests with rich food. My people will be filled with my blessings,« proclaims Jehovah.


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»This is what Jehovah says: A sound is heard in Ramah, the sound of crying in bitter grief. Rachel is crying for her children. She refuses to be comforted, because they are dead.«


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This is what Jehovah says: »Stop your crying, and wipe away your tears. You will be rewarded for your work, declares Jehovah. You will return from the land of the enemy.


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»Your future is filled with hope, says Jehovah. Your children will return to their own territory.


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»I hear the people of Israel say in grief, Jehovah, we were like an untamed animal, but you taught us to obey. Bring us back for we are ready to return to you, Jehovah our God.


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»We turned away from you. But soon we wanted to return. After you had punished us we hung our heads in grief. We were ashamed and disgraced because we sinned when we were young.«


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»Ephraim, O Ephraim my dear delightful son! Indeed, as often as I have spoken against him, I certainly still remember him. My heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy on him,« declares Jehovah.


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»Set up road marks. Place guideposts! Direct your mind to the highway, the way by which you went. Return, O virgin of Israel. Return to these your cities.


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»How long will you go here and there, O faithless daughter? For Jehovah has created a new thing in the earth. A woman will protect a man.«


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Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel says: »Once again they will speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities when I restore their prosperity. They will say: Jehovah bless you, O abode of righteousness, O holy mountain!


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Jehovah says: »The time is coming when I will plant the nations of Israel and Judah with people and animals.«


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»I watched over them to uproot them and tear them down, to ruin and hurt them. Now I will watch over them to build them up. I will plant them,« says Jehovah.


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»When that time comes people will no longer say: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and their childrens teeth are set on edge.


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»Each person will die for his own sin. Whoever eats sour grapes will have his own teeth set on edge.«


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»The time is coming,« proclaims Jehovah, »when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.


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»It will not be like the promise that I made to their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of Egypt. They rejected that promise, although I was a husband to them,« says Jehovah.


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»This is the covenant <i>agreement</i> that I will make with Israel after those days,« declares Jehovah. »I will put my teachings <i>Law</i> inside them. I will write those teachings <i>Law</i> on their hearts <i>innerman mind will conscience understanding</i> . I will be their God, and they will be my people.«


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»No longer will each person teach his neighbors or his relatives by saying: Know Jehovah. »All of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,« declares Jehovah. »I will forgive their wickedness and I will no longer hold <i>remember</i> their sins against them.«


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Jehovah provides the sun to be a light during the day. He orders the moon and stars to be lights during the night. He stirs up the sea so that its waves roar. His name is Jehovah of Hosts. This is what Jehovah says:


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»Only if this covenant is removed,« declares Jehovah, »will Israel's descendants stop being a nation in my presence.«


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This is what Jehovah says: »If the heavens could be measured or the foundations of the earth could be searched, I would reject all of Israel's descendants because of everything that they have done, declares Jehovah.«


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»The time is coming,« declares Jehovah, »when the city will be rebuilt for me from the Tower of Hananel to Corner Gate.


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»A measuring line will stretch from there straight to the Hill of Gareb, and then it will turn to Goah.


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»The whole valley is filled with its dead bodies and ashes. The entire area to the Kidron Valley, as far as the corner of Horse Gate in the east, will be holy to Jehovah. It will never be uprooted or torn down again.«


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Jehovah spoke his word to Jeremiah during Zedekiah's tenth year as king of Judah. This was Nebuchadnezzar's eighteenth year as king.


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At that time the army of the king of Babylon was blockading Jerusalem. The prophet Jeremiah was locked up in the courtyard of the prison. This prison was in the palace of the king of Judah.


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When King Zedekiah of Judah locked up Jeremiah, Zedekiah asked him: »Why are you prophesying? You are saying, this is what Jehovah says: »I am going to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.


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»King Zedekiah of Judah will not escape from the Babylonians. He will certainly be handed over to the king of Babylon. He will talk to Nebuchadnezzar in person and look him in the eye.


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»Nebuchadnezzar will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and Zedekiah will stay there until I deal with him,« declares Jehovah. »When you fight the Babylonians, you will not win.« «


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Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle is coming to you. He says: »Buy for yourself my field at Anathoth, for you have the right of redemption to buy it.«


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»Then Hanamel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of Jehovah and said to me: Buy my field, please, that is at Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin. You have the right of possession and the redemption is yours;. Buy it for yourself. »Then I knew that this was the word of Jehovah.


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»I bought the field at Anathoth from Hanamel my uncle's son. I weighed out the silver for him, seventeen shekels of silver.


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»I took the deeds of purchase, both the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions and the open copy.


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»I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanamel my uncle's son and in the sight of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, before all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard.


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Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel says: »Take these deeds, this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, that they may be preserved a long time.«


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Jehovah of Host, the God of Israel says: »Houses and fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.«


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Ah Lord Jehovah! You have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for you.


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»You show loving kindness to thousands, but repay the iniquity of fathers into the bosom of their children after them. O great and mighty God. Jehovah of Hosts is his name.


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»You are great in counsel and mighty in deed. Your eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men. You give to everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds.


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»You set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. Even to this day both in Israel and among mankind you have made a name for yourself.


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»You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt using signs and wonders. You did this with a strong hand, with an outstretched arm and with great terror.


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»You gave them this land. You swore to their forefathers to give them a land flowing with milk and honey.


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»They came in and took possession of it. But they did not obey your voice or walk in your Law. They have done nothing of all that you commanded them to do. Therefore you made this calamity come upon them.


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»The siege ramps have reached the city to take it. The city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword, the famine and the pestilence. You brought all this disaster on them.


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»Yet you, Lord Jehovah, told me to buy a field with money and get witnesses to confirm it, although the city was handed over to the Babylonians.«


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»This is what Jehovah says: I am going to hand this city over to the Babylonians and King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. They will capture it.


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The Babylonians who are attacking this city will break in, set this city on fire, and burn it down. They will burn down the houses of people who made me furious by going up to the roofs to burn incense to Baal and to pour out wine offerings to other gods.


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»Ever since they were young, the people of Israel and Judah have done what I consider evil. The people of Israel have made me furious by what they have done, says Jehovah.


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The people in this city have made me so angry and furious from the day they built it to this day. So now I must remove this city from my presence.


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The people of Israel and Judah have made me furious because they are evil. The people, their kings and officials, their priests and prophets, and the Judeans and those who live in Jerusalem


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have turned their backs, not their faces to me. I taught them again and again, but they refused to listen and learn.


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In the valley of Ben Hinnom they built worship sites for Baal to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech. I did not ask them to do this. It never entered my heart <i>mind</i> . I did not make Judah sin.


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»You have said this about the city: Because of wars, famines, and plagues it will be handed over to the king of Babylon. Jehovah the God of Israel says:


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I am going to gather the people from all the lands where I scattered them in my anger, fury, and terrifying wrath. I will bring them back to this place and make them live here securely.


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»I will give them the same attitude and the same purpose so that they will respect and reverence me as long as they live. This will be for their good and for the good of their children.


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»I will make an eternal promise to them that I will never stop blessing them. I will make them respect me so that they will never turn away from me.


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»I will enjoy blessing them. With all my heart and all my being I will faithfully plant them in this land.«


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»This is what Jehovah says: As I brought all these disasters on these people, so I will bring on them all these blessings that I have promised them.


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»Fields will be bought in this land of which you say: It is desolation, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.« 


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»Men will buy fields for money, sign and seal deeds, and call in witnesses in the land of Benjamin, in the environs of Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland and in the cities of the Negev. I will restore their prosperity,« declares Jehovah.


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The word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still confined in the court of the guard:


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»Jehovah is the maker of the earth. Jehovah is the one who formed and established it. Jehovah is His name.


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Call to me and I will answer you. I will tell you grand and impressive things, things you do not know.«


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»The houses in this city and the palaces of the kings of Judah have been torn down. They are used against the dirt ramps and weapons of the Babylonians. This is what Jehovah the God of Israel says about this:


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»The people of Israel fought the Babylonians. Now their houses are filled with the bodies of their own people I killed in my anger and my fury. I will hide my face from this city because of its wickedness.


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»However I will heal this city and restore it to health. I will heal its people, and I will give them peace and security.


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»I will cleanse them from all the sins that they have committed against me. I will forgive them for all the sins that they have committed against me and for rebelling against me.


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»Jerusalem will be my source of joy, praise, and honor. All the nations on earth will hear about all the blessings that I will give to Jerusalem. They will be afraid and tremble because of all the prosperity that I will provide for it.«


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»This is what Jehovah says: You have said that this place is ruined and that no people or animals live in it. It is true! The cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem are deserted. No people or animals live there. But once again you will hear,


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»Yes, you will hear the sounds of joy and happiness and the sounds of brides and grooms. You will hear those who bring thank offerings to Jehovahs Temple.«  »They will say: Give thanks to Jehovah of Hosts because Jehovah is good, because his mercy endures forever. I will restore the prosperity of the land to what they were before,«  says Jehovah.


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»Jehovah of Hosts said: In this land that is like a desert and where no people or animals live, there will once again be pastures where shepherds can take their sheep.


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»In mountain towns, in the foothills, and in southern Judah, in the territory of Benjamin, in the villages around Jerusalem, and in the towns of Judah, shepherds will once again count their sheep. I Jehovah have spoken.«


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»Jehovah said: The time is coming when I will fulfill the promise that I made to the people of Israel and Judah.


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»At that time I will choose as king a righteous descendant of David. That king will do what is right and just throughout the land.


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»The people of Judah and of Jerusalem will be rescued and will live in safety. The city will be called Jehovah is Our Righteousness.«


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and that there will always be priests from the tribe of Levi to serve me and to offer burnt offerings, grain offerings, and sacrifices.«


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»If you break my covenant of the day and my covenant of the night, so that day and night will not be at their appointed time,


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then my covenant may also be broken with David my servant so that he will not have a son to reign on his throne, with the Levitical priests as my ministers.


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»I will increase the descendants of my servant David and the Levites who serve me in the same way as the stars of heaven that cannot be counted and the sand on the seashore that cannot be measured.«


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»Have you not observed what this people have said. They say, The two families Jehovah chose, he has rejected? Thus they despise my people, no longer are they as a nation in their sight.


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»Jehovah says: If My covenant for day and night do not stand and I have not established the fixed patterns of heaven and earth,


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then I would reject the descendants of Jacob and David my servant. And I would not take from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But I will restore their prosperity and will show them love and compassion.«


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Jehovah spoke his word to Jeremiah when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, his entire army, and all the kingdoms and people that he ruled were attacking Jerusalem and all its cities. This is what he said:


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»This is what Jehovah the God of Israel says: Go to King Zedekiah of Judah, and tell him, Jehovah says: »I am going to hand this city over to the king of Babylon. He will burn it down.


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»You will not escape from him. You will certainly be captured and handed over to him. You will see the king of Babylon with your own eyes, and he will talk to you face to face. Then you will go to Babylon.


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»Listen to the word of Jehovah, King Zedekiah of Judah. This is what Jehovah says about you: You will not die in war.


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You will die peacefully. People will burn funeral fires for you as they did for your ancestors, the kings who lived before you. They will say: »Oh, master, as they mourn for you. I have spoken my word, declares Jehovah.« « «


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He did this when the army of the king of Babylon was attacking Jerusalem and the cities of Lachish and Azekah. These were the only fortified cities of Judah that were left.


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Jehovah spoke his word to Jeremiah after King Zedekiah and all the people in Jerusalem promised to free their slaves.


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Everyone was supposed to free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female. No one was supposed to keep another Jew as a slave.


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All the officials and all the people agreed and promised to free their male and female slaves and not to keep them as slaves anymore. So they set them free.


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Later they changed their minds and took back the men and women they had freed and made them their slaves again.


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»This is what Jehovah the God of Israel says: I put a condition on the covenant I made to your ancestors when I brought them from Egypt, where they were slaves. I said:


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»Every seven years each of you must free any Hebrews who sold themselves to you. When they have served you for six years, you must set them free. But your ancestors refused to obey me or listen to me.


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»You changed and did what I consider right. You agreed to free your neighbors, and you made a covenant in my presence, in the Temple that is called by my name.


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»Now you have changed again and dishonored me. You brought back the male and females slaves that you had set free to live their own lives. You have forced them to be your male and female slaves again.


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»This is what Jehovah says: You did not obey me. You have not freed your relatives and neighbors. Now I am going to free you, declares Jehovah. I will free you to die in wars, plagues, and famines. I will make all the kingdoms of the world horrified at the thought of you.


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I will hand over the people who have rejected my covenant. They have not kept the terms of the covenant they made in my presence when they cut a calf in two and passed between its pieces.


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I will hand over the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the palace officials, the priests, and all the common people who passed between the pieces of the calf.


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I will hand them over to their enemies who want to kill them. Their corpses will be food for birds and wild animals.


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I will hand King Zedekiah of Judah and his officials over to their enemies who want to kill them and to the army of the king of Babylon, the army that has withdrawn from you.


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»I am going to give a command, declares Jehovah. I will bring that army back to this city to attack it, capture it, and burn it down. I will destroy the cities of Judah so that no one will live there.«


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This is the word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah:


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»Go into the house of the Rechabites and talk to them. Take them into the House of Jehovah, into one of the rooms, and give them wine.«


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I took Jaazaniah, the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons and all the Rechabites.


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I took them into the House of Jehovah, into the room of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, the man of God. This was near the rulers' room, over the room of Maaseiah, the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door.


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I set out some large bowls full of wine together with some cups. Then I said to the Rechabites: »Have some wine!«


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But they answered: »No! The ancestor of our clan, Jonadab son of Rechab, made a rule that we must obey. He said: Do not ever drink wine


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or build houses or plant crops and vineyards. Instead, you must always live in tents and move from place to place. If you obey this command, you will live a long time.


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»We have obeyed all the instructions that Jonadab gave us. We never drink wine, and neither do our wives, our sons, or our daughters.


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»We do not build houses for homes for we live in tents. We own no vineyards, fields, or grain. We have fully obeyed everything that our ancestor Jonadab commanded us.


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»But when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded this land, we said: Let's go to Jerusalem to escape the Babylonian and Aramean armies. That is why we are living in Jerusalem.«


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»This is what Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Tell the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem, Will you ever learn your lesson and obey my words?« Declares Jehovah.


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»Jonadab, Rechab's son, ordered his descendants not to drink wine. This order has been carried out. His descendants have not drunk any wine to this day, because they have obeyed their ancestor's order. I have spoken to you again and again, but you have refused to listen to me.


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»I have sent all my servants the prophets to you again and again. They said: Turn from your evil ways, do what is right, and do not follow other gods in order to serve them. Then you will live in the land that I gave you and your ancestors. However, you refused to listen to me or obey me.


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»The descendants of Jonadab, Rechab's son, have carried out the orders of their ancestor, but you refuse to listen to me.« «


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»This is what Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring on Judah and on all those who live in Jerusalem all the disasters that I threatened. I have spoken to them, but they did not listen. I called to them, but they did not answer.«


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Then Jeremiah said to the family of Rechab: »This is what Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: You obeyed the order of your ancestor Jonadab, followed all his instructions, and did exactly what he told you to do.


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So this is what Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: »A descendant of Jonadab, Rechab's son, will always serve me.« «


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In the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim, son of King Josiah of Judah, Jehovah spoke his word to Jeremiah:


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»Take a scroll, and write on it everything that I have dictated to you about Israel, Judah, and all the other nations from the time I spoke to you during the reign of Josiah until today.


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»Maybe the nation of Judah will hear about all the disasters that I devise to bring on them, and they will turn from their wicked ways. Then I will forgive their wickedness and their sins.«


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Then Jeremiah called Baruch, son of Neriah. Jeremiah dictated everything that Jehovah told him. Baruch wrote it all down on a scroll.


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»On a day of fasting, you must read from the scroll Jehovahs message that you wrote as I dictated. You must read it to the people in Jehovahs Temple. You must also read it to all the people of Judah when they come from their cities.


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»Maybe their prayers will come into Jehovahs presence, and they will turn from their evil ways. Jehovah has threatened these people with his terrifying anger and fury.«


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Baruch, son of Neriah, did as the prophet Jeremiah commanded him. In Jehovahs Temple he read from the scroll everything that Jehovah had said.


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In the ninth month of the fifth year of the reign of Jehoiakim, son of King Josiah of Judah, a time for fasting was called. It was a time for all the people in Jerusalem and for everyone who was coming from any city in Judah to Jerusalem to fast in Jehovahs presence.


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Then Baruch read the scroll containing the words of Jeremiah. Baruch read it to all the people in Jehovahs temple in the room of the scribe Gemariah, son of Shaphan, in the upper courtyard at the entrance of New Gate of Jehovahs Temple.


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Micaiah, who was the son of Gemariah and the grandson of Shaphan, heard Baruch read from the scroll everything Jehovah had said.


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Then he went down to the scribe's room in the king's palace where all the scribes were sitting. The scribe Elishama, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials were there.


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Then all the officials sent Jehudi, who was the son of Nethaniah, the grandson of Shelemiah, and the great-grandson of Cushi, to Baruch. Jehudi said to Baruch: »Bring the scroll that you read publicly, and come with me.« Baruch, son of Neriah, took the scroll and went with him to see the officers.


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When they heard everything, they turned to each other in terror. They said to Baruch: »We must tell the king everything.«


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After they put the scroll in the side room of the scribe Elishama, they went to the king in the courtyard and told him everything.


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Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. He took the scroll from the side room of the scribe Elishama. Jehudi read it to the king and all the officials standing by the king.


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It was the ninth month, and the king was in his winter house sitting in front of the fire in the fireplace.


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As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a scribe's knife and throw them into the fire in the fireplace. He did this until the whole scroll was burned up.


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The king and all his attendants did not show any fear or tear their clothes in fear when they heard everything being read.


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Even when Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he refused to listen to them.


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The king commanded Jerahmeel the king's son, Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest the scribe Baruch and the prophet Jeremiah. But Jehovah had hidden Baruch and Jeremiah.


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After the king burned up the scroll that Baruch had written and that Jeremiah had dictated, Jehovah spoke his word to Jeremiah:


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»Take another scroll, and write on it everything that was written on the scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah burned.


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»Say about King Jehoiakim of Judah: This is what Jehovah says: You burned this scroll, and you asked Jeremiah: »Why did you write that the king of Babylon would certainly come to destroy this land and take away people and animals?« «


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»This is what Jehovah says about King Jehoiakim of Judah: He will have no one to sit on David's throne, and his own corpse will be thrown out and exposed to the heat of day and the cold of night.


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»»I will punish him, his descendants, and his attendants for their wickedness. They refused to listen. So I will bring on them, on those who live in Jerusalem, and on the people of Judah all the disasters that I have threatened.« «


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Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch, son of Neriah. As Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it everything that was on the scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah had burned. They added many similar messages.


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King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon appointed Zedekiah, son of Josiah, to be king of Judah. Zedekiah succeeded Jehoiakin, son of Jehoiakim.


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Zedekiah, his administrators, and the common people did not listen to what Jehovah spoke through the prophet Jeremiah.


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King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to the prophet Jeremiah. They asked him: »Please pray to Jehovah our God for us.«


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Jeremiah was still free to come and go among the people. The people of Jerusalem had not put him in prison yet.


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Pharaoh's army came from Egypt. When the Babylonians who were blockading Jerusalem heard this news, they retreated from Jerusalem.


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»This is what Jehovah the God of Israel says: Say this to the king of Judah, who sent you to get advice from me: »Pharaoh's army has come out to help you. But it will go back to Egypt, its own land.


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»Jehovah says: Do not deceive yourselves by thinking that the Babylonians will leave you. They will not leave you.


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»Even if you would defeat the entire Babylonian army so that they had only a few badly wounded men left in their tents, they would get up and burn down this city!« «


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Jeremiah wanted to leave Jerusalem and go to the territory of Benjamin to take possession of his property there among the people.


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When he came to Benjamin Gate, the captain of the guard there, whose name was Irijah, son of Shelemiah and grandson of Hananiah, arrested the prophet Jeremiah. He said: »You are deserting to the Babylonians!«


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Jeremiah answered: »That is not true! I am not deserting to the Babylonians.« But Irijah would not listen to him. Irijah arrested Jeremiah and took him to the officials.


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The officials were so angry with Jeremiah that they beat him and put him in prison in the scribe Jonathan's house, which had been turned into a prison.


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Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah, and the king asked him privately in the palace: »Is there any message from Jehovah? Jeremiah answered: Yes! There is a message from Jehovah. You will be handed over to the king of Babylon.«


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Then Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah: »What crime have I committed against you, your administrators, or these people? Why have you put me in prison?


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»Your Majesty, please listen, and accept my plea for mercy. Do not return me to the scribe Jonathan's house, or I will die there.«


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King Zedekiah gave the command to have Jeremiah put in the courtyard of the prison. He gave him a loaf of bread every day from the bakers' street until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the prison.


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Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchiah heard what I was telling the people.


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»Jehovah says: Whoever stays on in the city will die in war or of starvation or disease. But those who go out and surrender to the Babylonians will not be killed. They will at least escape with their life.


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»I also told them that Jehovah said: I am going to give the city to the Babylonian army, and they will capture it.«


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The officials went to the king and said: »This man must be put to death. By talking like this he is making the soldiers in the city lose their courage. He is doing the same thing to everyone else left in the city. He is not trying to help the people. He only wants to hurt them.«


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So they took me and let me down by ropes into Prince Malchiah's well, which was in the palace courtyard. There was no water in the well, only mud, and I sank down in it.


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Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, a eunuch <i>officer</i> who worked in the royal palace, heard that they had put me in the well. At that time the king was holding court at the Benjamin Gate.


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»Your Majesty, what these men have done is wrong. They have put Jeremiah in the well, where he is sure to die of starvation, since there is no more food in the city.«


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Then the king ordered Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, »Take with you three men and to pull him out of the well before he dies.«


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So Ebedmelech went with the men to the palace storeroom and got some worn-out clothing which he let down to me by ropes.


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On another occasion King Zedekiah had me brought to him at the third entrance to the temple. He said: »I am going to ask you a question, and I want you to tell me the whole truth.«


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I answered: »If I tell you the truth, you will put me to death, and if I give you advice, you will not pay any attention.«


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So King Zedekiah promised me in secret: »I swear by the living God, the God who gave us life, that I will not put you to death or hand you over to the men who want to kill you.«


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Then I told Zedekiah that Jehovah, the God of Israel said: »If you surrender to the king of Babylons officers, your life will be spared, and this city will not be burned down. Both you and your family will be spared.


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»But if you do not surrender, then this city will be handed over to the Babylonians. They will burn it down, and you will not escape from them.«


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The king answered: »I am afraid of our own people who have deserted to the Babylonians. I may be handed over to them and tortured.«


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I said: »You will not be handed over to them. I beg you to obey Jehovahs message. Then all will go well with you, and your life will be spared.


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»In it I saw all the women left in Judah's royal palace being led out to the king of Babylonia's officers. Listen to what they were saying as they went. The king's best friends misled him, they overruled him. And now that his feet have sunk in the mud, his friends have left him.«


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Then I added: »All your women and children will be taken out to the Babylonians. You will not escape from them. You will be taken prisoner by the king of Babylonia. And this city will be burned to the ground.«


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Zedekiah replied: »Do not let anyone know about this conversation, and your life will not be in danger.


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»If the officials hear that I have talked with you, they will come and ask you what we said. They will promise not to put you to death if you tell them everything.


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Then all the officials came and questioned me. I told them exactly what the king had told me to say. There was nothing else they could do, because no one had overheard the conversation.


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In the tenth month of the ninth year that Zedekiah was king of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia came with his whole army and attacked Jerusalem.


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On the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah's eleventh year as king, the city walls were broken through.


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When Jerusalem was captured, all the high officials of the king of Babylon came and took their places at the Middle Gate, including Nergal Sharezer, Samgar Nebo, Sarsechim, and another Nergal Sharezer.


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When King Zedekiah and all his soldiers saw what was happening, they tried to escape from the city during the night. They left by way of the royal garden, went through the gateway connecting the two walls, and escaped in the direction of the Jordan Valley.


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But the Babylonian army pursued them and captured Zedekiah in the plains near Jericho. Then they took him to King Nebuchadnezzar, who was in the city of Riblah in the territory of Hamath, and there Nebuchadnezzar passed sentence on him.


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At Riblah he put Zedekiah's sons to death while Zedekiah was looking on, and he also had the officials of Judah executed.


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The Babylonians burned down the royal palace and the houses of the people and tore down the walls of Jerusalem.


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Finally Nebuzaradan, the commanding officer, took away as prisoners to Babylon the people who were left in the city, together with those who had deserted to him.


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He left in the land of Judah some of the poorest people, who owned no property, and he gave them vineyards and fields.


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So Nebuzaradan, together with the high officials Nebushazban and Nergal Sharezer and all the other officers of the king of Babylon,


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had me brought from the palace courtyard. They put me under the care of Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, who was to see that I got home safely. Thus I stayed there among the people.


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»Tell Ebedmelech the Ethiopian that Jehovah, the God of Israel, said: Just as I said I would, I am going to bring upon this city destruction and not prosperity. When this happens, you will be there to see it.


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»I will keep you safe, and you will not be put to death. You will escape with your life because you have put your trust in me. I Jehovah have spoken!«


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Jehovah spoke his word to Jeremiah after Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, let him go at Ramah. Nebuzaradan found Jeremiah in chains along with the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were being taken to Babylon.


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The captain of the guard took Jeremiah aside and said to him: »Jehovah your God threatened to bring this disaster on this place.


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»He has carried out his threat. Jehovah did as he promised because you Israelites have sinned against him and refused to obey him. That is why this has happened to you.


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»Today, I am removing the chains from your hands. If you would like to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you. But if you do not want to come with me to Babylon, do not come. The whole land is yours. Go wherever you want.«


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If you wish to remain, then go back to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon appointed to govern the cities of Judah. Live among the people with him, or go anywhere you want. The captain of the guard gave Jeremiah some food and a present and let him go.


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Jeremiah went to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, at Mizpah and lived with him among the people who were left in the land.


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All the army commanders and their men who were in the field heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, to govern the country and some of the country's poorest men, women, and children who had not been taken away to Babylon.


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These are the commanders who went with their men to Gedaliah at Mizpah: Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai from Netophah, and Jezaniah, who was the son of a man from Maacah.


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Gedaliah, son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, swore an oath to them and their men. He said: »Do not be afraid to serve the Babylonians. Live in this country, serve the king of Babylon, and you will prosper.


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»I am going to live in Mizpah and represent you when the Babylonians come to us. Gather grapes, summer fruit, and olive oil, and put them in storage jars. Live in the cities you have taken over.«


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All the Jews who were in Moab, Ammon, Edom, and in all the other countries heard that the king of Babylon had left a few survivors in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah, son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, to govern them.


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So all the Jews returned from all the places where they had been scattered. They came to Judah and to Gedaliah at Mizpah. They gathered a large harvest of grapes and summer fruit.


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Kareah's son Johanan and all the army commanders who were still in the country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah.


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They asked him: »Do you know that King Baalis of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael, Nethaniah's son, to kill you?« However, Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, did not believe them.


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Then Johanan, Kareah's son, secretly asked Gedaliah at Mizpah: »Let me kill Ishmael, Nethaniah's son. No one will know about it. Why should he kill you? All the Jews who have gathered around you would scatter. What is left of Judah would disappear.«


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Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, told Johanan, Kareah's son: »Do not do that! What you are saying about Ishmael is a lie.«


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In the seventh month Ishmael son of Nethaniah and grandson of Elishama, a descendant of the royal family and of the king's officers went with ten men to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. As they ate together at Mizpah,


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Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, and the ten men who were with him got up, drew their swords, and killed Gedaliah, son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan. So they assassinated the man whom the king of Babylon had appointed to govern the land.


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Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah as well as the Babylonian soldiers that he found there.


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Eighty men arrived from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria. Their beards were shaved off, their clothes were torn, and cuts were on their bodies. They brought grain offerings and incense to Jehovahs Temple.


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Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, left Mizpah to meet them. He was crying as he went. When he met them, he said to them: »Come to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam.«


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When they came into the city, Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, and his men slaughtered them and threw them into a cistern.


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Ten men from the group pleaded with Ishmael: »Do not kill us! We have wheat, barley, olive oil, and honey hidden in the country.« So he left them alone and did not kill them along with the others.


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The cistern where Ishmael threw all the bodies of the men he had killed was the same one that King Asa made as a part of his defense against King Baasha of Israel. Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, filled it with the bodies.


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Then Ishmael took captive the rest of the people who were at Mizpah. He captured the king's daughters and all the other people who had been left at Mizpah. They were the people whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had put under the control of Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive and left for Ammon.


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When Kareah's son Johanan and all the army commanders who were with him heard about all the crimes Ishmael son of Nethaniah did,


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they took all their men and went to fight Ishmael. They caught up with him at the large pool in Gibeon.


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When all the people who were with Ishmael saw Kareah's son Johanan and all the army commanders who were with him, they were glad.


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Then Kareah's son Johanan and all the army commanders who were with him brought back the rest of the people of Mizpah whom he had rescued from Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, after Ishmael had killed Gedaliah, son of Ahikam. Johanan brought back men, women, children, soldiers, and commanders from Gibeon.


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They were afraid of the Babylonians because Ishmael had killed Gedaliah whom the king of Babylon had appointed to govern the land.


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All the army leaders, including Johanan son of Kareah and Azariah son of Hoshaiah, came with people of every class.


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They said to me: »Please do what we ask you! Pray to Jehovah our God for us. Pray for all of us who have survived. Once there were many of us. Now there are only a few of us left, as you can see.


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I answered: »Very well, then. I will pray to Jehovah our God, just as you have asked. I will tell you what he says. I will not keep back anything from you.«


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Then they said to me: »May Jehovah be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not obey all the commandments that Jehovah our God gives you for us.


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»Whether it pleases us or not, we will obey Jehovah our God, to whom we are asking you to pray. All will go well with us if we obey him.«


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If you are willing to go on living in this land I will build you up and not tear you down. I will plant you and not uproot you. The destruction I brought on you has caused me great sorrow.


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For the reason that I am merciful, I will make him have mercy on you and let you go back home. I Jehovah have spoken.


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Then you say: »We will go to Egypt, where we will not have to see war, hear the sound of a ram's horn, or be hungry. We will stay there.«


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Listen to the word of Jehovah, you people who are left in Judah. This is what Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: »Suppose you are determined to go to Egypt, and you go and live there.


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»Then the war that you fear will overtake you, and the hunger you dread will follow you, and you will die there in Egypt.


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»All the people who are determined to go and live in Egypt will die either in war or of starvation or disease. Not one of them will survive, not one will escape the disaster that I am going to bring on them.« 


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»Jehovah, the God of Israel, says: Just as my anger and fury were poured out on the people of Jerusalem, so my fury will be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will be a horrifying sight. People will make fun of you and use your name as a curse. You will never see this place again.


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»Then I continued: Jehovah has told you people who are left in Judah not to go to Egypt. And so I warn you now.


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»You are making a fatal mistake. You asked me to pray to Jehovah our God for you, and you promised that you would do everything that he commands.


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»So then, remember this: you will die in war or of starvation or disease in the land where you want to go and live.«


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As soon as Jeremiah, whom Jehovah their God had sent, had finished telling all the people all the words of Jehovah their God, that is, all these words,


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Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the arrogant <i>egotistical</i> men said to Jeremiah: »You are telling a lie! Jehovah our God has not sent you to say: You are not to enter Egypt to reside there.«


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Baruch the son of Neriah is inciting you against us to give us over into the hand of the Chaldeans. They will put us to death or exile us to Babylon.


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So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces, and all the people, did not obey the voice of Jehovah and stay in the land of Judah.


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But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces took the entire remnant of Judah who had returned from all the nations to which they had been driven away, in order to reside in the land of Judah.


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They took men, women, children, and the king's daughters. They took every person whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had left with Gedaliah, son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, including the prophet Jeremiah and Baruch, son of Neriah.


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»Take some large stones, and bury them under the brick pavement at the entrance to the Pharaoh's palace in Tahpanhes. Do this while the people of Judah watch you.


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»Say to them: This is what Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to send for my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will set his throne over these stones that I buried, and I will spread his royal canopy above them.


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»He will defeat Egypt. He will bring death to those who are supposed to die. He will capture those who are supposed to be captured. He will kill in battle those who are supposed to be killed in battle.


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»He will set fire to the temples of Egypt's gods. He will burn down the temples and take their gods captive. Nebuchadnezzar will put on Egypt as his coat as a shepherd puts on his coat. He will leave Egypt peacefully.


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»At Beth Shemesh he will break the monuments in Egypt and burn down the temples of Egypt's gods.« «


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Jehovah spoke to me concerning all the Israelites living in Egypt, in the cities of Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Memphis, and in the southern part of the country«


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»Jehovah, the God of Israel, said: You have seen the destruction I brought on Jerusalem and all the other cities of Judah. Even now they are still in ruins, and no one lives in them.


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»This is because their people had done evil and had made me angry. They offered sacrifices to other gods and served gods that neither they nor you nor your ancestors ever worshiped.


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»I kept sending you my servants the prophets, who told you not to do this terrible thing that I hate.


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»But you would not listen or pay any attention. You would not give up your evil practice of sacrificing to other gods.


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»I poured out my anger and fury on the towns of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem. I set them on fire. They were left in ruins and became a horrifying sight, as they are today.«


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»I Jehovah, the God of Israel, says: Now ask why you are doing such an evil thing to yourselves. Do you want to bring destruction on men and women, children and babies, so that none of your people will be left?


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»Why do you make me angry by worshiping idols and by sacrificing to other gods here in Egypt, where you have come to live? Are you doing this just to destroy yourselves, so that every nation on earth will make fun of you and use your name as a curse?


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»Have you forgotten all the wicked things that have been done in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem by your ancestors, by the kings of Judah and their wives, and by you and your wives?


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»You have not humbled yourselves to this very day. You have not honored me or lived according to all the laws that I gave you and your ancestors.«


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»As for the people of Judah who are left and are determined to go and live in Egypt, I will see to it that all of them are destroyed. All of them, great and small will die in Egypt, either in war or of starvation. They will be a horrifying sight. People will make fun of them and use their name as a curse.


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»I will punish those who live in Egypt, just as I punished Jerusalem with the sword <i>war</i> , starvation, and disease.


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»None of the people of Judah who are left and have come to Egypt to live will escape or survive. Not one of them will return to Judah, where they long to live once again. No one will return except a few refugees.«


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Then all the men who knew that their wives offered sacrifices to other gods, and all the women who were standing there, including the Israelites who lived in southern Egypt, a large crowd in all said to me:


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»We will do everything that we said we would. We will offer sacrifices to our goddess, the Queen of Heaven, and we will pour out wine offerings to her, just as our ancestors, our king and our leaders, and we used to do in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. Then we had plenty of food, we were prosperous, and had no troubles.


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»Ever since we stopped sacrificing to the Queen of Heaven and stopped pouring out wine offerings to her, we have had nothing, and our people have died in war and of starvation.


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»The women added: When we baked cakes shaped like the Queen of Heaven, offered sacrifices to her, and poured out wine offerings to her, our husbands approved of what we were doing.«


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»About the sacrifices you and your ancestors, your kings and your leaders, and the people of the land offered in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: do you think that Jehovah did not know about them or that he forgot them?


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»This very day your land lies in ruins and no one lives in it. It has become a horrifying sight. People use its name as a curse because Jehovah could no longer endure your wicked and evil practices.


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»This present disaster has come on you because you offered sacrifices to other gods and sinned against Jehovah by not obeying all his commandments.«


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»I told all the people, especially the women, what Jehovah, the God of Israel, was saying to the people of Judah living in Egypt.


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»Both you and your wives have made solemn promises to the Queen of Heaven. You promised that you would offer sacrifices to her and pour out wine offerings to her, and you have kept your promises. Very well, then! Keep your promises! Carry out your vows!


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»But now listen to the vow that I, Jehovah, have made in my mighty name to all you in Judah and in Egypt: Never again will I let any of you use my name to make a vow by saying: »I swear by the living God, Jehovah!«


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»I will see to it that you will not prosper, but will be destroyed. All of you will die! You will die in war or of disease, until not one of you is left.


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»But a few of you will escape death and return from Egypt to Judah. Then the survivors will know whose words have come true, mine or theirs.


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»I Jehovah will give you proof that I will punish you in this place and that my promise to bring destruction on you will come true.


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»Jehovah says, I will hand over King Hophra of Egypt to his enemies who want to kill him, just as I handed over King Zedekiah of Judah to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who was his enemy and wanted to kill him.« «


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This is the message that the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Baruch, son of Neriah. Baruch wrote these things on a scroll <i>book</i> as Jeremiah dictated them during the fourth year that Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, was king of Judah. Jeremiah said:


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You said: »I am so miserable! Jehovah has added grief to my pain. I am worn out from groaning. I cannot find any rest.«


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»Say this to Baruch: This is what Jehovah says: »I will tear down what I have built. I will uproot what I have planted throughout the earth.


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»Are you looking for great things for yourself? Do not look for them.« »I am going to bring disaster on all people!« Declares Jehovah, »But wherever you go I will let you escape with your life.«


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This is the message about EGYPT, about the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeated his army at Carchemish along the Euphrates River during the fourth year that Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, was king of Judah.


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»Harness your horses. Mount up, you horsemen. Take your positions, and put on your helmets. Polish your spears. Put on your armor.


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»What do I see in them? They are terrified. They are retreating. Their warriors are defeated. They flee without looking back. Terror is all around them!« declares Jehovah.


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The infantry cannot flee. The warriors cannot escape. They stumble and fall in the north by the Euphrates River.


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Egypt is like the rising Nile River, like a river quickly overflowing its banks. Egypt says: »I will rise. I will cover the earth. I will destroy cities and the people in them.«


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Go into battle, you horsemen. Drive wildly, you chariot drivers. March into battle, you warriors, you warriors from Sudan and Put who carry shields, you warriors from Lydia who use bows and arrows.


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That day belongs to Jehovah of Hosts. It is a day of vengeance when he will take revenge on his enemies. His sword will devour until it has had enough, and it will drink their blood until it is full. The Almighty Jehovah of Hosts will offer them as sacrifices in the north by the Euphrates River.


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Go to Gilead, and get medicine, dear people of Egypt. You have used many medicines without results and cannot be cured.


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The nations have heard of your shame. Your cry fills the earth. One warrior will stumble over another, and both will fall together.


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Jehovah spoke this message to the prophet Jeremiah about the coming of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who will defeat Egypt.


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»Tell this in Egypt. Announce this in Migdol. Make it known in Memphis and in Tahpanhes. Say: Take your positions, and get ready. Swords will kill those around you.


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« They have repeatedly stumbled and now they have fallen. They say to each other: Get up! Let us go back to our people, to the land where we were born and escape our enemy's sword.«


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»As I live, declares the king, whose name is Jehovah of Hosts; someone who is like Mount Tabor among the mountains will come. Someone who is like Mount Carmel by the sea will come.


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»Pack your bags inhabitants of Egypt, because you will be taken away as captives. Memphis will become a dreary wasteland, a pile of rubble where no one lives.


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»Egypt's hired soldiers are like fattened calves. They will turn and run away together. They will not stand their ground. The day of destruction is coming. At that time they will be punished.


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»Egypt will hiss like a snake as it slithers away. Its enemies will come with full force. They will attack it with axes like those who chop wood.


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»They will cut down the forest, declares Jehovah, since Egypt cannot be found. They are more numerous than locusts. They cannot be counted.


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»Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to punish Amon, who is the god of Thebes. I will also punish Pharaoh, Egypt, its gods, its kings, and whoever trusts Pharaoh.


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»I will hand them over to those who want to kill them, to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his officers. Afterward, they will live in peace as they did long ago,declares Jehovah.


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»Do not be afraid, my servant Jacob. Do not be terrified, Israel. I am going to rescue you and your descendants from a faraway land, from the land where you are captives. Then Jacob's descendants will again have undisturbed peace, and no one will make them afraid.


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»Do not be afraid, my servant Jacob,« declares Jehovah. »I am with you. I will completely destroy all the nations where I scattered you, but I will not completely destroy you. I will correct you with justice. I will not let you go entirely unpunished.«


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That which came as the word of Jehovah to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the PHILISTINES, before Pharaoh conquered Gaza.


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Jehovah says: »Behold! Waters are going to rise from the north and become an overflowing torrent. They will overflow <i>flood</i> the land and all its fullness, the city and those who live in it and the men will cry out. Every inhabitant of the land will wail.


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»They will hear the sound of galloping warhorses, the rattling of enemy chariots, and the rumbling of their wheels. Fathers who lack courage abandon their children.


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The time has come to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon any Philistine who might have escaped to get help. Jehovah will destroy the Philistines and anyone who is left from the island of Crete.


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»Gaza will shave its head in mourning. Ashkelon will be destroyed. How long will you cut yourselves, you people left on the plains?


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»You cry out: Sword of Jehovah, how long will you keep on fighting? Go back into your sheath. Stay there and rest!


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»How can the sword of Jehovah rest? Jehovah has ordered it to attack Ashkelon and the coast. He has assigned it to be there.« (Ezekiel 21:3, 30) (Revelation 19:15, 16)


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This is what the Lord Jehovah said about MOAB: »Pity the people of Nebo. Their town is destroyed! Kiriathaim is captured, its mighty fortress torn down, and its people put to shame.


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»The splendor of Moab is gone. The enemy has captured Heshbon and plot to destroy the nation of Moab. The town of Madmen will be silenced. Armies will march against it.


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Hear the sound of their sobs along the road up to Luhith, the cries of distress on the way down to Horonaim.


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Moab, you trusted in your strength and your wealth, but now even you will be conquered. Your god Chemosh will go into exile, along with his princes and priests.


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Not a town will escape the destruction. Both valley and plain will be ruined. I Jehovah have spoken.


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»Set up a tombstone for Moab. It will soon be destroyed. Its towns will be left in ruins, and no one will live there again.


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»Curse those who do not do Jehovahs work with all their heart! Curse those who do not slash and kill!


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Jehovah said: »Moab has always lived secure and has never been taken into exile. Moab is like wine left to settle undisturbed and never poured from jar to jar. Its flavor has never been ruined, and it tastes as good as ever.


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»So now, the time is coming when I will send people to pour Moab out like wine. They will empty its wine jars and break them in pieces.


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»Then the Moabites will be disillusioned with their god Chemosh. The same as the Israelites were disillusioned with Bethel, their trusted god.


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»Moab and its cities are destroyed. Its finest young men have been slaughtered. I am the king, the Lord Jehovah, and I have spoken!


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»Mourn for that nation, you that live nearby, all of you that know its fame. Say: Its powerful rule has been broken. Its glory and might are no more.


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»You that live in Dibon come down from your place of honor and sit on the ground in the dust. Moab's destroyer is here and has left its forts in ruins.


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»You that live in Aroer stand by the road and wait. Ask those who are running away, say, What has happened?


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»Moab has fallen, they will answer; weep for it because it is disgraced. Announce along the Arnon River that Moab is destroyed!


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»Jehovah said: Make Moab drunk, because it has rebelled against me. Moab will roll in its own vomit and people will laugh.


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»Moab, remember how you made fun of the people of Israel? You treated them as though they had been caught with a gang of robbers.


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»You people who live in Moab, leave your towns! Go and live on the cliffs! Be like the dove that makes its nest in the sides of a ravine.«


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»Moab is very proud! I have heard how proud, arrogant, and conceited the people are, how much they think of themselves.«


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»I cry with sadness for Moab, yes for everyone in Moab. I moan for the people from the town of Kir-Hareseth.


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»I weep with the people of the town of Jazer. And what of the grapevines of the town of Sibmah? In the past your vines spread all the way to the sea, as far as the sea of Jazer. But the destroyer has taken over your fruit and grapes.


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« Joy and gladness are taken from the fruitful orchards and fields and from the land of Moab. I have stopped the flow of wine from the wine presses. No one walks on the grapes with shouts of joy. There are shouts, but they are not shouts of joy.


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»Their crying can be heard from Moabite towns. It can be heard from Heshbon to Elealeh and Jahaz, from Zoar as far away as Horonaim and Eglath Shelishiyah <i>three year old heifer</i> . Even the waters of Nimrim are dried up.


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»I will stop Moab from making burnt offerings at the places of worship. I will stop Moab from burning incense to their gods, says Jehovah.


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»My heart cries sadly for Moab like a flute playing a funeral song. It cries like a flute for the people from Kir Hareseth. The money they made has all been taken away.


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»They have all shaved their heads and cut off their beards. They have all made gashes on their hands, and everyone is wearing sackcloth.«


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»People are weeping on every roof in Moab and in every public square. There is only sadness, because I have broken Moab like a jar no one wants, say Jehovah.


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Moab has been shattered! Cry out! Moab has been disgraced. It is in ruins and all the surrounding nations make fun of it. I Jehovah have spoken.


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»This is what Jehovah says: Look! Someone is coming like an eagle diving down from the sky and spreading its wings over Moab.


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»The towns of Moab will be captured. The strong walled cities will be defeated. Then Moabs warriors will be frightened like a woman who is giving birth.«


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»The nation of Moab will be destroyed. This is because they thought they were greater than Jehovah.


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»People will run out of fear, but they will fall into the pits. Those who climb out of the pits will be caught in the traps. »I will bring the year of punishment to Moab,« says Jehovah.


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Helpless people have run to find protection in Heshbon, the city that King Sihon once ruled, but it is in flames. It has burned up leaders of Moab and destroyed those proud people.


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»Pity the people of Moab! The people who worshiped Chemosh have been destroyed. Their sons and daughters have been taken away as prisoners.


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»In the future, however, I will make good things happen to Moab. It will be prosperous again, says Jehovah. As of now the judgement of Moab.«


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This is what Jehovah says about the people of AMMON: »Does Israel not have any children? Does it not have any heirs? Why has the god Milcom taken over the inheritance of Gad's descendants? Why do Milcom's people live in Gad's cities?«


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»That is why the days are coming, declares Jehovah, when I will sound the battle cry against Rabbah, where the people of Ammon live. It will become a pile of rubble. Its villages will be burned down. »Then Israel will take possession of its inheritance, says Jehovah.


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»Cry loudly, Heshbon, because Ai is destroyed. Cry, people of Rabbah, put on your sackcloth, and mourn. Run back and forth between the walls. Milcom will be taken away into captivity with its priests and officials.


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Why do you brag about your valleys, your fertile valleys, you unfaithful people? You trust your treasures. You think: »Who would attack me?«


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»I will bring terror on you from all around,« proclaims Jehovah of Hosts. »Everyone will be scattered. No one will gather the refugees.«


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This is what Jehovah of Hosts says about Edom: »Is there no longer any wisdom in Teman? Has wisdom disappeared from your people? Has their wisdom vanished?


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»Turn and run, take cover in deep places inhabitants of Dedan. When I punish them, I will bring disaster on the descendants of Esau.


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»If people come to pick your grapes, will they not leave a few grapes behind? If thieves come during the night, will they steal only until they have had enough?


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»Yet, I will strip the descendants of Esau. I will find their hiding places. They will not be able to hide. Their children and relatives will be destroyed. None of their neighbors will say:


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This is what Jehovah says: »If those who do not deserve to drink from the cup still drink from it, why should you go unpunished? You will not go unpunished. You must drink from it.«


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»I take an oath on myself,« says Jehovah, »that Bozrah will become a pile of rubble. It will become something horrifying, ridiculed, ruined, and cursed. All its cities will lie in ruins permanently.«


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I heard a message from Jehovah. A messenger was sent among the nations to say: »Assemble and attack Edom. Get ready for battle.«


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»You have frightened other people. Your arrogance has deceived you. You live on rocky cliffs and occupy the highest places in the hills. Even though you build your nest as high as an eagle, I will bring you down from there,« proclaims Jehovah.


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Jehovah said: »The destruction that will come on Edom will be so terrible that everyone who passes by will be shocked and terrified.


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»The same thing will happen to Edom that happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, when they and the nearby towns were destroyed. No one will ever live there again. I Jehovah have spoken.


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»Like a lion coming out of the thick woods along the Jordan River up to the green pastureland, I will come and make the Edomites run away suddenly from their country. Then the leader I choose will rule the nation. Who can be compared to me? Who would dare challenge me? What ruler could oppose me?«


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Hear that which I have determined against the people of Edom, and to what I intend to do to the people of the city of Teman. Even their children will be dragged off, and everyone will be horrified.


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When Edom falls, there will be such a noise that the entire earth will shake. The cries of alarm will be heard as far away as the Gulf of Aqaba.


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The enemy will attack Bozrah like an eagle swooping down with outspread wings. On that day Edom's soldiers will be as frightened as a woman in labor.


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This is what Jehovah said about Damascus: The people in the cities of Hamath and Arpad are worried and troubled because they have heard bad news. Anxiety rolls over them like a sea, and they cannot rest.


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»The people of Damascus are weak and have fled in terror. They are in pain and misery like a woman in labor.


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»Soon, even your best soldiers will lie dead in your streets. I the all-powerful Jehovah have spoken.


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This is what Jehovah says about the Kedar tribe and the desert villages that were conquered by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia: »Listen, you people of Kedar and the other tribes of the eastern desert. I have told Nebuchadnezzar to attack and destroy you.


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»His fearsome army will surround you. They will take your tents and possessions, your sheep and camels.


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»You have no city walls and no neighbors to help. You think you are safe. Therefore I told him to attack.


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»Your camels and large herds will be yours no longer. People of the Arabian Desert, disaster will strike you from every side, and you will be scattered everywhere on earth.


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»Hazor will be a place where only jackals live. It will become a permanent wasteland. No one will live there. No human will stay there.«


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Early in the rule of King Zedekiah of Judah, Jehovah spoke his word to the prophet Jeremiah about Elam.


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»This is what Jehovah of Hosts says: I am going to break the bows of Elam's archers, the most important weapon of their strength.


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»I will bring the four winds from the four corners of heaven against Elam and scatter its people in every direction. There will not be a nation where Elam's refugees will not go.


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»I will defeat the people of Elam in the presence of their enemies, in the presence of those who want to kill them. I will bring disaster with my burning anger, declares Jehovah. I will send armies after them until I put an end to them.


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»Declare and proclaim among the nations. Proclaim it and lift up a standard. Do not conceal it but say: Babylon has been captured. Bel has been put to shame. Marduk has been shattered! Her images have been put to shame and her idols have been shattered.


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»A nation has come up against her out of the north. It will make her land an object of horror. There will be no inhabitant in it. Both man and beast wander off. They have gone away!


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»In those days and at that time,« declares Jehovah, »the sons of Israel will come. Both they and the sons of Judah will go along weeping as they go. They will seek Jehovah their God.


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»They will ask for the way to Zion turning their faces in its direction. They will come to join themselves to Jehovah in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.


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»My people have become lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray. They have made them turn aside on the mountains. They have gone along from mountain to hill and have forgotten their resting place.


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»All who came upon them have devoured them. Their adversaries said: We are not guilty. They have sinned against Jehovah who is the habitation of righteousness, Even Jehovah, the hope of their fathers.


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»Wander away from the midst of Babylon. Go forth from the land of the Chaldeans. Be also like male goats at the head of the flock.


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»I am going to stir up an alliance of strong nations from the north and bring it against Babylon. Those nations will take up positions against Babylon. Babylon will be captured from the north. Its enemy's arrows will be like skilled soldiers who don't come back empty-handed.


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»The Babylonians will become the prize. All who loot them will get everything they want,« declares Jehovah.


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»You are happy and excited. You have looted the people who belong to me. You dance around like calves on the grass and neigh like stallions.


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»But your mother will be greatly ashamed. The woman who gave birth to you will be disgraced. Babylon, you will be the least important nation. You will become a parched desert.


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»No one will live in Babylon because of Jehovahs anger. It will be completely abandoned. Everyone who passes by Babylon will be horrified and hiss at all its wounds.


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»Take up your positions around Babylon, all you archers with bows. Shoot at it and do not save any arrows. For the people of Babylon have sinned against Jehovah.


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»Shout a war cry against them on every side. They will surrender. Their towers will fall and their walls will be torn down. Since this is Jehovahs vengeance, take revenge against them. Do to them what they did to others.


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»Do not allow anyone in Babylon to plant or harvest. Everyone will turn to his own people and flee to his own homeland because of the enemies' swords.


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»The people of Israel are like scattered sheep that lions have chased. The first to devour them was the king of Assyria. The last to gnaw at their bones was King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.


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»This is what Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land as I punished the king of Assyria.


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»I will bring the people of Israel back to their pastures. They will eat on Mount Carmel and Mount Bashan. They will eat until they are full on the mountains of Ephraim and Gilead.


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»In those days and at that time,« says Jehovah, »people will look for Israel's crimes, but they will find none. They will look for Judah's sins, but none will be found. I will forgive the faithful few whom I have spared.


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»Attack the land of Merathaim and the people who live in Pekod. Claim them for me by killing them with a sword, says Jehovah. Do everything I commanded you.


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»The hammer of the whole earth is broken and shattered. See how desolate Babylon is of all the nations!


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»I will set traps for you, Babylon. You will be caught, but you will not know it. You will be found and captured because you have opposed Jehovah.«


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Jehovah will open his armory and bring out the weapons of his fury, because Jehovah of Hosts has a job to do in the land of the Babylonians.


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Attack them from a distance, open their storehouses, pile up their corpses like piles of grain, claim them for me by destroying them, and do not leave anyone behind.


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Kill all their young bulls. Let them go to be slaughtered. How horrible it will be for them when their time has come, the time for them to be punished.


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Fugitives and refugees from Babylon are coming to Zion to tell about the vengeance of Jehovah our God, the vengeance for his temple.


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»Call together the archers, the soldiers with bows, against Babylon. Set up blockades around it. Do not let anyone escape. Pay the people of Babylon back for what they have done. Do to them what they did to others. They have disobeyed Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel.


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»That is why their young men will die in the streets, and all their soldiers will be silenced that day, declares Jehovah.


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»I am against you, you arrogant city, declares the Lord Jehovah of Hosts. »Your day has come, the time when I will punish you.


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»Those prideful people will stumble and fall, and there will be no one to help them get up. I will light a fire in their cities that will burn up everything around them.«


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Jehovah of Hosts says: »All the people of Israel and Judah are oppressed. All their enemies have captured them. They refuse to let them go.


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»Their defender is strong. His name is Jehovah of Hosts. He will certainly take up their cause in order to bring rest to the land of Israel and unrest to the people who live in Babylon.


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»A sword will kill the Babylonians and everyone who lives in Babylon,« declares Jehovah. »A sword will kill their officials and their wise men.


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»A sword will kill the false prophets. They will become fools. A sword will kill their soldiers and defeat them.


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»A sword will kill their horses, their chariots, and all the foreigners within their ranks. They will become women. A sword will destroy their treasures, and they will be looted.


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»A drought will diminish their water supply, and it will dry up. Babylon is a land of idols, statues that will go crazy with fear.


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»That is why desert animals will live with hyenas. Desert owls will also live there. It will no longer be inhabited or lived in for generations.


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»Babylon will be like Sodom and Gomorrah, and their neighboring cities when I, God, destroyed them. No one will live there. No human will stay there, proclaims Jehovah.


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»People are going to come from the north. A great nation and many kings will rise from the ends of the earth.


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»They will take hold of bows and spears. They will be cruel and have no compassion. They will sound like the sea when it roars. They will ride horses. They are ready for war, ready to attack you, people of Babylon.


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»The king of Babylon has heard reports about them, and he loses courage. Anguish will grip him as pain grips a woman in labor.


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»I will suddenly chase them from their places like a lion coming out of the jungle along the Jordan River into pastureland. I will appoint over Babylon whomever I choose. Who is like me? Who can challenge me? Is there any leader who can stand up to me?«


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Listen to what Jehovah is going to do against Babylon and the things he intends to do to the land of the Babylonians. He will surely drag away the little ones of the flock. He will surely destroy the pasture because of the Babylonians.


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The earth will quake at the news, »Babylon has been captured!« Its cry will be heard among the nations.


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»I will send foreigners to destroy Babylon like a wind that blows straw away. When that day of destruction comes, they will attack from every side and leave the land bare.


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»Do not give its soldiers time to shoot their arrows or to put on their armor. Do not spare the young men! Destroy the whole army!


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I, the Lord Jehovah, have not abandoned Israel and Judah, even though they have sinned against me, the Holy One of Israel.


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»Run away from Babylon! Run for your lives! Do not be killed because of Babylon's sin. I am now taking my revenge. I am punishing it as it deserves.


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»Babylon was like a gold cup in my hand, making the whole world drunk. The nations drank its wine and went out of their minds.


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»Babylon has suddenly fallen and is destroyed! Mourn over it! Get medicine for its wounds, and maybe it can be healed.«


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»Foreigners living there said: We tried to help Babylon, but it was too late. Let us leave now and go back home. God has punished Babylon with all his might and has destroyed it completely.«


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Jehovah says: »My people shout, Jehovah has shown that we are in the right. Let us go and tell the people in Jerusalem what Jehovah our God has done.«


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»Jehovah has stirred up the kings of Media, because he intends to destroy Babylon. That is how he will take revenge for the destruction of his Temple. The attacking officers command: Sharpen your arrows! Get your shields ready!


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»Give the signal to attack Babylon's walls. Strengthen the guard! Post the sentries! Place troops in ambush! Jehovah has done what he said he would do to the people of Babylon.«


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»That country has many rivers and rich treasures. Yet its time is up, and its thread of life is cut.


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Jehovah has sworn by his own life: »I will bring many men to attack Babylon like a swarm of locusts, and they will shout with victory.«


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Jehovah made the earth by his power. By his wisdom he created the world and stretched out the heavens.


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When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens. He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.


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All mankind is stupid and devoid of knowledge. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. His molten images are deceitful, and there is no breath in them.


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The portion of Jacob is not like these. He is the maker of all and of the tribe of his inheritance. Jehovah of Hosts is his name.


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He says: »You are my war-club, my weapon of war. I shatter nations with you and with you I destroy kingdoms.


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»I will use you to crush horses and their riders. I will use you to crush chariots and their drivers.


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»I will use you to crush men and women. I will use you to crush the old and the young. I will use you to crush young men and women.


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»I will use you to crush shepherds and their flocks. I will use you to crush farmers and their oxen. I will use you to crush governors and officials.


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»In your presence I will pay back Babylon and all the people who live in Babylon for all the evil things that they did in Zion,« proclaims Jehovah.


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»I am against you, Babylon, you destructive mountain. You have destroyed the whole earth,« declares Jehovah. »I will use my power against you and roll you off the cliffs, and make you a scorched mountain.


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»People will not find any stones in you to use as a cornerstone. They will not find any stones in you to use for a foundation. You will become permanent ruins,« declares Jehovah.


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Raise your battle flag throughout the world. Blow the ram's horn among the nations. Prepare nations to attack Babylon. Tell the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz to attack it. Appoint a commander to lead the attack. Bring up horses like a swarm of locusts.


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Prepare nations to attack Babylon. Prepare the king of the Medes, their governors, all their deputies, and all the countries that they rule.


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The earth trembles and writhes in pain. Jehovah carries out his plans against Babylon to make Babylon a wasteland so that no one will live there.


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The warriors of Babylon have stopped fighting. They stay in their fortified cities. Their strength has failed. They have become women. Their buildings are set on fire. The bars across their gates are broken.


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Runners run to meet runners. Messengers follow messengers. They inform the king of Babylon that his entire city is captured.


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The river crossings have been taken. The enemy has burned its marshes, and its soldiers are terrified.


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»I am the All-Powerful Jehovah, the God of Israel, and I make this promise: Soon Babylon will be leveled and packed down like a threshing place at harvest time.


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»The people of Jerusalem say: King Nebuchadnezzar made us panic. That monster <i>big snake</i> filled up with our treasures, leaving us empty. He gobbled down what he wanted and spit out the rest.


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Therefore Jehovah says: »I am going to plead your case and exact full vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea and make her fountain dry.


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»Babylon will become a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, an object of horror and hissing, without inhabitants.


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»When they become heated up, I will serve them their banquet and make them drunk, that they may become jubilant. Then they may sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake up, declares Jehovah.


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»How Sheshak has been captured, and the praise of the whole earth been seized! How Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations!


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»Her cities have become an object of horror, a parched land and a desert, a land in which no man lives and through which no son of man passes.


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»I will punish Bel in Babylon. I will make Bel spit out everything that it has swallowed. Nations will no longer stream to Babylon. Its walls will fall.


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»Do not lose courage or be afraid when rumors are heard in the land. One rumor comes one year; another rumor comes the next year. Rumors of violence are in the land. Rumors that one ruler will fight against another are in the land.


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That is why the days are coming when I will punish Babylon's idols. The whole country will be put to shame, and all its soldiers will lie dead.


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»Then heaven and earth and everything in them will rejoice over Babylon. Destroyers from the north will attack it,« declares Jehovah.


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Because the people of Babylon have killed many Israelites and because they have killed many people throughout the earth, Babylon must fall.


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You people escaped from the sword. Now leave! Do not just stand there. Remember Jehovah in a distant land and think about Jerusalem.


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We have been put to shame. We have been disgraced. Shame covers our faces, because foreigners have gone into the holy places of Jehovahs temple.


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»That is why the days are coming,« declares Jehovah, »when I will punish their idols, and those who are wounded will moan everywhere in the land.


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»The people of Babylon might go up to heaven. They might fortify their strongholds. But destroyers will still come from me against them,« declares Jehovah.


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Cries of agony are heard from Babylon. Sounds of terrible destruction are heard from the land of the Babylonians.


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Jehovah will destroy Babylon. He will silence the loud noise coming from it. Waves of enemies will come roaring in like raging water. The noise will be heard everywhere.


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A destroyer will attack Babylon, its soldiers will be captured, and their bows and arrows will be broken. I Jehovah am a God who punishes evil. I will certainly punish them.


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»I will make their officials and wise men drunk, along with their governors, officers, and soldiers. They will fall into a deep sleep and never wake up,« proclaims the king, whose name is Jehovah of Hosts.


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This is what Jehovah of Hosts says: The thick walls of Babylon will be leveled, and its high gates will be set on fire. People exhaust themselves for nothing. The nations wear themselves out only to have a fire.


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This is the message that the prophet Jeremiah gave to Seraiah, son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah, when Seraiah went to Babylon with King Zedekiah of Judah in the fourth year of Zedekiah's rule. Seraiah was the quartermaster.


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Jeremiah wrote on a scroll all the disasters that would happen to Babylon. He wrote all these things that have been written about Babylon.


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Then says: Jehovah, you have threatened to destroy this place so that no person or animal will live here. It will become a permanent ruin.


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»When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River.


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»Say: Babylon will sink like this scroll. It will never rise again because of the disasters that I will bring on it.« The words of Jeremiah end here.


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Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to rule. He ruled for eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.


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Jehovah became angry at Jerusalem and Judah and threw the people out of his sight. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.


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On the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Jerusalem with his entire army. They set up camp and built dirt ramps around the city walls.


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On the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city became so severe that the common people had no food.


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The enemy broke through the city walls, and all Judah's soldiers fled. They left the city at night through the gate between the two walls beside the king's garden. While the Babylonians were attacking the city from all sides, they took the road to the plain of Jericho.


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The Babylonian army pursued King Zedekiah and caught up with him in the plain of Jericho. His entire army had deserted him.


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The Babylonians captured the king and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in Hamath. The king of Babylon passed sentence on him there.


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The king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah's sons as Zedekiah watched. He also slaughtered all the officials of Judah at Riblah.


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Then he blinded Zedekiah and put him in bronze shackles. The king of Babylon took him to Babylon and put him in a prison, where he stayed until he died.


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On the tenth day of the fifth month of Nebuchadnezzar's nineteenth year as king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, who was the captain of the guard and an officer of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.


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He burned down Jehovahs Temple, the royal palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem. Every important building was burned down.


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The entire Babylonian army that was with the captain of the guard tore down the walls around Jerusalem.


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Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, captured the few people left in the city, those who surrendered to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the population.


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Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, left some of the poorest people in the land to work in the vineyards and on the farms.


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The Babylonians broke apart the copper pillars of Jehovahs Temple, the stands, and the copper pool in Jehovahs Temple. They shipped all the copper to Babylon.


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they took the pots, shovels, snuffers, bowls, dishes, and all the copper utensils used in the Temple service.


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The captain of the guard also took pans, incense burners, bowls, pots, lamp stands, dishes, and the bowls used for wine offerings. The captain of the guard took all of the trays and bowls that were made of gold or silver.


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The copper from the two pillars, the pool, and the twelve copper bulls under the stands that King Solomon had made for Jehovahs Temple could not be weighed.


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One pillar was twenty-seven feet high and eighteen feet in circumference. It was three inches thick and hollow.


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The crown that was on it was seven and one half feet high with filigree and pomegranates around it. They were all made of copper. The second pillar was the same. It also had pomegranates.


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There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides. The total number of pomegranates on the surrounding filigree was one hundred.


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The captain of the guard took the chief priest Seraiah, the second priest Zephaniah, and the three doorkeepers.


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From the city he also took an army commander, seven men who had access to the king whom he found in the city, the scribe who was in charge of the militia, and sixty common people whom he found in the city.


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The king of Babylon executed them at Riblah in the territory of Hamath. So the people of Judah were captives as they left their land.


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These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar took captive: In his seventh year as king, he took three thousand and twenty-three Jews.


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In Nebuchadnezzar's twenty-third year as king, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took away seven hundred and forty-five Jews. In all, four thousand six hundred people were taken away.


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On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the imprisonment of King Jehoiakin of Judah, King Evil Merodach of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, freed King Jehoiakin of Judah and released him from prison.


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He treated him well and gave him a special position higher than the other kings who were with him in Babylon.


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Jehoiakin no longer wore prison clothes, and he ate his meals in the king's presence as long as he lived.


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She sits alone. She was a town full of people! Once great among the nations she has become like a widow! She who was a princess among the countries has come under the yoke of forced labor!


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She weeps bitterly in the night. Her cheeks are wet from crying. Her lovers offer no comfort. Her friends have been false to her. They have become her enemies.


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Judah has been taken away as a prisoner because of trouble and hard work. She dwells among the nations. There is no rest for her. Her attackers have overtaken her in the midst of her distress.


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The roads to Zion are sad. No one comes to the holy meeting. All her doorways are desolate. Her priests are sighing out of sorrow. Her virgins are troubled, and it is bitter for her.


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Her enemies are at ease and her foes have become her masters. Jehovah sends her sorrow because of the great number of her sins. Young children have gone away as prisoners before the attacker.


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Glory has gone from the daughter of Zion! Her rulers are like stags with no place to eat. They flee without strength from their attacker.


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Jerusalem remembers in her days of sorrow and of her wanderings, all the desired things that were hers in the past. When her people were captive to the power of her adversary she had no helper. Her attackers desired her and made fun of her in her destruction.


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Great is the sin of Jerusalem! For this cause she has become an unclean thing. Those who gave her honor are looking down on her. They see her shame. Now truly, sighing out grief, she turns back.


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In her skirts were her unclean ways. She did not think of the future. Her fall has been a wonder. She has no comforter: »See her sorrow, O Jehovah, for the enemy is lifted up.«


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The hand of her enemies is stretched out over all her desired things. She sees the nations come into her holy place. Whom you gave orders that they were not to come into the meeting of your people.


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Her people are sighing and looking for bread. They have given their desired things for something to eat to give them life. »See, O Jehovah, and take note. She has become a thing of shame.«


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»Come to me all you who go by, keep your eyes on me! See if there is any pain like the pain of my wound. For Jehovah has sent it to me in the day of his burning anger.


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»He sends fire into my bones from on high. It overcomes them. His net is stretched out for my feet. He turns me back. He made me waste and feeble all the day.


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»He keeps watch on my sins. They are joined together by his hand, they have come on to my neck; he makes my strength give way. Jehovah gives me into the hands of those against whom I have no power.


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»Jehovah makes fun of my men of war. He gathers men against me to send destruction on my young men. The virgin daughter of Judah has been crushed like grapes under the feet of Jehovah.


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»For these things I weep. My eye streams with water because the comforter who might give me new life is far from me. My children are desolate because the enemy is strong.«


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Zions hands are outstretched. She has no comforter. Jehovah gave orders to the attackers of Jacob round about him: Jerusalem is an unclean <i>abhorrent</i> thing among them.


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»Jehovah is upright. I have rebelled against him. Listen all you people and see my pain. My virgins and my young men are taken away as prisoners.


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»I sent for my lovers, but they were false to me. My priests and my responsible men are dying. They look for food to give them new life.


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»See, O Jehovah, I am in trouble. The inmost parts of my body are deeply moved. My heart is turned in me for I have been rebellious. Outside the children are put to the sword, and in the house there is death.


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Listen to the voice of my grief. I have no comforter. All my enemies have news of my troubles. They are glad because you did it. Let the day come when they will be like me.


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»Let all their badness come before you. Do to them as you have done to me for all my sins: for loud is the sound of my grief, and the strength of my heart is gone.«


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In his anger Jehovah covered Zion with clouds of darkness. He changed its heavenly splendor into ruins. On the day of his anger he abandoned even his footstool.


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Without mercy Jehovah destroyed every village in Judah. He tore down the forts that defended the land. He brought disgrace on the kingdom and its rulers.


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In his burning anger he cut down every horn <i>strength power</i> of Israel. He turned his right hand back from before the enemy. He has put a fire in Jacob devouring and destroying all around.


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He bends his bow for the attack. He takes his place with his hand ready. In his hate he puts to death all those pleasing to the eye in the tent of the daughter of Zion. He poured out his rage just like fire.


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Jehovah has become like an enemy fighting against her, sending destruction on Israel. He has sent destruction on all her great houses, turning his strong places into waste. He increases the grief and the sorrow of the daughter of Judah.


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He violently takes away his tent, as from a garden. And he lays waste his meeting-place. Jehovah has taken away the memory of feast and Sabbath in Zion. In the passion of his wrath he is against king and priest.


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Jehovah rejected his altar and disowned his holy place. He gave up into the hands of the attacker the walls of her great houses. Their voices have been loud in the house of Jehovah as in the day of a holy meeting.


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It is Jehovahs purpose to turn the wall of the daughter of Zion into waste. His line has been stretched out. He has not kept back his hand from destruction. He has sent sorrow on tower and wall. They have become feeble together.


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Her gates have gone down into the earth. He destroyed her locks and bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations where there is no law. Her prophets have had no vision from Jehovah.


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The elders of the daughter of Zion are seated on the earth and keep silent. They throw dust on their heads. They are clothed in sackcloth. The heads of the virgins of Jerusalem are brought down to the earth.


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My eyes fail from weeping. I am in torment. My heart is pulled out of me to the ground because my people are destroyed. Because of the young children and babies at the breast who are falling without strength in the open squares of the town.


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They say to their mothers: »Where is grain and wine?« When they are falling like the wounded in the open squares of the town. Their life is drained out while on their mothers breast.


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What example am I to give you? What comparison am I to make for you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What am I to make equal to you, so that I may give you comfort, O virgin daughter of Zion? Your destruction is great like the sea. Who is able to make you well?


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The visions your prophets have seen for you are false and foolish! They have not made you fully aware of your sin so your fate might be changed. They have seen for you false words, driving you away.


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All who go by make a noise with their hands at you. They make hisses, shaking their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem. They say: »Is this the town that was the crown of everything beautiful, the joy of all the earth?«


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All your enemies are opening their mouths wide against you. They hiss and whistle through their teeth and say: »We have made a meal of her. Certainly this is the day we have been looking for. It has come and we see it.«


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Jehovah accomplished his purpose. He accomplished what he said he would with the orders he gave in the days that are past. He tore down and shows no compassion. He causes your enemies to rejoice. He lifted up the horn <i>power</i> of your adversaries.


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Let your cry go up to Jehovah: »O wall of the daughter of Zion let your weeping be flowing down like a stream day and night. Give yourself no rest. Do not let your eyes hold back the drops of sorrow.


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»Rise up! Cry out in the night at the beginning of the night watches. Let your heart be flowing out like water before the face of Jehovah. Lift up your hands to him for the life of your young children who are falling down starving in every street.«


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Look, O Jehovah! Why are you punishing us like this? Women are eating the bodies of the children they loved! Priests and prophets are killed in the Temple!


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Both young and old lie dead in the streets. Enemy swords kill young men and women. You slaughtered them without mercy on the day of your anger.


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You invited my enemies to hold a festival of terror all around me. No one could escape on that day of your anger. They murdered my children, whom I had raised and loved.


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He takes no pleasure in troubling and causing grief to the children of men, it is not within his heart.


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How dark the gold has become! How changed is the best gold! The stones of the holy place are dropping out at the top of every street.


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The valued sons of Zion are valued like the best gold. They are looked on as vessels of earth, the work of the hands of the potter!


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Even the jackals of the wasteland have full breasts and give milk to their young ones. The daughter of my people has become cruel like the ostriches in the wasteland.


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The tongue of the child at the breast is fixed to the roof of his mouth for need of drink. The young children cry out for bread, and no man gives it to them.


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Those used to feasting on delicate food are wasted in the streets. Those who as children were dressed in purple are stretched out on the dust.


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The punishment of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overturned suddenly without a hand lifted to help her.


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Her holy ones were cleaner than snow. They were whiter than milk. Their bodies were redder than corals. Their form was like the sapphire.


