# verses

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I explored with my mind how to let my body enjoy life with wine and how to grasp folly-- my mind still guiding me with wisdom-- until I could see what is good for people to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.


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I acquired male and female servants and had slaves who were born in my house. I also owned many herds of cattle and flocks, more than all who were before me in Jerusalem.


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I also amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I gathered male and female singers for myself, and many concubines, the delights of men.


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Thus, I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; my wisdom also remained with me.


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All that my eyes desired, I did not deny them. I did not refuse myself any pleasure, for I took pleasure in all my struggles. This was my reward for all my struggles.


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When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun.


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Then I turned to consider wisdom, madness, and folly, for what will the man be like who comes after the king? He will do what has already been done.


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And I realized that there is an advantage to wisdom over folly, like the advantage of light over darkness.


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The wise man has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also knew that one fate comes to them both.


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So I said to myself, "What happens to the fool will also happen to me. Why then have I been overly wise?" And I said to myself that this is also futile.


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For, just like the fool, there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man, since in the days to come both will be forgotten. How is it that the wise man dies just like the fool?


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Therefore, I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.


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I hated all my work at which I labored under the sun because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.


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And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will take over all my work that I labored at skillfully under the sun. This too is futile.


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For there is a man whose work was done with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, but he must give his portion to a man who has not worked for it. This too is futile and a great wrong.


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For all his days are filled with grief, and his occupation is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile.


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There is nothing better for man than to eat, drink, and to enjoyhis work. I have seen that even this is from God's hand.


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For to the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy, but to the sinner He gives the task of gathering and accumulating in order to give to the one who is pleasing in God's sight. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.


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a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace and a time to avoid embracing;


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He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts, but man cannot discover the work God has done from beginning to end.


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I know that all God does will last forever; there is no adding to it or taking from it. God works so that people will be in awe of Him.


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I also observed under the sun: there is wickedness at the place of judgment and there is wickedness at the place of righteousness.


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I said to myself, "God will judge the righteous and the wicked, since there is a time for every activity and every work."


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I said to myself, "This happens concerning people, so that God may test them and they may see for themselves that they are like animals."


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For the fate of people and the fate of animals is the same. As one dies, so dies the other; they all have the same breath. People have no advantage over animals, for everything is futile.


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Who knows if the spirit of people rises upward and the spirit of animals goes downward to the earth?


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I have seen that there is nothing better than for a person to enjoy his activities, because that is his reward. For who can enable him to see what will happen after he dies?


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Again, I observed all the acts of oppression being done under the sun. Look at the tears of those who are oppressed; they have no one to comfort them. Power is with those who oppress them; they have no one to comfort them.


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But better than either of them is the one who has not yet existed, who has not seen the evil activity that is done under the sun.


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I saw that all labor and all skillful work is due to a man's jealousy of his friend. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.


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There is a person without a companion, without even a son or brother, and though there is no end to all his struggles, his eyes are still not content with riches. "So who am I struggling for," [he asks,] "and depriving myself from good?" This too is futile and a miserable task.


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For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up.


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And if somebody overpowers one person, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not easily broken.


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Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer pays attention to warnings.


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There is no limit to all the people who were before them, yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.


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Guard your step when you go to the house of God. Better to draw near in obedience than to offer the sacrifice as fools do, for they are ignorant and do wrong.


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Do not be hasty to speak, and do not be impulsive to make a speech before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.


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When you make a vow to God, don't delay fulfilling it, because He does not delight in fools. Fulfill what you vow.


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Do not let your mouth bring guilt on you, and do not say in the presence of the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry with your words and destroy the work of your hands?


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If you see oppression of the poor and perversion of justice and righteousness in the province, don't be astonished at the situation, because one official protects another official, and higher officials [protect] them.


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The one who loves money is never satisfied with money, and whoever loves wealth [is] never [satisfied] with income. This too is futile.


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When good things increase, the ones who consume them multiply; what, then, is the profit to the owner, except to gaze at them with his eyes?


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The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich permits him no sleep.


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As he came from his mother's womb, so he will go again, naked as he came; he will take nothing for his efforts that he can carry in his hands.


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This too is a sickening tragedy: exactly as he comes, so he will go. What does he gain who struggles for the wind?


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Here is what I have seen to be good: it is appropriate to eat, drink, and experience good in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of his life God has given him, because that is his reward.


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God has also given riches and wealth to every man, and He has allowed him to enjoy them, take his reward, and rejoice in his labor. This is a gift of God,


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for he does not often consider the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart.


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God gives a man riches, wealth, and honor so that he lacks nothing of all he desires for himself, but God does not allow him to enjoy them. Instead, a stranger will enjoy them. This is futile and a sickening tragedy.


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A man may father a hundred children and live many years. No matter how long he lives, if he is not satisfied by good things and does not even have a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.


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And if he lives a thousand years twice, but does not experience happiness, do not both go to the same place?


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What advantage then does the wise man have over the fool? What [advantage] is there for the poor person who knows how to conduct himself before others?


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Whatever exists was given its name long ago, and who man is, is known. But he is not able to contend with the One stronger than he.


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For who knows what is good for man in life, in the few days of his futile life that he spends like a shadow? Who can tell man what will happen after him under the sun?


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It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, since that is the end of all mankind, and the living should take it to heart.


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For like the crackling of [burning] thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This too is futile.


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For wisdom is protection as money is protection, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner.


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In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider: without question, God has made the one as well as the other, so that man cannot discover anything that will come after him.


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In my futile life I have seen everything: there is a righteous man who perishes in spite of his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who lives long in spite of his evil.


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It is good that you grasp the one and do not let the other slip from your hand. For the one who fears God will end up with both of them.


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I turned my thoughts to know, explore, and seek wisdom and an explanation [for things], and to know that wickedness is stupidity and folly is madness.


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And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a trap, her heart a net, and her hands chains. The one who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner will be captured by her.


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Look," says the Teacher, "this I have discovered, by adding one thing to another to find out the explanation,


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which my soul continually searches for but does not find: among a thousand [people] I have found one [true] man, but among all these I have not found a true woman.


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Who is like the wise person, and who knows the interpretation of a matter? A man's wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed.


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do not be in a hurry. Leave his presence, and don't persist in a bad cause, since he will do whatever he wants.


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The one who keeps a command will not experience anything harmful, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure.


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For every activity there is a right time and procedure, even though man's troubles are heavy on him.


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No one has authority over the wind to restrain it, and there is no authority over the day of death; there is no furlough in battle, and wickedness will not allow those who practice it to escape.


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All this I have seen, applying my mind to all the work that is done under the sun, at a time when one man has authority over another to his harm.


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In such circumstances, I saw the wicked buried. They came and went from the holy place, and they were praised in the city where they did so. This too is futile.


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Because the sentence against a criminal act is not carried out quickly, therefore the heart of people is filled [with the desire] to commit crime.


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Although a sinner commits crime a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I also know that it will go well with God-fearing people, for they are reverent before Him.


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However, it will not go well with the wicked, and they will not lengthen their days like a shadow, for they are not reverent before God.


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There is a futility that is done on the earth: there are righteous people who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked people who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile.


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So I commended enjoyment, because there is nothing better for man under the sun except to eat, drink, and enjoy himself, for this will accompany him in his labor during the years of his days that God gives him under the sun.


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When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the activity that is done on the earth (even though one's eyes do not close in sleep day or night),


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I observed all the work of God [and concluded] that man is unable to discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though a man labors hard to explore it, he cannot find it; even if the wise man claims to know it, he is unable to discover it.


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Indeed, I took all this to heart and explained it all: the righteous, the wise, and their works are in God's hands. People don't know whether [to expect] love or hate. Everything lies ahead of them.


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Everything is the same for everyone: there is one fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not sacrifice. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner, as for the one who takes an oath, so for the one who fears an oath.


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This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: there is one fate for everyone. In addition, the hearts of people are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live-- after that they go to the dead.


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But there is hope for whoever is joined with all the living, since a live dog is better than a dead lion.


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For the living know that they will die, but the dead don't know anything. There is no longer a reward for them because the memory of them is forgotten.


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Their love, their hate, and their envy have already disappeared, and there is no longer a portion for them in all that is done under the sun.


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Go, eat your bread with pleasure, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already accepted your works.


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Enjoy life with the wife you love all the days of your fleeting life, which has been given to you under the sun, all your fleeting days. For that is your portion in life and in your struggle under the sun.


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Whatever your hands find to do, do with [all] your strength, because there is no work, planning, knowledge, or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.


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Again I saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, or the battle to the strong, or bread to the wise, or riches to the discerning, or favor to the skillful; rather, time and chance happen to all of them.


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For man certainly does not know his time: like fish caught in a cruel net, or like birds caught in a trap, so people are trapped in an evil time, as it suddenly falls on them.


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There was a small city with few men in it. A great king came against it, surrounded it, and built large siege works against it.


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Now a poor wise man was found in the city, and he delivered the city by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered that poor man.


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And I said, "Wisdom is better than strength, but the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and his words are not heeded."


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If the ruler's anger rises against you, don't leave your place, for calmness puts great offenses to rest.


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The one who digs a pit may fall into it, and the one who breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake.


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The one who quarries stones may be hurt by them; the one who splits trees may be endangered by them.


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If the axe is dull, and one does not sharpen its edge, then one must exert more strength; however, the advantage of wisdom is that it brings success.


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Yet the fool multiplies words. No one knows what will happen, and who can tell anyone what will happen after him?


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Blessed are you, land, when your king is a son of nobles and your princes feast at the proper time-- for strength and not for drunkenness.


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A feast is prepared for laughter, and wine makes life happy, and money is the answer for everything.


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Do not curse the king even in your thoughts, and do not curse a rich person even in your bedroom, for a bird of the sky may carry the message, and a winged creature may report the matter.


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If the clouds are full, they will pour out rain on the earth; whether a tree falls to the south or the north, the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.


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Just as you don't know the path of the wind, or how bones [develop] in the womb of a pregnant woman, so you don't know the work of God who makes everything.


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In the morning sow your seed, and at evening do not let your hand rest, because you don't know which will succeed, whether one or the other, or if both of them will be equally good.


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For if a man should live many years, let him rejoice in them all, and let him remember the days of darkness, since they will be many. All that comes is futile.


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Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. And walk in the ways of your heart and in the sights of your eyes; but know that for all of these things God will bring you to judgment.


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Remove sorrow from your heart, and put away pain from your flesh, because youth and the prime of life are fleeting.


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So remember your Creator in the days of your youth: Before the days of adversity come, and the years approach when you will say, "I have no delight in them";


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before the sun and the light are darkened, and the moon and the stars, and the clouds return after the rain;


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on the day when the guardians of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop, the women who grind cease because they are few, and the ones who watch through the windows see dimly,


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and the doors at the street are shut while the sound of the mill fades; when one rises at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song grow faint.


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Also, they are afraid of heights and dangers on the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper loses its spring, and the caper berry has no effect; for man is headed to his eternal home, and mourners will walk around in the street;


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before the silver cord is snapped, and the golden bowl is broken, and the jar is shattered at the spring, and the wheel is broken into the well;


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In addition to the Teacher being a wise man, he constantly taught the people knowledge; he weighed, explored, and arranged many proverbs.


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The sayings of the wise are like goads, and those from masters of collections are like firmly embedded nails. The sayings are given by one Shepherd.


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But beyond these, my son, be warned: there is no end to the making of many books, and much study wearies the body.


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When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is: fear God and keep His commands, because this [is for] all humanity.


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The fragrance of your perfume is intoxicating; your name is perfume poured out. No wonder young women adore you.


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Take me with you-- let us hurry. Oh, that the king would bring me to his chambers. We will rejoice and be glad for you; we will praise your love more than wine. It is only right that they adore you.


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Do not stare at me because I am dark, for the sun has gazed on me. My mother's sons were angry with me; they made me a keeper of the vineyards. I have not kept my own vineyard.


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Tell me, you, the one I love: Where do you pasture your sheep? Where do you let them rest at noon? Why should I be like one who veils herself beside the flocks of your companions?


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If you do not know, most beautiful of women, follow the tracks of the flock, and pasture your young goats near the shepherds' tents.


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Like an apricot tree among the trees of the forest, so is my love among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.


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Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you, by the gazelles and the wild does of the field: do not stir up or awaken love until the appropriate time.


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Listen! My love [is approaching]. Look! Here he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills.


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My love is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look, he is standing behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice.


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The blossoms appear in the countryside. The time of singing has come, and the turtledove's cooing is heard in our land.


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The fig tree ripens its figs; the blossoming vines give off their fragrance. Arise, my darling. Come away, my beautiful one.


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My dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the crevices of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.


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Before the day breaks and the shadows flee, turn [to me], my love, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the divided mountains.


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I will arise now and go about the city, through the streets and the plazas. I will seek the one I love. I sought him, but did not find him.


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I had just passed them when I found the one I love. I held on to him and would not let him go until I brought him to my mother's house-- to the chamber of the one who conceived me.


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What is this coming up from the wilderness like columns of smoke, scented with myrrh and frankincense from every fragrant powder of the merchant?


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All of them are skilled with swords and trained in warfare. Each has his sword at his side [to guard] against the terror of the night.


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He made its posts of silver, its back of gold, and its seat of purple. Its interior is inlaid with love by the young women of Jerusalem.


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Come out, young women of Zion, and gaze at King Solomon, wearing the crown his mother placed on him the day of his wedding-- the day of his heart's rejoicing.


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How beautiful you are, my darling. How very beautiful! Behind your veil, your eyes are doves. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down Mount Gilead.


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Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn [sheep] coming up from washing, each one having a twin, and not one missing.


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Your lips are like a scarlet cord, and your mouth is lovely. Behind your veil, your brow is like a slice of pomegranate.


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Your neck is like the tower of David, constructed in layers. A thousand bucklers are hung on it-- all of them shields of warriors.


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Before the day breaks and the shadows flee, I will make my way to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense.


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Come with me from Lebanon, my bride-- with me from Lebanon! Descend from the peak of Amana, from the summit of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of the lions, from the mountains of the leopards.


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You have captured my heart, my sister, my bride. You have captured my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.


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How delightful your love is, my sister, my bride. Your love is much better than wine, and the fragrance of your perfume than any balsam.


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Your lips drip [sweetness like] the honeycomb, my bride. Honey and milk are under your tongue. The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.


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nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all the trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all the best spices.


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Awaken, north wind-- come, south wind. Blow on my garden, and spread the fragrance of its spices. Let my love come to his garden and eat its choicest fruits.


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I have come to my garden-- my sister, my bride. I gather my myrrh with my spices. I eat my honeycomb with my honey. I drink my wine with my milk. Eat, friends! Drink, be intoxicated with love!


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I sleep, but my heart is awake. A sound! My love is knocking! Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my perfect one. For my head is drenched with dew, my hair with droplets of the night.


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I have taken off my clothing. How can I put it back on? I have washed my feet. How can I get them dirty?


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I rose to open for my love. My hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh on the handles of the bolt.


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I opened to my love, but my love had turned and gone away. I was crushed that he had left. I sought him, but did not find him. I called him, but he did not answer.


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The guards who go about the city found me. They beat and wounded me; they took my cloak from me-- the guardians of the walls.


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What makes the one you love better than another, most beautiful of women? What makes him better than another, that you would give us this charge?


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His cheeks are like beds of spice, towers of perfume. His lips are lilies, dripping with flowing myrrh.


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His legs are alabaster pillars set on pedestals of pure gold. His presence is like Lebanon, as majestic as the cedars.


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His mouth is sweetness. He is absolutely desirable. This is my love, and this is my friend, young women of Jerusalem.


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Where has your love gone, most beautiful of women? Which way has he turned? We will seek him with you.


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You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling, lovely as Jerusalem, awe-inspiring as an army with banners.


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Turn your eyes away from me, for they captivate me. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down from Gilead.


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Your teeth are like a flock of ewes coming up from washing, each one having a twin, and not one missing.


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But my dove, my virtuous one, is unique; she is the favorite of her mother, perfect to the one who gave her birth. Women see her and declare her fortunate; queens and concubines also, and they sing her praises:


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Who is thiswho shines like the dawn-- as beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun, awe-inspiring as an army with banners?


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I came down to the walnut grove to see the blossoms of the valley, to see if the vines were budding and the pomegranates blooming.


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Come back, come back, Shulammite! Come back, come back, that we may look at you! Why are you looking at the Shulammite, as you [look] at the dance of the two camps?


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How beautiful are your sandaled feet, princess! The curves of your thighs are like jewelry, the handiwork of a master.


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Your navel is a rounded bowl; it never lacks mixed wine. Your waist is a mound of wheat surrounded by lilies.


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Your neck is like a tower of ivory, your eyes like pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bath-rabbim. Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon looking toward Damascus.


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Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel, the hair of your head like purple cloth-- a king could be held captive in your tresses.


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I said, "I will climb the palm tree and take hold of its fruit." May your breasts be like clusters of grapes, and the fragrance of your breath like apricots.


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Let's go early to the vineyards; let's see if the vine has budded, if the blossom has opened, if the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love.


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The mandrakes give off a fragrance, and at our doors is every delicacy-- new as well as old. I have treasured them up for you, my love.


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If only I could treat you like my brother, one who nursed at my mother's breasts, I would find you in public and kiss you, and no one would scorn me.


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I would lead you, I would take you, to the house of my mother who taught me. I would give you spiced wine to drink from my pomegranate juice.


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Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on the one she loves? I awakened you under the apricot tree. There your mother conceived you; there she conceived and gave you birth.


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Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death; ardent love is as unrelenting as Sheol. Love's flames are fiery flames-- the fiercest of all.


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Mighty waters cannot extinguish love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If a man were to give all his wealth for love, it would be utterly scorned.


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Our sister is young; she has no breasts. What will we do for our sister on the day she is spoken for?


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If she is a wall, we will build a silver parapet on it. If she is a door, we will enclose it with cedar planks.


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Solomon owned a vineyard in Baal-hamon. He leased the vineyard to tenants. Each was to bring for his fruit 1,000 pieces of silver.


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The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reignsof Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.


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Listen, heavens, and pay attention, earth, for the LORD has spoken: "I have raised children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against Me.


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The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's feeding-trough, [but] Israel does not know; My people do not understand."


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Oh-- sinful nation, people weighed down with iniquity, brood of evildoers, depraved children! They have abandoned the LORD; they have despised the Holy One of Israel; they have turned their backs [on Him].


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Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep on rebelling? The whole head is hurt, and the whole heart is sick.


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From the sole of the foot even to the head, no spot is uninjured-- wounds, welts, and festering sores not cleansed, bandaged, or soothed with oil.


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Your land is desolate, your cities burned with fire; before your very eyes foreigners devour your fields-- a desolation overthrown by foreigners.


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Daughter Zion is abandoned like a shelter in a vineyard, like a shack in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.


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If the LORD of Hosts had not left us a few survivors, we would be like Sodom, we would resemble Gomorrah.


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Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah!


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What are all your sacrifices to Me?" asks the LORD. "I have had enough of burnt offerings and rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I have no desire for the blood of bulls, lambs, or male goats.


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Stop bringing useless offerings. I despise [your] incense. New Moons and Sabbaths, and the calling of solemn assemblies-- I cannot stand iniquity with a festival.


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I hate your New Moons and prescribed festivals. They have become a burden to Me; I am tired of putting up with [them].


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When you lift up your hands [in prayer], I will refuse to look at you; even if you offer countless prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.


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Learn to do what is good. Seek justice. Correct the oppressor. Defend the rights of the fatherless. Plead the widow's cause.


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Come, let us discuss this," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will be like wool.


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But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword." For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.


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The faithful city-- what an adulteress she has become! She was once full of justice. Righteousness once dwelt in her-- but now, murderers!


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Your rulers are rebels, friends of thieves. They all love graft and chase after bribes. They do not defend the rights of the fatherless, and the widow's case never comes before them."


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Therefore the Lord God of Hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: "Ah, I will gain satisfaction against My foes; I will take revenge against My enemies.


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I will turn My hand against you and will burn away your dross completely; I will remove all your impurities.


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I will restore your judges to what they once were, and your advisers to their former state. Afterwards you will be called the Righteous City, a Faithful City."


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Indeed, they will be ashamed of the sacred trees you desired, and you will be embarrassed because of the gardens you have chosen.


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The strong one will become tinder, and his work a spark; both will burn together, with no one to quench [the flames].


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In the last days the mountain of the LORD's house will be established at the top of the mountains and will be raised above the hills. All nations will stream to it,


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and many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us about His ways so that we may walk in His paths." For instruction will go out of Zion and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.


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He will settle disputes among the nations and provide arbitration for many peoples. They will turn their swords into plows and their spears into pruning knives. Nations will not take up the sword against [other] nations, and they will never again train for war.


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For You have abandoned Your people, the house of Jacob, because they are full of [ divination] from the East and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines. They are in league with foreigners.


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Their land is full of silver and gold, and there is no limit to their treasures; their land is full of horses, and there is no limit to their chariots.


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Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made.


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Human pride will be humbled, and the loftiness of men will be brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted on that day.


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For a day belonging to the LORD of Hosts is [coming] against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up-- it will be humbled--


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So human pride will be brought low, and the loftiness of men will be humbled; the LORD alone will be exalted on that day.


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People will go into caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, away from the terror of the LORD and from His majestic splendor, when He rises to terrify the earth.


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On that day people will throw their silver and gold idols, which they made to worship, to the moles and the bats.


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They will go into the caves of the rocks and the crevices in the cliffs, away from the terror of the LORD and from His majestic splendor, when He rises to terrify the earth.


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Observe this: The Lord God of Hosts is about to remove from Jerusalem and from Judah every kind of security: the entire supply of bread and water,


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The people will oppress one another, man against man, neighbor against neighbor; the youth will act arrogantly toward the elder, and the worthless toward the honorable.


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A man will even seize his brother in his father's house, [saying:] "You have a cloak-- you be our leader! This heap of rubble will be under your control."


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On that day he will cry out, saying: "I'm not a healer. I don't even have food or clothing in my house. Don't make me the leader of the people!"


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For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen because they have spoken and acted against the LORD, defying His glorious presence.


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The look on their faces testifies against them, and like Sodom, they flaunt their sin. They do not conceal it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves.


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Youths oppress My people, and women rule over them. My people, your leaders mislead you; they confuse the direction of your paths.


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The LORD brings [this] charge against the elders and leaders of His people: "You have devastated the vineyard. The plunder from the poor is in your houses.


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The LORD also says: Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, walking with heads held high and seductive eyes, going along with prancing steps, jingling their ankle bracelets,


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the Lord will put scabs on the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will shave their foreheads bare.


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Instead of perfume there will be a stench; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of beautifully styled hair, baldness; instead of fine clothes, sackcloth; instead of beauty, branding.


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On that day seven women will seize one man, saying, "We will eat our own bread and provide our own clothing. Just let us be called by your name. Take away our disgrace."


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On that day the branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of Israel's survivors.


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Whoever remains in Zion and whoever is left in Jerusalem will be called holy-- all in Jerusalem who are destined to live--


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when the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodguilt from the heart of Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning.


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Then the LORD will create a cloud of smoke by day and a glowing flame of fire by night over the entire site of Mount Zion and over its assemblies. For there will be a canopy over all the glory,


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I will sing about the one I love, a song about my loved one's vineyard: The one I love had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.


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He broke up the soil, cleared it of stones, and planted it with the finest vines. He built a tower in the middle of it and even hewed out a winepress there. He expected it to yield good grapes, but it yielded worthless grapes.


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What more could I have done for My vineyard than I did? Why, when I expected a yield of good grapes, did it yield worthless grapes?


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Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will tear down its wall, and it will be trampled.


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I will make it a wasteland. It will not be pruned or weeded; thorns and briers will grow up. I will also give orders to the clouds that rain should not fall on it.


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For the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah, the plant He delighted in. He looked for justice but saw injustice, for righteousness, but heard cries of wretchedness.


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Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field until there is no more room and you alone are left in the land.


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In my hearing the LORD of Hosts [has taken an oath]: Indeed, many houses will become desolate, grand and lovely ones without inhabitants.


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For a ten-acre vineyard will yield only six gallons, and 10 bushels of seed will yield only [one] bushel.


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Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of beer, who linger into the evening, inflamed by wine.


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At their feasts they have lyre, harp, tambourine, flute, and wine. They do not perceive the LORD's actions, and they do not see the work of His hands.


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Therefore My people go into exile because they lack knowledge; the dignitaries are starving, and the masses are parched with thirst.


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Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat and opens wide its enormous jaws, and down go Zion's dignitaries, her masses, her crowds, and those who carouse in her!


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But the LORD of Hosts is exalted by His justice, and the holy God is distinguished by righteousness.


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Lambs will graze as [if in] their own pastures, and strangers will eat [among] the ruins of the rich.


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to those who say: "Let Him hurry up and do His work quickly so that we can see it! Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel take place so that we can know it!"


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Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.


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Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will become like something rotten and their blossoms will blow away like dust, for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Hosts, and they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.


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Therefore the LORD's anger burns against His people. He raised His hand against them and struck them; the mountains quaked, and their corpses were like garbage in the streets. In all this, His anger is not removed, and His hand is still raised [to strike].


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He raises a signal flag for the distant nations and whistles for them from the ends of the earth. Look-- how quickly and swiftly they come!


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None of them grows weary or stumbles; no one slumbers or sleeps. No belt is loose, and no sandal strap broken.


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Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows strung. Their horses' hooves are like flint; their [chariot] wheels are like a whirlwind.


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Their roaring is like a lion's; they roar like young lions; they growl and seize their prey and carry [it] off, and no one can rescue [it].


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On that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. When one looks at the land, there will be darkness and distress; light will be obscured by clouds.


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In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and His robe filled the temple.


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Seraphim were standing above Him; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.


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The foundations of the doorways shook at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with smoke.


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Then I said: Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips, [and] because my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts.


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Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs.


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He touched my mouth [with it] and said: Now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, and your sin is atoned for.


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Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Who should I send? Who will go for Us? I said: Here I am. Send me.


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And He replied: Go! Say to these people: Keep listening, but do not understand; keep looking, but do not perceive.


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Dull the minds of these people; deafen their ears and blind their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their minds, turn back, and be healed.


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Then I said, "Until when, Lord?" And He replied: Until cities lie in ruins without inhabitants, houses are without people, the land is ruined and desolate,


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Though a tenth will remain in the land, it will be burned again. Like the terebinth or the oak, which leaves a stump when felled, the holy seed is the stump.


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This took place during the reign of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah king of Judah: Rezin king of Aram, along with Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, waged war against Jerusalem, but he could not succeed.


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When it became known to the house of David that Aram had occupied Ephraim, the heart of Ahaz and the hearts of his people trembled like trees of a forest shaking in a wind.


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Then the LORD said to Isaiah, "Go out with your son Shear-jashub to meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, by the road to the Fuller's Field.


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Say to him: Calm down and be quiet. Don't be afraid or fainthearted because of these two smoldering stubs of firebrands, Rezin of Aram, and the son of Remaliah.


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Let us go up against Judah, terrorize it, and conquer it for ourselves. Then we can install Tabeel's son as king in it."


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The head of Aram is Damascus, the head of Damascus is Rezin (within 65 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 the son of Remaliah. If you do not stand firm in your faith, then you will not stand at all.


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Isaiah said, "Listen, house of David! Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men? Will you also try the patience of my God?


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Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.


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By the time he learns to reject what is bad and choose what is good, he will be eating butter and honey.


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For before the boy knows to reject what is bad and choose what is good, the land of the two kings you dread will be abandoned.


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The LORD will bring on you, your people, and the house of your father, such a time as has never been since Ephraim separated from Judah-- the king of Assyria [is coming].


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On that day the LORD will whistle to the fly that is at the farthest streams of the Nile and to the bee that is in the land of Assyria.


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All of them will come and settle in the steep ravines, in the clefts of the rocks, in all the thornbushes, and in all the water holes.


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On that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the Euphrates River-- the king of Assyria-- to shave the head, the hair on the legs, and to remove the beard as well.


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and from the abundant milk they give he will eat butter, for every survivor in the land will eat butter and honey.


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And on that day every place where there were 1,000 vines, worth 1,000 pieces of silver, will become thorns and briers.


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You will not go to all the hills that were once tilled with a hoe, for fear of the thorns and briers. [Those hills] will be places for oxen to graze and for sheep to trample.


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Then the LORD said to me, "Take a large piece of parchment and write on it with an ordinary pen: Maher-shalal-hash-baz.


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I was then intimate with the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. The LORD said to me, "Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz,


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for before the boy knows how to call out father or mother, the wealth of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be carried off to the king of Assyria."


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Because these people rejected the slowly flowing waters of Shiloah and rejoiced with Rezin and the son of Remaliah,


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the Lord will certainly bring against them the mighty rushing waters of the Euphrates River-- the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will overflow its channels and spill over all its banks.


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It will pour into Judah, flood over it, and sweep through, reaching up to the neck; and its spreading streams will fill your entire land, Immanuel!


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Band together, peoples, and be broken; pay attention, all you distant lands; prepare for war, and be broken; prepare for war, and be broken.


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For this is what the LORD said to me with great power, to keep me from going the way of this people:


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Do not call everything an alliance these people say is an alliance. Do not fear what they fear; do not be terrified.


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You are to regard only the LORD of Hosts as holy. Only He should be feared; only He should be held in awe.


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He will be a sanctuary; but for the two houses of Israel, He will be a stone to stumble over and a rock to trip over, and a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


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Here I am with the children the LORD has given me to be signs and wonders in Israel from the LORD of Hosts who dwells on Mount Zion.


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When they say to you, "Consult the spirits of the dead and the spiritists who chirp and mutter," shouldn't a people consult their God? [Should they consult] the dead on behalf of the living?


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To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them.


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They will wander through the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged, and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God.


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They will look toward the earth and see only distress, darkness, and the gloom of affliction, and they will be driven into thick darkness.


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Nevertheless, the gloom of the distressed land will not be like that of the former times when He humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But in the future He will bring honor to the Way of the Sea, to the land east of the Jordan, and to Galilee of the nations.


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The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of darkness, a light has dawned.


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You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy. [The people] have rejoiced before You as they rejoice at harvest time and as they rejoice when dividing spoils.


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For You have shattered their burdensome yoke and the rod on their shoulders, the staff of their oppressor, just as [You did] on the day of Midian.


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For the trampling boot of battle and the bloodied garments of war will be burned as fuel for the fire.


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For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on His shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.


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The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.


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


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The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with cut stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will replace them with cedars."


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Aram from the east and Philistia from the west have consumed Israel with open mouths. In all this, His anger is not removed, and His hand is still raised [to strike].


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Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over Israel's young men and has no compassion on its fatherless and widows, for everyone is a godless evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. In all this, His anger is not removed, and His hand is still raised [to strike].


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For wickedness burns like a fire that consumes thorns and briers and kindles the forest thickets so that they go up in a column of smoke.


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The land is scorched by the wrath of the LORD of Hosts, and the people are like fuel for the fire. No one has compassion on his brother.


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They carve [meat] on the right, but they are [still] hungry; they have eaten on the left, but they are [still] not satisfied. Each one eats the flesh of his own arm.


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Manasseh is with Ephraim, and Ephraim with Manasseh; together, both are against Judah. In all this, His anger is not removed, and His hand is still raised [to strike].


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to keep the poor from getting a fair trial and to deprive the afflicted among my people of justice, so that widows can be their spoil and they can plunder the fatherless.


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What will you do on the day of punishment when devastation comes from far away? Who will you run to for help? Where will you leave your wealth?


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[There will be nothing to do] except crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain. In all this, His anger is not removed, and His hand is still raised [to strike].


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I will send him against a godless nation; I will command him [to go] against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils, to plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets.


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But this is not what he intends; this is not what he plans. It is his intent to destroy and to cut off many nations.


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But when the Lord finishes all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, [He will say,] "I will punish the king of Assyria for his arrogant acts and the proud look in his eyes."


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For he said: I have done [this] by my own strength and wisdom, for I am clever. I abolished the borders of nations and plundered their treasures; like a mighty warrior, I subjugated the inhabitants.


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My hand has reached out, as if into a nest, to seize the wealth of the nations. Like one gathering abandoned eggs, I gathered the whole earth. No wing fluttered; no beak opened or chirped.


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Does an ax exalt itself above the one who chops with it? Does a saw magnify itself above the one who saws with it? As if a staff could wave those who lift it! As if a rod could lift what isn't wood!


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Therefore the Lord God of Hosts will inflict an emaciating disease on the well-fed of Assyria, and He will kindle a burning fire under its glory.


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Israel's Light will become a fire, and its Holy One, a flame. In one day it will burn up Assyria's thorns and thistles.


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On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer depend on the one who struck them, but they will faithfully depend on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.


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Israel, even if your people were as numerous as the sand of the sea, [only] a remnant of them will return. Destruction has been decreed; justice overflows.


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Therefore, the Lord God of Hosts says this: "My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear Assyria, though he strikes you with a rod and raises his staff over you as the Egyptians did.


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And the LORD of Hosts will brandish a whip against him as [He did when He] struck Midian at the rock of Oreb; and He will raise His staff over the sea as [He did] in Egypt.


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On that day his burden will fall from your shoulders, and his yoke from your neck. The yoke will be broken because of [his] fatness.


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They crossed over at the ford, saying, "We will spend the night at Geba." The people of Ramah are trembling; those at Gibeah of Saul have fled.


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Today he will stand at Nob, shaking his fist at the mountain of Daughter Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.


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Look, the Lord God of Hosts will chop off the branches with terrifying power, and the tall [trees] will be cut down, the high [trees] felled.


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The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him-- a Spirit of wisdom and understanding, a Spirit of counsel and strength, a Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.


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His delight will be in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what He sees with His eyes, He will not execute justice by what He hears with His ears,


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but He will judge the poor righteously and execute justice for the oppressed of the land. He will strike the land with discipline from His mouth, and He will kill the wicked with a command from His lips.


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The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat. The calf, the young lion, and the fatling will be together, and a child will lead them.


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The cow and the bear will graze, their young ones will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like an ox.


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No one will harm or destroy on My entire holy mountain, for the land will be as full of the knowledge of the LORD as the sea is filled with water.


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On that day the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples. The nations will seek Him, and His resting place will be glorious.


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On that day the Lord will [extend] His hand a second time to recover-- from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the coasts and islands of the west-- the remnant of His people who survive.


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He will lift up a banner for the nations and gather the dispersed of Israel; He will collect the scattered of Judah from the four corners of the earth.


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Ephraim's envy will cease; Judah's harassment will end. Ephraim will no longer be envious of Judah, and Judah will not harass Ephraim.


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But they will swoop down on the Philistine flank to the west. Together they will plunder the people of the east. They will extend their power over Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be their subjects.


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The LORD will divide the Gulf of Suez. He will wave His hand over the Euphrates with His mighty wind and will split it into seven streams, letting people walk through on foot.


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There will be a highway for the remnant of His people who will survive from Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.


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On that day you will say: "I will praise You, LORD, although You were angry with me. Your anger has turned away, and You have had compassion on me.


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Indeed, God is my salvation. I will trust [Him] and not be afraid. Because Yah, the LORD, is my strength and my song, He has become my salvation."


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and on that day you will say: "Give thanks to the LORD; proclaim His name! Celebrate His deeds among the peoples. Declare that His name is exalted.


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Lift up a banner on a barren mountain. Call out to them. Wave your hand, and they will go through the gates of the nobles.


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I have commanded My chosen ones; I have also called My warriors, who exult in My triumph, to execute My wrath.


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Listen, a tumult on the mountains, like that of a mighty people! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations being gathered together! The LORD of Hosts is mobilizing an army for war.


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They are coming from a far land, from the distant horizon-- the LORD and the weapons of His wrath-- to destroy the whole country.


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They will be horrified; pain and agony will seize [them]; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look at each other, their faces flushed with fear.


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Look, the day of the LORD is coming-- cruel, with rage and burning anger-- to make the earth a desolation and to destroy the sinners on it.


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Indeed, the stars of the sky and its constellations will not give their light. The sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will not shine.


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I will bring disaster on the world, and their [own] iniquity, on the wicked. I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant and humiliate the insolence of tyrants.


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Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will shake from its foundations at the wrath of the LORD of Hosts, on the day of His burning anger.


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Like wandering gazelles and like sheep without a shepherd, each one will turn to his own people, each one will flee to his own land.


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Their children will be smashed [to death] before their eyes; their houses will be looted, and their wives raped.


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Look! I am stirring up the Medes against them, who cannot be bought off with silver and who have no desire for gold.


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[Their] bows will cut young men to pieces. They will have no compassion on little ones; they will not look with pity on children.


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And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.


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It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation; a nomad will not pitch his tent there, and shepherds will not let [their flocks] rest there.


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But wild animals will lie down there, and owls will fill the houses. Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will leap about.


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Hyenas will howl in the fortresses, and jackals, in the luxurious palaces. Babylon's time is almost up; her days are almost over.


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For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will choose Israel again. He will settle them on their own land. The foreigner will join them and be united with the house of Jacob.


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The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its homeland. Then the house of Israel will possess them as male and female slaves in the LORD's land. They will make captives of their captors and will rule over their oppressors.


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you will sing this song [of contempt] about the king of Babylon and say: How the oppressor has quieted down, and how the raging has become quiet!


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It struck the peoples in anger with unceasing blows. It subdued the nations in rage with relentless persecution.


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Even the cypresses and the cedars of Lebanon rejoice over you: "Since you have been laid low, no woodcutter has come against us."


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Sheol below is eager to greet your coming. He stirs up the spirits of the departed for you-- all the rulers of the earth. He makes all the kings of the nations rise from their thrones.


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Your splendor has been brought down to Sheol, [along with] the music of your harps. Maggots are spread out under you, and worms cover you."


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Shining morning star, how you have fallen from the heavens! You destroyer of nations, you have been cut down to the ground.


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You said to yourself: "I will ascend to the heavens; I will set up my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of the [gods'] assembly, in the remotest parts of the North.


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Those who see you will stare at you; they will look closely at you: "Is this the man who caused the earth to tremble, who shook the kingdoms,


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who turned the world into a wilderness, who trampled its cities and would not release the prisoners to return home?"


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But you are thrown out without a grave, like a worthless branch, covered by those slain with the sword and dumped into a rocky pit like a trampled corpse.


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You will not join them in burial, because you destroyed your land and slaughtered your own people. The offspring of evildoers will never be remembered.


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Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons, because of the iniquity of their fathers. They never rise up to possess a land or fill the surface of the earth with cities.


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I will rise up against them"-- the declaration of the LORD of Hosts-- "and I will cut off from Babylon her reputation, remnant, offspring, and posterity"-- the LORD's declaration.


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I will make her a swampland and a region for wild animals, and I will sweep her away with a broom of destruction." [This is] the declaration of the LORD of Hosts.


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The LORD of Hosts has sworn: As I have planned, so it will be; as I have purposed it, so it will happen.


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I will break Assyria in My land; I will tread him down on My mountain. Then his yoke will be taken from them, and his burden will be removed from their shoulders.


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This is the plan prepared for the whole earth, and this is the hand stretched out against all the nations.


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The LORD of Hosts Himself has planned it; therefore, who can stand in its way? It is His hand that is outstretched, so who can turn it back?


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Don't rejoice, all of you [in] Philistia, because the rod of the one who struck you is broken. For a viper will come out of the root of a snake, and from its egg comes a flying serpent.


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Then the firstborn of the poor will be well fed, and the impoverished will lie down in safety, but I will kill your root with hunger, and your remnant will be slain.


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Wail, you gates! Cry out, city! Tremble with fear, all Philistia! For a cloud of dust is coming from the north, and there is no one missing from [the invader's] ranks.


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What answer will be given to the messengers from that nation? The LORD has founded Zion, and His afflicted people find refuge in her.


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An oracle against Moab: Ar in Moab is devastated, destroyed in a night. Kir in Moab is devastated, destroyed in a night.


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Dibon went up to its temple to weep at its high places. Moab wails on Nebo and at Medeba. Every head is shaved; every beard is cut off.


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In its streets they wear sackcloth; on its rooftops and in its public squares everyone wails, falling down and weeping.


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Heshbon and Elealeh cry out; their voices are heard as far away as Jahaz. Therefore the soldiers of Moab cry out, and they tremble.


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My heart cries out over Moab, whose fugitives [flee] as far as Zoar, to Eglath-shelishiyah; they go up the slope of Luhith weeping; they raise a cry of destruction on the road to Horonaim.


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The waters of Nimrim are desolate; the grass is withered, the foliage is gone, and the vegetation has vanished.


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For their cry echoes throughout the territory of Moab. Their wailing reaches Eglaim; their wailing reaches Beer-elim.


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The waters of Dibon are full of blood, but I will bring on Dibon even more [than this]-- a lion for those who escape from Moab, and for the survivors in the land.


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Give us counsel and make a decision. [Shelter us] at noonday with shade that is as dark as night. Hide the refugee; do not betray the one who flees.


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Let my refugees stay with you; be a refuge for Moab from the aggressor. When the oppressor has gone, destruction has ended, and marauders have vanished from the land.


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Then in the tent of David a throne will be established by faithful love. A judge who seeks what is right and is quick to execute justice will sit on the throne forever.


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We have heard of Moab's pride-- how very proud he is-- his haughtiness, his pride, his arrogance, and his empty boasting.


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Therefore let Moab wail; let every one of them wail for Moab. Mourn, you who are completely devastated, for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.


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For Heshbon's terraced vineyards and the grapevines of Sibmah have withered. The rulers of the nations have trampled its choice vines that reached as far as Jazer and spread to the desert. Their shoots spread out and reached the Dead Sea.


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So I join with Jazer to weep for the vines of Sibmah; I drench Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears. Triumphant shouts have fallen silent over your summer [fruit] and your harvest.


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Joy and rejoicing have been removed from the orchard; no one is singing or shouting for joy in the vineyards. No one tramples grapes in the winepresses. I have put an end to the shouting.


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When Moab appears on the high place, when he tires himself out and comes to his sanctuary to pray, it will do him no good.


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And now the LORD says, "In three years, as a hired worker counts years, Moab's splendor will become an object of contempt, in spite of a very large population. And those who are left will be few and weak."


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The cities of Aroer are forsaken; they will be [places] for flocks. They will lie down without fear.


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The fortress disappears from Ephraim, and a kingdom from Damascus. The remnant of Aram will be like the splendor of the Israelites. [This is] the declaration of the LORD of Hosts.


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It will be as if a reaper had gathered standing grain-- his arm harvesting the heads of grain-- and as if one had gleaned heads of grain in the valley of Rephaim.


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Only gleanings will be left in Israel, as if an olive tree had been beaten-- two or three berries at the very top of the tree, four or five on its fruitful branches. [This is] the declaration of the LORD, the God of Israel.


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They will not look to the altars they made with their hands or to the Asherahs and incense altars they made with their fingers.


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On that day their strong cities will be like the abandoned woods and mountaintops that were abandoned because of the Israelites; there will be desolation.


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For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and you have failed to remember the rock of your strength; therefore you will plant beautiful plants and set out cuttings from exotic vines.


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On the day that you plant, you will help them to grow, and in the morning you will help your seed to sprout, [but] the harvest will vanish on the day of disease and incurable pain.


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Ah! The roar of many peoples-- they roar like the roaring of the seas. The raging of the nations-- they rage like the raging of mighty waters.


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The nations rage like the raging of many waters. He rebukes them, and they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills and like dead thistles before a gale.


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In the evening-- sudden terror! Before morning-- it is gone! This is the fate of those who plunder us and the lot of those who ravage us.


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sends envoys by sea, in reed vessels on the waters. Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth-skinned, to a people feared near and far, a powerful nation with a strange language, whose land is divided by rivers.


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All you inhabitants of the world and you who live on the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, look! When a trumpet sounds, listen!


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For, the LORD said to me: I will quietly look out from My place, like shimmering heat in sunshine, like a rain cloud in harvest heat.


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For before the harvest, when the blossoming is over and the blossom becomes a ripening grape, He will cut off the shoots with a pruning knife, and tear away and remove the branches.


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They will all be left for the birds of prey on the hills and for the wild animals of the land. The birds will spend the summer on them, and all the animals, the winter on them.


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At that time a gift will be brought to the LORD of Hosts from a people tall and smooth-skinned, a people feared near and far, a powerful nation with a strange language, whose land is divided by rivers-- to Mount Zion, the place of the name of the LORD of Hosts.


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An oracle against Egypt: Look, the LORD rides on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt. Egypt's idols will tremble before Him, and Egypt's heart will melt within it.


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I will provoke Egypt against Egypt; each will fight against his brother and each against his friend, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.


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Egypt's spirit will be disturbed within it, and I will frustrate its plans. Then they will seek idols, ghosts, spirits of the dead, and spiritists.


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I will deliver Egypt into the hands of harsh masters, and a strong king will rule it. [This is] the declaration of the Lord God of Hosts.


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The channels will stink; they will dwindle, and Egypt's canals will be parched. Reed and rush will die.


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The reeds by the Nile, by the mouth of the river, and all the cultivated areas of the Nile will wither, blow away, and vanish.


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Then the fishermen will mourn. All those who cast hooks into the Nile will lament, and those who spread nets on the water will shrivel up.


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The princes of Zoan are complete fools; Pharaoh's wisest advisers give stupid advice! How can you say to Pharaoh, "I am one of the wise, a student of eastern kings."


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Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you and reveal what the LORD of Hosts has planned against Egypt.


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The princes of Zoan have been fools; the princes of Memphis are deceived. Her tribal chieftains have led Egypt astray.


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The LORD has mixed within her a spirit of confusion. [The leaders] have made Egypt stagger in all she does, as a drunkard staggers in his vomit.


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On that day Egypt will be like women. She will tremble with fear because of the threatening hand of the LORD of Hosts when He raises it against her.


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The land of Judah will terrify Egypt; whenever Judah is mentioned, Egypt will tremble because of what the LORD of Hosts has planned against it.


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On that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear loyalty to the LORD of Hosts. One of the cities will be called the City of the Sun.


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On that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the center of the land of Egypt and a pillar to the LORD near her border.


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It will be a sign and witness to the LORD of Hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, He will send them a savior and leader, and he will rescue them.


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The LORD will make Himself known to Egypt, and Egypt will know the LORD on that day. They will offer sacrifices and offerings; they will make vows to the LORD and fulfill them.


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The LORD will strike Egypt, striking and healing. Then they will return to the LORD and He will hear their prayers and heal them.


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On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. Assyria will go to Egypt, Egypt to Assyria, and Egypt will worship with Assyria.


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On that day Israel will form a triple [alliance] with Egypt and Assyria-- a blessing within the land.


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The LORD of Hosts will bless them, saying, "Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance."


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In the year that the commander-in-chief, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it--


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during that time the LORD had spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, "Go, take off your sackcloth and remove the sandals from your feet," and he did so, going naked and barefoot--


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the LORD said, "As My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot three years as a sign and omen against Egypt and Cush,


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so the king of Assyria will lead the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old alike, naked and barefoot, with bared buttocks, to Egypt's shame.


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And the inhabitants of this coastland will say on that day: Look, this is what has happened to those we relied on and fled to for help to rescue [us] from the king of Assyria! Now, how will we escape?"


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An oracle against the desert by the sea: Like storms that pass over the Negev, it comes from the desert, from the land of terror.


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A troubling vision is declared to me: "The treacherous one acts treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Advance, Elam! Lay siege, you Medes! I will put an end to all her groaning."


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Therefore I am filled with anguish. Pain grips me, like the pain of a woman in labor. I am too perplexed to hear, too dismayed to see.


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When he sees riders-- pairs of horsemen, riders on donkeys, riders on camels-- pay close attention."


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Then the lookout reported, "Lord, I stand on the watchtower all day, and I stay at my post all night.


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Look, riders come-- horsemen in pairs." And he answered, saying, "Babylon has fallen, has fallen. All the idols of her gods have been shattered on the ground."


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My downtrodden and threshed people, I have declared to you what I have heard from the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel.


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An oracle against Dumah: One calls to me from Seir, "Watchman, what is [left] of the night? Watchman, what is [left] of the night?"


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An oracle against Arabia: You will camp for the night in the scrublands of the desert, you caravans of Dedanites.


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For they have fled from swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, from the stress of battle.


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For the Lord said this to me: "Within one year, as a hired worker counts years, all the glory of Kedar will be gone.


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An oracle against the Valley of Vision: What's the matter with you? Why have all of you gone up to the rooftops?


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The noisy city, the jubilant town, is filled with revelry. Your dead did not die by the sword; they were not killed in battle.


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All your rulers have fled together, captured without a bow. All your fugitives were captured together; they had fled far away.


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Therefore I said, "Look away from me! Let me weep bitterly! Do not try to comfort me about the destruction of my dear people."


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For the Lord God of Hosts had a day of tumult, trampling, and bewilderment in the Valley of Vision-- people shouting and crying to the mountains;


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You saw that there were many breaches in [the walls of] the city of David. You collected water from the lower pool.


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You made a reservoir between the walls for the waters of the ancient pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or consider the One who created it long ago.


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On that day the Lord God of Hosts called for weeping, for wailing, for shaven heads, and for the wearing of sackcloth.


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But look: joy and gladness, butchering of cattle, slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat, and drinking of wine-- "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!"


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The LORD of Hosts has revealed [this] in my hearing: "This sin of yours will never be wiped out." The Lord God of Hosts has spoken.


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The Lord God of Hosts said: "Go to Shebna, that steward who is in charge of the palace, [and say to him:]


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What are you doing here? Who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here, carving your tomb on the height and cutting a crypt for yourself out of rock?


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wind you up into a ball, and sling you into a wide land. There you will die, and there your glorious chariots will be-- a disgrace to the house of your lord.


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I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will put your authority into his hand, and he will be like a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the House of Judah.


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I will place the key of the House of David on his shoulder; what he opens, no one can close; what he closes, no one can open.


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I will drive him, like a peg, into a firm place. He will be a throne of honor for his father's house.


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They will hang on him the whole burden of his father's house: the descendants and the offshoots-- all the small vessels, from bowls to every kind of jar.


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On that day"-- the declaration of the LORD of Hosts-- "the peg that was driven into a firm place will give way, be cut off, and fall, and the load on it will be destroyed." Indeed, the LORD has spoken.


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An oracle against Tyre: Wail, ships of Tarshish, for your haven has been destroyed. Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus.


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on many waters. Tyre's revenue was the grain from Shihor-- the harvest of the Nile. She was the merchant among the nations.


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Be ashamed Sidon, the stronghold of the sea, for the sea has spoken: "I have not been in labor or given birth. I have not raised young men [or] brought up young women."


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Is this your jubilant [city], whose origin was in ancient times, whose feet have taken her to settle far away?


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Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose traders are princes, whose merchants are the honored ones of the earth?


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The LORD of Hosts planned it, to desecrate all [its] glorious beauty, to disgrace all the honored ones of the earth.


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Overflow your land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish; there is no longer anything to restrain [you].


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He stretched out His hand over the sea; He made kingdoms tremble. The LORD has commanded that the Canaanite fortresses be destroyed.


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He said, "You will not rejoice any more, ravished young woman, daughter of Sidon. Get up and cross over to Cyprus-- even there you will have no rest!"


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Look at the land of Chaldeans-- a people who no longer exist. Assyria destined it for wild beasts. They set up their siege towers and stripped its palaces. They made it a ruin.


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On that day Tyre will be forgotten for 70 years-- the life span of one king. At the end of 70 years, what the song [says] about the prostitute will happen to Tyre:


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Pick up [your] harp, stroll through the city, prostitute forgotten [by men]. Play skillfully, sing many a song, and you will be thought of again.


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And at the end of the 70 years, the LORD will restore Tyre and she will go back into business, prostituting herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.


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But her profits and wages will be dedicated to the LORD. They will not be stored or saved, for her profit will go to those who live in the LORD's presence, to provide them with ample food and sacred clothing.


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Look, the LORD is stripping the earth bare and making it desolate. He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants:


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people and priest alike, servant and master, female servant and mistress, buyer and seller, lender and borrower, creditor and debtor.


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The earth will be stripped completely bare and will be totally plundered, for the LORD has spoken this message.


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The earth mourns and withers; the world wastes away and withers; the exalted people of the earth waste away.


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The earth is polluted by its inhabitants, for they have transgressed teachings, overstepped decrees, and broken the everlasting covenant.


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Therefore a curse has consumed the earth, and its inhabitants have become guilty; the earth's inhabitants have been burned, and only a few survive.


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The joyful tambourines have ceased. The noise of the jubilant has stopped. The joyful lyre has ceased.


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For this is how it will be on earth among the nations: like a harvested olive tree, like a gleaning after a grape harvest.


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Therefore in the east honor the LORD! In the islands of the west [honor] the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.


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From the ends of the earth we hear songs: The Splendor of the Righteous One. But I said, "I waste away! I waste away! Woe is me." The treacherous act treacherously; the treacherous deal very treacherously.


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Whoever flees at the sound of terror will fall into a pit, and whoever escapes from the pit will be caught in a snare. For the windows are opened from above, and the foundations of the earth are shaken.


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The earth staggers like a drunkard and sways like a hut. Earth's rebellion weighs it down, and it falls, never to rise again.


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They will be gathered together like prisoners in a pit. They will be confined to a dungeon; after many days they will be punished.


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The moon will be put to shame and the sun disgraced, because the LORD of Hosts will reign as king on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, and He will [display His] glory in the presence of His elders.


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LORD, You are my God; I will exalt You. I will praise Your name, for You have accomplished wonders, plans [formed] long ago, with perfect faithfulness.


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For You have turned the city into a pile of rubble, a fortified city, into a ruin; the fortress of barbarians is no longer a city; it will never be rebuilt.


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For You have been a stronghold for the poor, a stronghold for the humble person in his distress, a refuge from the rain, a shade from the heat. When the breath of the violent is like rain [against] a wall,


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like heat in a dry land, You subdue the uproar of barbarians. As the shade of a cloud [cools] the heat of the day, [so] He stills the song of the violent.


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The LORD of Hosts will prepare a feast for all the peoples on this mountain-- a feast of aged wine, choice meat, finely aged wine.


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On this mountain [He] will destroy the [burial] shroud, the shroud over all the peoples, the sheet covering all the nations;


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He will destroy death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face and remove His people's disgrace from the whole earth, for the LORD has spoken.


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On that day it will be said, "Look, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He has saved us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him. Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation."


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For the LORD's power will rest on this mountain. But Moab will be trampled in his place as straw is trampled in a dung pile.


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He will spread out his arms in the middle of it, as a swimmer spreads out [his arms] to swim. His pride will be brought low, along with the trickery of his hands.


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On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city. Salvation is established as walls and ramparts.


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For He has humbled those who live in lofty places-- an inaccessible city. He brings it down; He brings it down to the ground; He throws it to the dust.


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I long for You in the night; yes, my spirit within me diligently seeks You, for when Your judgments are [in] the land, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.


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[But if] the wicked is shown favor, he does not learn righteousness. In a righteous land he acts unjustly and does not see the majesty of the LORD.


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LORD, Your hand is lifted up [to take action], but they do not see it. They will see [Your] zeal for [Your] people, and they will be put to shame. The fire for Your adversaries will consume them!


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The dead do not live; departed spirits do not rise up. Indeed, You have visited and destroyed them; You have wiped out all memory of them.


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You have added to the nation, LORD. You have added to the nation; You are honored. You have expanded all the borders of the land.


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LORD, they went to You in their distress; they poured out whispered [prayers because] Your discipline [fell] on them.


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As a pregnant woman about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pains, so we were before You, LORD.


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We became pregnant, we writhed in pain; we gave birth to wind. We have won no victories on earth, and the earth's inhabitants have not fallen.


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Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For you will be covered with the morning dew, and the earth will bring forth the departed spirits.


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Go, my people, enter your rooms and close your doors behind you. Hide for a little while until the wrath has passed.


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For look, the LORD is coming from His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will reveal the blood shed on it and will no longer conceal her slain.


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On that day the LORD with His harsh, great, and strong sword, will bring judgment on Leviathan, the fleeing serpent-- Leviathan, the twisting serpent. He will slay the monster that is in the sea.


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I, the LORD, watch over it; I water it regularly. I guard it night and day so that no one disturbs it.


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I am not angry, but if it produces thorns and briers for Me, I will fight against it, trample it, and burn it to the ground.


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


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Did the LORD strike Israel as He struck the one who struck Israel? Was he killed like those killed by Him?


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You disputed with her by banishing and driving her away. He removed [her] with His severe storm on the day of the east wind.


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Therefore Jacob's iniquity will be purged in this way, and the result of the removal of his sin will be this: when he makes all the altar stones like crushed bits of chalk, no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing.


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For the fortified city will be deserted, pastures abandoned and forsaken like a wilderness. Calves will graze there, and there they will spread out and strip its branches.


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When its branches dry out, they will be broken off. Women will come and make fires with them, for they are not a people with understanding. Therefore their Maker will not have compassion on them, and their Creator will not be gracious to them.


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On that day the LORD will thresh grain from the Euphrates River as far as the Wadi of Egypt, and you Israelites will be gathered one by one.


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On that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those lost in the land of Assyria will come, as well as those dispersed in the land of Egypt; and they will worship the LORD at Jerusalem on the holy mountain.


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Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim's drunkards, and to the fading flower of its beautiful splendor, which is on the summit above the rich valley. [Woe] to those overcome with wine.


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Look, the Lord has a strong and mighty one-- like a devastating hail storm, like a storm with strong flooding waters. He will bring it across the land with [His] hand.


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The fading flower of his beautiful splendor, which is on the summit above the rich valley, will be like a ripe fig before the summer harvest. Whoever sees it will swallow it while it is still in his hand.


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On that day the LORD of Hosts will become a crown of beauty and a diadem of splendor to the remnant of His people,


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a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.


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These also stagger because of wine and stumble under the influence of beer: priest and prophet stagger because of beer, they are confused by wine. They stumble because of beer, they are muddled in [their] visions, they stumble in [their] judgments.


text:
Who is he trying to teach? Who is he trying to instruct? Infants [just] weaned from milk? Babies removed from the breast?


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For [he says]: "Law after law, law after law, line after line, line after line, a little here, a little there."


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He had said to them: "This is the place of rest, let the weary rest; this is the place of repose." But they would not listen.


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Then the word of the LORD came to them: "Law after law, law after law, line after line, line after line, a little here, a little there," so they go stumbling backwards, to be broken, trapped, and captured.


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For you said, "We have cut a deal with Death, and we have made an agreement with Sheol; when the overwhelming scourge passes through, it will not touch us, because we have made falsehood our refuge and have hidden behind treachery."


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Therefore the Lord God said: "Look, I have laid a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will be unshakable.


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And I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the mason's level." Hail will sweep away the false refuge, and water will flood your hiding place.


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Your deal with Death will be dissolved, and your agreement with Sheol will not last. When the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be trampled.


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Every time it passes through, it will carry you away; it will pass through every morning-- every day and every night. Only terror will cause you to understand the message.


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For the LORD will rise up as [He did] at Mount Perazim. He will rise in wrath, as at the valley of Gibeon, to do His work, His strange work, and to perform His task, His disturbing task.


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So now, do not mock, or your shackles will become stronger. Indeed, I have heard from the Lord God of Hosts a decree of destruction for the whole land.


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Does the plowman plow every day to plant seed? Does he [continuously] break up and cultivate the soil?


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When he has leveled its surface, does he not then scatter cumin and sow black cumin? He plants wheat in rows and barley in plots, with spelt as their border.


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Certainly black cumin is not threshed with a threshing board, and a cart wheel is not rolled over the cumin. But black cumin is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.


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Bread grain is crushed, but is not threshed endlessly. Though the wheel of [the farmer's] cart rumbles, his horses do not crush it.


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Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the city where David camped! Continue year after year; let the festivals recur.


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I will camp in a circle around you; I will besiege you with earth ramps, and I will set up my siege towers against you.


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You will be brought down; you will speak from the ground, and your words will come from low in the dust. Your voice will be like that of a spirit from the ground; your speech will whisper from the dust.


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The multitude of your foes will be like fine dust, and the multitude of the ruthless, like blowing chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant,


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you will be visited by the LORD of Hosts with thunder, earthquake, and loud noise, storm, tempest, and a flame of consuming fire.


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The multitude of all the nations going out to battle against Ariel-- all the attackers, the siege-works against her, and those who oppress her-- will then be like a dream, a vision in the night.


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It will be like a hungry one who dreams he is eating, then wakes and is still hungry; and like a thirsty one who dreams he is drinking, then wakes and is still thirsty, longing for water. So will be the multitude of all the nations who go to battle against Mount Zion.


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Stop and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunk, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with beer.


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For the LORD has poured out on you an overwhelming urge to sleep; He has shut your eyes-- the prophets, and covered your heads-- the seers.


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For you the entire vision will be like the words of a sealed document. If it is given to one who can read and he is asked to read it, he will say, "I can't read it, because it is sealed."


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And if the document is given to one who cannot read and he is asked to read it, he will say, "I can't read."


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The Lord said: Because these people approach Me with their mouths to honor Me with lip-service-- yet their hearts are far from Me, and their worship [consists of] man-made rules learned [by rote]--


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therefore I will again confound these people with wonder after wonder. The wisdom of their wise men will vanish, and the understanding of the perceptive will be hidden.


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Woe to those who go to great lengths to hide their plans from the LORD. [They do] their works in darkness, and say, "Who sees us? Who knows us?"


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You have turned things around, as if the potter were the same as the clay. How can what is made say about its maker, "He didn't make me"? How can what is formed say about the one who formed it, "He doesn't understand [what he's doing]"?


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Isn't [it true that] in just a little while Lebanon will become an orchard, and the orchard will seem like a forest?


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On that day the deaf will hear the words of a document, and out of a deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see.


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The humble will have joy after joy in the LORD, and the poor people will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.


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For the ruthless one will vanish, the scorner will disappear, and all those who lie in wait with evil intent will be killed--


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those who, with [their] speech, accuse a person of wrongdoing, who set a trap at the gate for the mediator, and without cause deprive the righteous of justice.


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Therefore, the LORD who redeemed Abraham says this about the house of Jacob: Jacob will no longer be ashamed and his face will no longer be pale.


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For when he sees his children, the work of My hands within his [nation], they will honor My name, they will honor the Holy One of Jacob and stand in awe of the God of Israel.


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Woe to the rebellious children! [This is] the LORD's declaration. They carry out a plan, but not Mine, They make an alliance, but against My will, piling sin on top of sin.


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They set out to go down to Egypt without asking My advice, in order to seek shelter under Pharaoh's protection and take refuge in Egypt's shadow.


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everyone will be ashamed because of a people who can't help. They are of no benefit, they are no help; they are good for nothing but shame and reproach.


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An oracle about the animals of the Negev: Through a land of trouble and distress, of lioness and lion, of viper and flying serpent, they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people who will not help them.


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Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence and inscribe it on a scroll; it will be for the future, forever and ever.


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They say to the seers, "Do not see," and to the prophets, "Do not prophesy the truth to us. Tell us flattering things. Prophesy illusions.


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Therefore the Holy One of Israel says: "Because you have rejected this message and have trusted in oppression and deceit, and have depended on them,


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this iniquity of yours will be like a spreading breach, a bulge in a high wall whose collapse will come very suddenly.


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Its collapse will be like the shattering of a potter's jar, crushed to pieces, so that not even a fragment of pottery will be found among its shattered remains-- no fragment large enough to take fire from a hearth or scoop water from a cistern."


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For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said: "You will be delivered by returning and resting; your strength will lie in quiet confidence. But you are not willing."


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You say, "No! We will escape on horses"-- therefore you will escape!-- and, "We will ride on fast horses"-- but those who pursue you will be faster.


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One thousand [will flee] at the threat of one, at the threat of five you will flee, until you alone remain like a [solitary] pole on a mountaintop or a banner on a hill.


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Therefore the LORD is waiting to show you mercy, and is rising up to show you compassion, for the LORD is a just God. Happy are all who wait patiently for Him.


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For you people will live on Zion in Jerusalem and will never cry again. He will show favor to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears, He will answer you.


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The Lord will give you meager bread and water during oppression, but your Teacher will not hide Himself any longer. Your eyes will see your Teacher,


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and whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: "This is the way. Walk in it."


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Then you will defile your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, and call them filth.


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Then He will send rain for your seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food, the produce of the ground, will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures.


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The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder scattered with winnowing shovel and fork.


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Streams and watercourses will be on every high mountain and every raised hill on the day of great slaughter when the towers fall.


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The moonlight will be as bright as the sunlight, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter-- like the light of seven days-- on the day that the LORD bandages His people's injuries and heals the wounds He inflicted.


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Look, Yahweh comes from far away, His anger burning and heavy with smoke. His lips are full of fury, and His tongue is like a consuming fire.


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His breath is like an overflowing torrent that rises to the neck. [He comes] to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction and to put a bridle on the jaws of the peoples to lead [them] astray.


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Your singing will be like that on the night of a holy festival, And [your] heart will rejoice like one who walks [to the music] of a flute, going up to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel.


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And the LORD will make the splendor of His voice heard and reveal His arm striking in angry wrath and a flame of consuming fire, in driving rain, a torrent, and hailstones.


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And every stroke of the appointed staff that the LORD brings down on him will be [to the sound] of tambourines and lyres; He will fight against him with brandished weapons.


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Indeed! Topheth has been ready for the king for a long time now. His funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of brimstone, kindles it.


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Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and who depend on horses! They trust in the number of chariots and in the great strength of charioteers. They do not look to the Holy One of Israel and they do not seek the LORD's help.


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But He also is wise and brings disaster. He does not go back on what He says; He will rise up against the house of wicked men and against the allies of evildoers.


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Egyptians are men, not God; their horses are flesh, not spirit. When the LORD raises His hand [to strike], the helper will stumble and the helped will fall; both will perish together.


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For this is what the LORD said to me: As a lion or young lion growls over its prey when a band of shepherds is called out against it, and is not terrified by their shouting or subdued by their noise, so the LORD of Hosts will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill.


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Like hovering birds, so the LORD of Hosts will protect Jerusalem-- by protecting [it], He will rescue [it], by sparing [it], He will deliver [it].


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For on that day, each one will reject the silver and gold idols that your own hands have sinfully made.


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Then Assyria will fall, but not by human sword; a sword will devour him, but not one made by man. He will flee from the sword, his young men will be put to forced labor.


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His rock will pass away because of fear, and his officers will be afraid because of the signal flag. [This is] the LORD's declaration-- whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.


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Each will be like a shelter from the wind, a refuge from the rain, like streams of water in a dry land and the shade of a massive rock in an arid land.


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For a fool speaks foolishness and his mind plots iniquity. He lives in a godless way and speaks falsely about the LORD. He leaves the hungry empty and deprives the thirsty of drink.


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The scoundrel's weapons are destructive; he hatches plots to destroy the needy with lies, and by charging the poor during a judgment.


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Stand up, you complacent women; listen to me. Pay attention to what I say, you overconfident daughters.


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In a little more than a year you overconfident ones will shudder, for the vintage will fail and the harvest will not come.


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Shudder, you complacent ones; tremble, you overconfident ones! Strip yourselves bare and put [ sackcloth] about your waists.


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for the ground of my people growing thorns and briers, indeed, for every joyous house in the joyful city.


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For the palace will be forsaken, the busy city abandoned. The hill and the watchtower will become barren places forever, the joy of wild asses, and a pasture for flocks,


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until the Spirit from heaven is poured out on us. Then the desert will become an orchard, and the orchard will seem like a forest.


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The result of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quiet confidence forever.


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Woe, you destroyer never destroyed, you traitor never betrayed! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed. When you have finished betraying, they will betray you.


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LORD, be gracious to us! We wait for You. Be our strength every morning, and our salvation in time of trouble.


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Your spoil will be gathered as locusts are gathered; people will swarm over it like an infestation of locusts.


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There will be times of security for you-- a storehouse of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the LORD is Zion's treasure.


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The highways are deserted; travel has ceased. An agreement has been broken, and cities despised. and human life disregarded.


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The land mourns and withers; Lebanon is ashamed and decayed. Sharon is like a desert; Bashan and Carmel shake off [their] leaves.


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The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling seizes the ungodly: "Who among us can dwell with a consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with ever-burning flames?"


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The one who lives righteously and speaks rightly, who refuses gain from extortion, whose hand never takes a bribe, who stops his ears from listening to murderous plots and shuts his eyes to avoid endorsing evil--


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he will dwell on the heights; his refuge will be the rocky fortresses, his food provided, his water assured.


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Your mind will meditate on the [past] terror: "Where is the accountant? Where is the tribute collector? Where is the one who spied out our defenses?"


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You will no longer see the barbarians, a people whose speech is difficult to comprehend-- who stammer in a language that is not understood.


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Look at Zion, the city of our festival times. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful pasture, a tent that does not wander; its tent pegs will not be pulled up nor will any of its cords be loosened.


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For there the majestic One, the LORD, will be for us, a place of rivers and broad streams, where ships that are rowed will not go, and majestic vessels will not pass.


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Your ropes are slack; they cannot hold the base of the mast or spread out the flag. Then abundant spoil will be divided, the lame will plunder it,


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You nations, come here and listen; you peoples, pay attention! Let the earth hear, and all that fills it, the world and all that comes from it.


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The LORD is angry with all the nations-- furious with all their armies. He will set them apart for destruction, giving them over to slaughter.


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Their slain will be thrown out, and the stench of their corpses will rise; the mountains flow with their blood.


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All the heavenly bodies will dissolve. The skies will roll up like a scroll, and their stars will all wither as leaves wither on the vine, and foliage on the fig tree.


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When My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens it will then come down on Edom and on the people I have set apart for destruction.


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The LORD's sword is covered with blood. It drips with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom.


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The wild oxen will be struck down with them, and young bulls with the mighty bulls. Their land will be soaked with blood, and their soil will be saturated with fat.


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[Edom's] streams will be turned into pitch, her soil into sulfur; her land will become burning pitch.


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It will never go out-- day or night. Its smoke will go up forever. It will be desolate, from generation to generation; no one will pass through it forever and ever.


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The desert owl and the hedgehog will possess it, and the great owl and the raven will dwell there. [The LORD] will stretch out a measuring line and a plumb line over her for [her] destruction and chaos.


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Her palaces will be overgrown with thorns; her fortified cities, with thistles and briers. She will become a dwelling for jackals, an abode for ostriches.


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The wild beasts will meet hyenas, and one wild goat will call to another. Indeed, the screech owl will stay there and will find a resting place for herself.


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The sand partridge will make her nest there; she will lay and hatch her eggs and will gather [her brood] under her shadow. Indeed, the birds of prey will gather there, each with its mate.


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Search and read the scroll of the LORD: Not one of them will be missing, none will be lacking its mate, because He has ordered it by my mouth, and He will gather them by His Spirit.


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He has ordained a lot for them; His hand allotted their portion with a measuring line. They will possess it forever; they will dwell in it from generation to generation.


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It will blossom abundantly and will also rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God.


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Say to the faint-hearted: "Be strong; do not fear! Here is your God; vengeance is coming. God's retribution is coming; He will save you."


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Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy, for water will gush in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;


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the parched ground will become a pool of water, and the thirsty land springs of water. In the haunt of jackals, in their lairs, there will be grass, reeds, and papyrus.


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A road will be there and a way; it will be called the Holy Way. The unclean will not travel on it, but it will be for him who walks the path. Even the fool will not go astray.


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There will be no lion there, and no vicious beast will go up on it; they will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk [on it],


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and the ransomed of the LORD will return and come to Zion with singing, crowned with unending joy. Joy and gladness will overtake [them], and sorrow and sighing will flee.


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In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria advanced against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.


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Then the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh, along with a massive army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. The Assyrian stood near the conduit of the upper pool, by the road to the Fuller's Field.


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Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the record keeper, came out to him.


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The Rabshakeh said to them, "Tell Hezekiah: The great king, the king of Assyria, says this: 'What are you basing your confidence on?


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I say that your plans and military preparedness are mere words. Now who are you trusting in that you have rebelled against me?


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Look, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which will enter and pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. This is how Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who trust in him.


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Suppose you say to me: We trust in the LORD our God. Isn't He the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem: You are to worship at this altar?


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Now make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I'll give you 2,000 horses if you can put riders on them!


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How then can you repel [the attack of even] the weakest of my master's officers, and trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?


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Have I attacked this land to destroy it without the LORD's [approval]? The LORD said to me, 'Attack this land and destroy it.'"


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Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand [it]; don't speak to us in Hebrew within earshot of the people who are on the wall."


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But the Rabshakeh replied, "Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men who sit on the wall, [who are destined] with you to eat their excrement and drink their urine?"


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Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out loudly in Hebrew: Listen to the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!


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Don't let Hezekiah persuade you to trust the LORD, saying, 'The LORD will surely deliver us. This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.'"


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Don't listen to Hezekiah. For the king of Assyria says: "Make peace with me and surrender to me; then every one of you will eat from his own vine and his own fig tree and drink water from his own cistern


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until I come and take you away to a land like your land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.


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[Beware] that Hezekiah does not mislead you by saying, 'The LORD will deliver us.' Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?


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Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?


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Who of all the gods of these lands [ever] delivered his land from my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem?"


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Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the record keeper, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and they reported to him the words of the Rabshakeh.


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When King Hezekiah heard [their report], he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the house of the LORD.


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Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the scribe, and the older priests, wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.


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They said to him, "Hezekiah says: 'Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace, [as] when children come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.


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Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master, the king of Assyria, sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke [him for] the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore offer a prayer for the surviving remnant.'"


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Isaiah said to them, "Say this to your master, 'The LORD says: Don't be afraid because of the words you have heard, which the king of Assyria's attendants have blasphemed Me with.


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Look! I am putting a spirit in him and he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.'"


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When the Rabshakeh heard that the king had left Lachish, he returned and discovered that the king of Assyria was fighting against Libnah.


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The king had heard this about Tirhakah, king of Cush: "He has set out to fight against you." So when he heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,


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Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah: 'Don't let your God, whom you trust, deceive you by saying that Jerusalem won't be handed over to the king of Assyria.


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Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries; they destroyed them completely. Will you be rescued?


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Did the gods of the nations that my predecessors destroyed rescue them-- Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the Edenites in Telassar?


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Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers, read it, then went up to the LORD's house and spread it out before the LORD.


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LORD of Hosts, God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are God-- You alone-- of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.


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Listen closely, LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, LORD, and see; hear all the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God.


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and have thrown their gods into the fire; for they were not gods but made by human hands-- wood and stone. So they have destroyed them.


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Now, LORD our God, save us from his hand so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD-- You alone."


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Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent [a message] to Hezekiah: "The LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Because you prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria,


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this is the word the LORD has spoken against him: The young woman, Daughter Zion, despises you and scorns you: Daughter Jerusalem shakes [her] head behind your back.


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Who is it you have mocked and blasphemed? Who have you raised [your] voice against and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!


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You have mocked the LORD through your servants. You have said: With my many chariots I have gone up to the heights of the mountains, to the far recesses of Lebanon. I cut down its tallest cedars, its choice cypress trees. I came to its remotest heights, its densest forest.


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Because your raging against Me and your arrogance has reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will make you go back the way you came.


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'This will be the sign for you: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what grows from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.


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For a remnant will go out from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.'


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'Therefore, this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria: He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or build up an assault ramp against it.


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He will go back on the road that he came and he will not enter this city. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the [next] morning-- there were all the dead bodies!


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He said, "Please, LORD, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and wholeheartedly, and have done what is good in Your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.


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Go and tell Hezekiah that this is what the LORD God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I am going to add 15 years to your life.


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I am going to make the sun's shadow that goes down on Ahaz's stairway return by 10 steps." So the sun's shadow went back the 10 steps it had descended.


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I said: In the prime of my life I must go to the gates of Sheol; I am deprived of the rest of my years.


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I said: I will never see the LORD, the LORD in the land of the living; I will not look on humanity any longer with the inhabitants of what is passing away.


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My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me like a shepherd's tent. I have rolled up my life like a weaver; He cuts me off from the loom. You make an end of me from day until night.


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I thought until the morning: He will break all my bones like a lion; You make an end of me day and night.


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I chirp like a swallow [or] a crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak looking upward. Lord, I am oppressed; support me.


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What can I say? He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it. I walk along slowly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul,


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Lord, because of these [promises] people live, and in all of them is the life of my spirit as well; You have restored me to health and let me live.


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Indeed, it was for [my own] welfare that I had such great bitterness; but Your love [has delivered] me from the Pit of destruction, for You have thrown all my sins behind Your back.


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For Sheol cannot thank You; Death cannot praise You. Those who go down to the Pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.


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The living, only the living can thank You, as I do today; a father will make Your faithfulness known to children


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The LORD will save me; we will play stringed instruments all the days of our lives at the house of the LORD.


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Now Isaiah had said, "Let them take a lump of figs and apply it to his infected skin, so that he may recover."


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At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah since he heard that he had been sick and had recovered.


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Hezekiah was pleased with them, and showed them his treasure house-- the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil-- and all his armory, and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace and in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.


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Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and asked him, "What did these men say? The men who came to you-- where were they from?" Hezekiah replied, "They came to me from a distant country, from Babylon."


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And he asked, "What have they seen in your palace?" Hezekiah answered, "They have seen everything in my palace. There isn't anything in my storehouses that I didn't show them."


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'Some of your descendants who come from you will be taken away, and they will be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.'"


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Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good." For he thought: There will be peace and security during my lifetime.


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Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and announce to her that her time of servitude is over, her iniquity has been pardoned, and she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.


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A voice of one crying out: Prepare the way of the LORD in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.


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Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill will be leveled; the uneven ground will become smooth, and the rough places a plain.


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And the glory of the LORD will appear, and all humanity will see [it] together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.


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A voice was saying, "Cry out!" Another said, "What should I cry out?" "All humanity is grass, and all its goodness is like the flower of the field.


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The grass withers, the flowers fade when the breath of the LORD blows on them; indeed, the people are grass.


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Zion, herald of good news, go up on a high mountain. Jerusalem, herald of good news, raise your voice loudly. Raise it, do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, "Here is your God!"


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See, the Lord God comes with strength, and His power establishes His rule. His reward is with Him, and His gifts accompany Him.


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He protects His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries [them] in the fold of His [garment]. He gently leads those that are nursing.


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Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand or marked off the heavens with the span [of his hand]? Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure or weighed the mountains in a balance and the hills in scales?


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Who did He consult with? Who gave Him understanding and taught Him the paths of justice? Who taught Him knowledge and showed Him the way of understanding?


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Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered as a speck of dust on the scales; He lifts up the islands like fine dust.


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To an idol?-- [something that] a smelter casts, and a metalworker plates with gold and makes silver welds [for it]?


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To one who shapes a pedestal, choosing wood that does not rot? He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not fall over.


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Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not considered the foundations of the earth?


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God is enthroned above the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth and spreads them out like a tent to live in.


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They are barely planted, barely sown, their stem hardly takes root in the ground when He blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.


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Look up and see: who created these? He brings out the starry host by number; He calls all of them by name. Because of His great power and strength, not one of them is missing.


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Jacob, why do you say, and Israel, why do you assert: "My way is hidden from the LORD, and my claim is ignored by my God"?


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Do you not know? Have you not heard? Yahweh is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never grows faint or weary; there is no limit to His understanding.


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but those who trust in the LORD will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint.


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Be silent before Me, islands! And let peoples renew their strength. Let them approach, then let them testify; let us come together for the trial.


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Who has stirred him up from the east? He calls righteousness to his feet. The LORD hands nations over to him, and he subdues kings. He makes [them] like dust [with] his sword, like wind-driven stubble [with] his bow.


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Who has performed and done [this], calling the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD, am the first, and with the last-- I am He."


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The craftsman encourages the metalworker; the one who flattens with the hammer [supports] the one who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, "It is good." He fastens it with nails so that it will not fall over.


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I brought you from the ends of the earth and called you from its farthest corners. I said to you: You are My servant; I have chosen you and not rejected you.


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Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand.


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Be sure that all who are enraged against you will be ashamed and disgraced; those who contend with you will become as nothing and will perish.


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You will look for those who contend with you, but you will not find them. Those who war against you will become absolutely nothing.


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Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel: I will help you-- the LORD's declaration. Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.


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See, I will make you into a sharp threshing board, new, with many teeth. You will thresh mountains and pulverize [them], and make hills like chaff.


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You will winnow them and a wind will carry them away, and a gale will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the LORD; you will boast in the Holy One of Israel.


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The poor and the needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, do not forsake them.


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I will open rivers on the barren heights, and springs in the middle of the plains. I will turn the desert into a pool of water and dry land into springs of water.


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I will plant cedars in the desert, acacias, myrtles, and olive trees. I will put cypress trees in the desert, elms and box trees together,


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so that all may see and know, consider and understand, that the hand of the LORD has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.


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Let them come and tell us what will happen. Tell us the past events, so that we may reflect on it and know the outcome. Or tell us the future.


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Tell us the coming events, then we will know that you are gods. Indeed, do [something] good or bad, then we will be in awe and perceive.


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I have raised up one from the north, and he has come, one from the east who invokes My name. He will march over rulers as if they were mud, like a potter who treads the clay.


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Who told about this from the beginning, so that we might know, and from times past, so that we might say: He is right? No one announced it, no one told it, no one heard your words.


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When I look, there is no one; there is no counselor among them; when I ask them, they have nothing to say.


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This is My Servant; I strengthen Him, [this is] My Chosen One; I delight in Him. I have put My Spirit on Him; He will bring justice to the nations.


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He will not break a bruised reed, and He will not put out a smoldering wick; He will faithfully bring justice.


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He will not grow weak or be discouraged until He has established justice on earth. The islands will wait for His instruction."


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This is what God the LORD says-- who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and life to those who walk on it--


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I, the LORD, have called you for a righteous [purpose], and I will hold you by your hand. I will keep you, and I make you a covenant for the people [and] a light to the nations,


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in order to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon, [and] those sitting in darkness from the prison house.


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The past events have indeed happened. Now I declare new events; I announce them to you before they occur."


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Sing a new song to the LORD; [sing] His praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea with all that fills it, you islands with your inhabitants.


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Let the desert and its cities shout, the settlements where Kedar dwells [cry aloud]. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy; let them cry out from the mountaintops.


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The LORD advances like a warrior; He stirs up His zeal like a soldier. He shouts, He roars aloud, He prevails over His enemies.


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I have kept silent from ages past; I have been quiet and restrained Myself. [But now,] I will groan like a woman in labor, gasping breathlessly.


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I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their vegetation. I will turn rivers into islands, and dry up marshes.


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I will lead the blind by a way they did not know; I will guide them on paths they have not known. I will turn darkness to light in front of them, and rough places into level ground. This is what I will do for them, and I will not forsake them.


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They will be turned back [and] utterly ashamed-- those who trust in idols and say to metal-plated images: You are our gods!


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Who is blind but My servant, or deaf like My messenger I am sending? Who is blind like [My] dedicated one, or blind like the servant of the LORD?


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The LORD was pleased, because of His righteousness, to magnify [His] instruction and make it glorious.


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But this is a people plundered and looted, all of them trapped in holes or imprisoned in dungeons. They have become plunder, with no one to rescue them, and loot, with no one saying "Give [it] back!"


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Who gave Jacob to the robber, and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the LORD? Have we not sinned against Him? They were not willing to walk in His ways, and they would not listen to His instruction.


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So He poured out on Jacob His furious anger and the power of war. It surrounded him with fire, but he did not know [it]; it burned him, but he paid no attention.


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Now this is what the LORD says-- the One who created you, Jacob, and the One who formed you, Israel-- "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine.


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I will be with you when you pass through the waters, and [when you pass] through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. You will not be scorched when you walk through the fire, and the flame will not burn you.


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For I the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior, give Egypt as a ransom for you, Cush and Seba in your place.


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Because you are precious in My sight and honored, and I love you, I will give human beings in your place, and peoples in place of your life.


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Do not fear, 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 hold [them] back! Bring My sons from far away, and My daughters from the ends of the earth--


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All the nations are gathered together, and the peoples are assembled. Who among them can declare this, and tell us the former things? Let them present their witnesses to vindicate [themselves], so that people may hear and say, "It is true."


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You are My witnesses"-- the LORD's declaration-- "and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He. No god was formed before Me, and there will be none after Me.


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I alone declared, saved, and proclaimed-- and not some foreign god among you. So you are My witnesses"-- the LORD's declaration-- "and I am God.


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Also, from today on I am He [alone], and no one can take [anything] from My hand. I act, and who can reverse it?"


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This is what the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: Because of you, I will send to Babylon and bring all of them as fugitives, even the Chaldeans in the ships in which they rejoice.


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who brings out the chariot and horse, the army and the mighty one together (they lie down, they do not rise again; they are extinguished, quenched like a wick)--


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Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.


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The animals of the field will honor Me, jackals and ostriches, because I provide water in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people.


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You have not brought Me your sheep for burnt offerings or honored Me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings or wearied you with incense.


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You have not bought Me aromatic cane with silver, or satisfied Me with the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened Me with your sins; you have wearied Me with your iniquities.


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So I defiled the officers of the sanctuary, and gave Jacob over to total destruction and Israel to abuse.


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This is the word of the LORD your Maker who shaped you from birth; He will help you: Do not fear; Jacob is My servant; I have chosen Jeshurun.


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For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants and My blessing on your offspring.


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This one will say: I am the LORD's; another will call [himself] by the name of Jacob; still another will write on his hand: The LORD's, and name [himself] by the name of Israel."


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This is what the LORD, the King of Israel and its Redeemer, the LORD of Hosts, says: I am the first and I am the last. There is no God but Me.


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Who, like Me, can announce [the future]? Let him say so and make a case before Me, since I have established an ancient people. Let these gods declare the coming things, and what will take place.


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Do not be startled or afraid. Have I not told you and declared it long ago? You are my witnesses! Is there any God but Me? There is no [other] Rock; I do not know any.


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All who make idols are nothing, and what they treasure does not profit. Their witnesses do not see or know [anything], so they will be put to shame.


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Look, all its worshipers will be put to shame, and the craftsmen are humans. They all will assemble and stand; they all will be startled and put to shame.


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The ironworker labors over the coals, shapes the idol with hammers, and works it with his strong arm. Also he grows hungry and his strength fails; he doesn't drink water and is faint.


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The woodworker stretches out a measuring line, he outlines it with a stylus; he shapes it with chisels and outlines it with a compass. He makes it according to a human likeness, like a beautiful person, to dwell in a temple.


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He cuts down cedars for his use, or he takes a cypress or an oak. He lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a laurel, and the rain makes it grow.


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It serves as fuel for man. He takes some of it and warms himself; also he kindles a fire and bakes bread; he even makes it into a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and bows down to it.


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He burns half of it in a fire, and he roasts meat on that half. He eats the roast and is satisfied. He warms himself and says, "Ah! I am warm, I see the blaze."


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He makes a god or his idol with the rest of it. He bows down to it and worships; He prays to it, "Save me, for you are my god."


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Such people do not comprehend and cannot understand, for He has shut their eyes so they cannot see, and their minds so they cannot understand.


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No one reflects, no one has the perception or insight to say, "I burned half of it in the fire, I also baked bread on its coals, I roasted meat and ate. I will make something detestable with the rest of it, and I will bow down to a block of wood."


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He feeds on ashes. [His] deceived mind has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself, or say, "Isn't there a lie in my right hand?"


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Remember these things, Jacob, and Israel, for you are My servant; I formed you, you are My servant; Israel, you will never be forgotten by Me.


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I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.


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Rejoice, heavens, for the LORD has acted; shout, depths of the earth. Break out into singing, mountains, forest, and every tree in it. For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and glorifies Himself through Israel.


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This is what the LORD, your Redeemer who formed you from the womb, says: I am the LORD, who made everything; who stretched out the heavens by Myself; who alone spread out the earth;


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who destroys the omens of the false prophets and makes fools of diviners; who confounds the wise and makes their knowledge foolishness;


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who confirms the message of His servant and fulfills the counsel of His messengers; who says to Jerusalem: She will be inhabited, and to the cities of Judah: They will be rebuilt, and I will restore her ruins;


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who says to Cyrus: My shepherd, he will fulfill all My pleasure and say to Jerusalem: She will be rebuilt, and of the temple: Its foundation will be laid.


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The LORD says this to Cyrus, His anointed, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him, to unloose the loins of kings, to open the doors before him and the gates will not be shut:


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I will go before you and level the uneven places; I will shatter the bronze doors and cut the iron bars in two.


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I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches from secret places, so that you may know that I, the LORD, the God of Israel call you by your name.


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I call you by your name, because of Jacob My servant and Israel My chosen one. I give a name to you, though you do not know Me.


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I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God but Me. I will strengthen you, though you do not know Me,


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so that all may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is no one but Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other.


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I form light and create darkness, I make success and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.


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Heavens, sprinkle from above, and let the skies shower righteousness. Let the earth open up that salvation sprout and righteousness spring up with it. I, the LORD, have created it.


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Woe to the one who argues with his Maker-- one clay pot among many. Does clay say to the one forming it: What are you making? Or does your work [say]: He has no hands?


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How absurd is the one who says to [his] father: What are you fathering? or to [his] mother: What are you giving birth to?"


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This is what the LORD, the Holy One of Israel and its Maker, says: "Ask Me what is to happen to My sons, and instruct Me about the work of My hands.


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I made the earth, and created man on it. It was My hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.


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I have raised him up in righteousness, and will level all roads for him. He will rebuild My city, and set My exiles free, not for a price or a bribe," says the LORD of Hosts.


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This is what the LORD says: The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush and the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and will be yours; they will follow you, they will come over in chains; and bow down to you. They will confess to you: God is indeed with you, and there is no other; there is no other God.


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Israel will be saved by the LORD with an everlasting salvation; you will not be put to shame or humiliated for all eternity.


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For this is what the LORD says-- God is the Creator of the heavens. He formed the earth and made it; He established it; He did not create it to be empty, [but] formed it to be inhabited-- "I am the LORD, and there is no other.


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I have not spoken in secret, somewhere in a land of darkness. I did not say to the descendants of Jacob: Seek Me in a wasteland. I, the LORD, speak truthfully; I say what is right.


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Come, gather together, and draw near, you fugitives of the nations. Those who carry their wooden idols, and pray to a god who cannot save, have no knowledge.


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Speak up and present [your case]-- yes, let them take counsel together. Who predicted this long ago? Who announced it from ancient times? Was it not I, the LORD? There is no other God but Me, a righteous God and Savior; there is no one except Me.


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By Myself I have sworn; Truth has gone from My mouth, a word that will not be revoked: Every knee will bow to Me, every tongue will swear allegiance.


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It will be said to Me: Only in the LORD is righteousness and strength." All who are incensed against Him will come to Him and be put to shame.


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Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Their idols are consigned to beasts and cattle. The [images] you carry are loaded, as a burden for the weary [animal].


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The gods cower; they crouch together; they are not able to rescue the burden, but they themselves go into captivity.


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Listen to Me, house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been sustained from the womb, carried along since birth.


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I will be the same until [your] old age, and I will bear [you] up when you turn gray. I have made [you], and I will carry [you]; I will bear and save [you].


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Who will you compare Me or make Me equal to? Who will you measure Me with, so that we should be like each other?


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Those who pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on a scales-- they hire a goldsmith and he makes it into a god. Then they kneel and bow down to it.


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They lift it to their shoulder and bear it along; they set it in its place, and there it stands; it does not budge from its place. They cry out to it but it doesn't answer; it saves no one from his trouble.


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Remember what happened long ago, for I am God, and there is no other; [I am] God, and no one is like Me.


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I declare the end from the beginning, and from long ago what is not yet done, saying: My plan will take place, and I will do all My will.


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I call a bird of prey from the east, a man for My purpose from a far country. Yes, I have spoken; so I will also bring it about. I have planned it; I will also do it.


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I am bringing My justice near; it is not far away, and My salvation will not delay. I will put salvation in Zion, My splendor in Israel.


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Go down and sit in the dust, Virgin Daughter Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, Daughter Chaldea! For you will no longer be called pampered and spoiled.


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Take millstones and grind meal; remove your veil, strip off [your] skirt, bare your thigh, wade through the streams.


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Your nakedness will be uncovered, and your shame will be exposed. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.


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Daughter Chaldea, sit in silence and go into darkness. For you will no longer be called mistress of kingdoms.


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I was angry with My people; I profaned My possession, and I placed them under your control. You showed them no mercy; you made your yoke very heavy on the elderly.


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You said: I will be the mistress forever. You did not take these things to heart or think about their outcome.


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So now hear this, lover of luxury, who sits securely, who says to herself: I, and no one else, will never be a widow or know the loss of children.


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These two things will happen to you suddenly, in one day: loss of children and widowhood. They will happen to you in their entirety, in spite of your many sorceries and the potency of your spells.


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You were secure in your wickedness; you said: No one sees me. Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray. You said to yourself: I, and no one else.


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But disaster will happen to you; you will not know how to avert it. And it will fall on you, but you will be unable to ward it off. Devastation will happen to you suddenly and unexpectedly.


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So take your stand with your spells and your many sorceries, which you have wearied yourself with from your youth. Perhaps you will be able to succeed; perhaps you will inspire terror!


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You are worn out with your many consultations. So let them stand and save you-- the astrologers, who observe the stars, who predict monthly what will happen to you.


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Look, they are like stubble; fire burns them up. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. This is not a coal for warming themselves, or a fire to sit beside!


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This is what they are to you-- those who have wearied you and have traded with you from your youth-- each wanders on his own way; no one can save you.


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Listen to this, house of Jacob-- those who are called by the name Israel and have descended from Judah, who swear by the name of the LORD and declare the God of Israel, [but] not in truth or righteousness.


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I declared the past events long ago; they came out of My mouth; I proclaimed them. Suddenly I acted, and they occurred.


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therefore I declared to you long ago; I announced it to you before it occurred, so you could not claim: My idol caused them; my carved image and cast idol control them.


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You have heard it. Observe it all. Will you not acknowledge it? From now on I will announce new things to you, hidden things that you have not known.


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They have been created now, and not long ago; you have not heard of them before today, so you could not claim, "I already knew them!"


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You have never heard; you have never known; For a long time your ears have not been open. For I knew that you were very treacherous, and were known as a rebel from birth.


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I will delay My anger for the honor of My name, and I will restrain Myself for your benefit and [for] My praise, so that you will not be destroyed.


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I will act for My own sake, indeed, My own, for how can I be defiled? I will not give My glory to another.


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My own hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I summoned them, they stood up together.


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All of you, assemble and listen! Who among the idols has declared these things? The LORD loves him; he will accomplish His will against Babylon, and His arm [will be against] the Chaldeans.


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Approach Me and listen to this. From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time anything existed, I was there." And now the Lord God has sent me and His Spirit.


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This is what the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: I am the LORD your God, who teaches you for [your] benefit, who leads you in the way you should go.


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If only you had paid attention to My commands. Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.


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Your descendants would have been as [countless] as the sand, and the offspring of your body like its grains; their name would not be cut off or eliminated from My presence.


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Leave Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans! Declare with a shout of joy, proclaim this, let it go out to the end of the earth; announce, "The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob!"


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They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He made water flow for them from the rock; He split the rock, and water gushed out.


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Coastlands, listen to me; distant peoples, pay attention. The LORD called me before I was born. He named me while I was in my mother's womb.


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He made my words like a sharp sword; He hid me in the shadow of His hand. He made me like a sharpened arrow; He hid me in His quiver.


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But I myself said: I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and futility; yet my vindication is with the LORD, and my reward is with my God.


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And now, says the LORD, who formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him so that Israel might be gathered to Him; for I am honored in the sight of the LORD, and my God is my strength--


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He says, "It is not enough for you to be My servant raising up the tribes of Jacob and restoring the protected ones of Israel. I will also make you a light for the nations, to be My salvation to the ends of the earth."


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This is what the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One says to one who is despised, to one abhorred by people, to a servant of rulers: "Kings will see and stand up, and princes will bow down, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel-- and He has chosen you."


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This is what the LORD says: I will answer you in a time of favor, and I will help you in the day of salvation. I will keep you, and I will appoint you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land, to make them possess the desolate inheritances,


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saying to the prisoners: Come out, and to those who are in darkness: Show yourselves. They will feed along the pathways, and their pastures will be on all the barren heights.


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They will not hunger or thirst, the scorching heat or sun will not strike them; for their compassionate One will guide them, and lead them to springs of water.


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Shout for joy, you heavens! Earth, rejoice! Mountains break into joyful shouts! For the LORD has comforted His people, and will have compassion on His afflicted ones.


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Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the child of her womb? Even if these forget, yet I will not forget you.


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Look up, and look around. They all gather together; they come to you. As I live"-- the LORD's declaration-- "you will wear all your children as jewelry, and put them on as a bride does.


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For your waste and desolate places and your land marked by ruins-- will now be indeed too small for the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away.


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The children that you have been deprived of will yet say in your hearing: This place is too small for me; make room for me so that I may settle.


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Then you will say within yourself: Who fathered these for me? I was deprived of my children and barren, exiled and wandering-- but who brought them up? See, I was left by myself-- but these, where did they come from?"


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This is what the Lord God says: Look, I will lift up My hand to the nations, and raise My banner to the peoples. They will bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.


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Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down to you with their faces to the ground, and lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who put their hope in Me will not be put to shame.


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For this is what the LORD says: "Even the captives of a mighty man will be taken, and the prey of a tyrant will be delivered; I will contend with the one who contends with you, and I will save your children.


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I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they will be drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine. Then all flesh will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob."


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This is what the LORD says: Where is your mother's divorce certificate that I used to send her away? Or who were My creditors that I sold you to? Look, you were sold for your iniquities, and your mother was put away because of your transgressions.


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Why was no one there when I came? Why was there no one to answer when I called? Is My hand too short to redeem? Or do I have no power to deliver? Look, I dry up the sea by My rebuke; I turn the rivers into a wilderness; their fish rot because of lack of water and die of thirst.


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The Lord God has given Me the tongue of those who are instructed to know how to sustain the weary with a word. He awakens [Me] each morning; He awakens My ear to listen like those being instructed.


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I gave My back to those who beat Me, and My cheeks to those who tore out My beard. I did not hide My face from scorn and spitting.


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The Lord God will help Me; therefore I have not been humiliated; therefore I have set My face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.


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The One who justifies Me is near; who will contend with Me? Let us confront each other. Who has a case against Me? Let him come near Me!


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In truth, the Lord God will help Me; who is he who will condemn Me? Indeed, all of them will wear out like a garment; a moth will devour them.


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Who among you fears the LORD, listening to the voice of His servant? Who [among you] walks in darkness, and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD; let him lean on his God.


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Look, all you who kindle a fire, who encircle yourselves with firebrands; walk in the light of your fire and in the firebrands you have lit! This is what you'll get from My hand: you will lie down in a place of torment.


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Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were cut, and to the quarry from which you were dug.


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Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain. When I called him, he was only one; I blessed him and made him many.


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For the LORD will comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places, and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and melodious song.


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Pay attention to Me, My people, and listen to Me, My nation; for instruction will come from Me, and My justice for a light to the nations. I will bring it about quickly.


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My righteousness is near, My salvation appears, and My arms will bring justice to the nations. The coastlands will put their hope in Me, and they will look to My strength.


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Look up to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its inhabitants will die in like manner. But My salvation will last forever, and My righteousness will never be shattered.


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Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My instruction: do not fear disgrace by men, and do not be shattered by their taunts.


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For the moth will devour them like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool. But My righteousness will last forever, and My salvation for all generations.


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Wake up, wake up! Put on the strength of the LORD's power. Wake up as in days past, as in generations of long ago. Wasn't it You who hacked Rahab to pieces, who pierced the sea monster?


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Wasn't it You who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the sea-bed into a road for the redeemed to pass over?


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And the ransomed of the LORD will return and come to Zion with singing, crowned with unending joy. Joy and gladness will overtake [them], and sorrow and sighing will flee.


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I-- I am the One who comforts you. Who are you that you should fear man who dies, or a son of man who is given up like grass?


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But you have forgotten the LORD, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. You are in constant dread all day long because of the fury of the oppressor, who has set himself to destroy. But where is the fury of the oppressor?


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The prisoner is soon to be set free; he will not die [and go] to the Pit, and his food will not be lacking.


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For I am the LORD your God who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar-- His name is Yahweh of Hosts.


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I have put My words in your mouth, and covered you in the shadow of My hand, in order to plant the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, "You are My people."


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Wake yourself, wake yourself up! Stand up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk the cup of His fury from the hand of the LORD; you who have drunk the goblet to the dregs-- the cup that [causes people] to stagger.


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There is no one to guide her among all the children she has raised; there is no one to take hold of her hand among all the offspring she has brought up.


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These two things have happened to you: devastation and destruction, famine and sword. Who will grieve for you? How can I comfort you?


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Your children have fainted; they lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a net. They are full of the LORD's fury, the rebuke of your God.


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This is what your Lord says-- Yahweh, even your God, who defends His people-- "Look, I have removed the cup of staggering from your hand; that goblet, the cup of My fury. You will never drink it again.


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I will put it into the hands of your tormenters, who said to you: Lie down, so we can walk over you. You made your back like the ground, and like a street for those who walk on it.


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Wake up, wake up; put on your strength, Zion! Put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the Holy City! For the uncircumcised and the unclean will no longer enter you.


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Stand up, shake the dust off yourself! Take your seat, Jerusalem. Remove the bonds from your neck, captive Daughter Zion."


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For this is what the LORD says: "You were sold for nothing, and you will be redeemed without silver."


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For this is what the Lord God says: "At first My people went down to Egypt to live there, then Assyria oppressed them without cause.


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So now what have I here"-- the LORD's declaration-- "that My people are taken away for nothing? Its rulers wail"-- the LORD's declaration-- "and My name is continually blasphemed all day long.


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Therefore My people will know My name; therefore [they will know] on that day that I am He who says: Here I am."


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How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the herald, who proclaims peace, who brings news of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns!"


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The voices of your watchmen-- they lift up their voices, shouting for joy together; for every eye will see when the LORD returns to Zion.


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Be joyful, rejoice together, you ruins of Jerusalem! For the LORD has comforted His people; He has redeemed Jerusalem.


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The LORD has displayed His holy arm in the sight of all the nations; all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.


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Leave, leave, go out from there! Do not touch anything unclean; go out from her, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.


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For you will not leave in a hurry, and you will not have to take flight; because the LORD is going before you, and the God of Israel is your rear guard.


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Just as many were appalled at You-- His appearance was so disfigured that He did not look like a man, and His form did not resemble a human being--


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so He will sprinklemany nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of Him, For they will see what had not been told them, and they will understand what they had not heard.


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He grew up before Him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or splendor that we should look at Him, no appearance that we should desire Him.


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He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like one people turned away from; He was despised, and we didn't value Him.


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Yet He Himself bore our sicknesses, and He carried our pains; but we in turn regarded Him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.


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But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds.


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We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the LORD has punished Him for the iniquity of us all.


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He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, He did not open His mouth.


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He was taken away because of oppression and judgment; and who considered His fate? For He was cut off from the land of the living; He was struck because of My people's rebellion.


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They made His grave with the wicked, and with a rich man at His death, although He had done no violence and had not spoken deceitfully.


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Yet the LORD was pleased to crush Him, and He made Him sick. When You make Him a restitution offering, He will see [His] seed, He will prolong His days, and the will of the LORD will succeed by His hand.


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He will see [it] out of His anguish, and He will be satisfied with His knowledge. My righteous servant will justify many, and He will carry their iniquities.


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Therefore I will give Him the many as a portion, and He will receive the mighty as spoil, because He submitted Himself to death, and was counted among the rebels; yet He bore the sin of many and interceded for the rebels.


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Rejoice, barren one, who did not give birth; burst into song and shout, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the forsaken one will be more than the children of the married woman," says the LORD.


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Enlarge the site of your tent, and let your tent curtains be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your ropes, and drive your pegs deep.


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For you will spread out to the right and to the left, and your descendants will dispossess nations and inhabit the desolate cities.


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Do not be afraid, for you will not be put to shame; don't be humiliated, for you will not be disgraced. For you will forget the shame of your youth, and you will no longer remember the disgrace of your widowhood.


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For your husband is your Maker-- His name is Yahweh of Hosts-- and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth.


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For the LORD has called you, like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit, a wife of one's youth when she is rejected," says your God.


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In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but I will have compassion on you with everlasting love," says the LORD your Redeemer.


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For this is like the days of Noah to Me: when I swore that the waters of Noah would never flood the earth again, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you or rebuke you.


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Though the mountains move and the hills shake, My love will not be removed from you and My covenant of peace will not be shaken," says your compassionate LORD.


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Poor [Jerusalem], storm-tossed, and not comforted, I will set your stones in black mortar, and lay your foundations in sapphires.


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I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling stones, and all your walls of precious stones.


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and you will be established on [a foundation of] righteousness. You will be far from oppression, you will certainly not be afraid; you will be far from terror, it will certainly not come near you.


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Look, I have created the craftsman who blows on the charcoal fire and produces a weapon suitable for its task; and I have created the destroyer to work havoc.


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No weapon formed against you will succeed, and you will refute any accusation raised against you in court. This is the heritage of the LORD's servants, and their righteousness is from Me." [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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Come, everyone who is thirsty, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost!


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Why do you spend money on what is not food, and your wages on what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and you will enjoy the choicest of foods.


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Pay attention and come to Me; listen, so that you will live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the promises assured to David.


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so you will summon a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you will run to you. For the LORD your God, even the Holy One of Israel, has glorified you."


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Let the wicked one abandon his way, and the sinful one his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, so He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will freely forgive.


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For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways." [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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For as heaven is higher than earth, so My ways are higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.


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For just as rain and snow fall from heaven, and do not return there without saturating the earth, and making it germinate and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat,


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so My word that comes from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and will prosper in what I send it [to do]."


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You will indeed go out with joy and be peacefully guided; the mountains and the hills will break into singing before you, and all the trees of the field will clap [their] hands.


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Instead of the thornbush, a cypress will come up, and instead of the brier, a myrtle will come up; it will make a name for the LORD as an everlasting sign that will not be destroyed.


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This is what the LORD says: Preserve justice and do what is right, for My salvation is coming soon, and My righteousness will be revealed.


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Happy is the man who does this, anyone who maintains this, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.


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No foreigner who has converted to the LORD should say, "The LORD will exclude me from His people"; and the eunuch should not say, "Look, I am a dried-up tree."


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For the LORD says this: "For the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me, and hold firmly to My covenant,


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I will give them, in My house and within My walls, a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give each [of them] an everlasting name that will never be cut off.


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And the foreigners who convert to the LORD, minister to Him, love the LORD's name, and are His servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it, and who hold firmly to My covenant--


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I will bring them to My holy mountain and let them rejoice in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar, for My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations."


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[This is] the declaration of the Lord God, who gathers the dispersed of Israel: "I will gather to them still others besides those already gathered."


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Israel's watchmen are blind, all of them, they know nothing; all of them are mute dogs, they cannot bark; they dream, lie down, and love to sleep.


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These dogs have fierce appetites; they never have enough. And they are shepherds who have no discernment; all of them turn to their own way, every last one for his own gain.


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Come, let me get [some] wine, let's guzzle [some] beer; and tomorrow will be like today, only far better!"


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The righteous one perishes, and no one takes it to heart; faithful men are swept away, with no one realizing that the righteous one is swept away from the presence of evil.


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Who is it you are mocking? Who is it you are opening your mouth and sticking out your tongue at? Isn't it you, you rebellious children, you race of liars,


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who burn with lust among the oaks, under every flourishing tree, who slaughter children in the wadis below the clefts of the rocks?


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Your portion is among the smooth [stones] of the wadi; indeed, they are your lot. You have even poured out a drink offering to them; you have offered a grain offering; should I be satisfied with these?


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You have set up your memorial behind the door and doorpost. For away from Me, you stripped, went up, and made your bed wide, and you have made a bargain for yourself with them. You have loved their bed; you have gazed on their genitals.


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You went to the king with oil and multiplied your perfumes; you sent your envoys far away and sent [them] down even to Sheol.


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You became weary on your many journeys, [but] you did not say, "I give up!" You found a renewal of your strength; therefore you did not grow weak.


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Who was it you dreaded and feared, so that you lied and didn't remember Me or take it to heart? Have I not kept silent for such a long time and you do not fear Me?


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When you cry out, let your collection [of idols] deliver you! The wind will carry all of them off, a breath will take them away. But whoever takes refuge in Me will inherit the land and possess My holy mountain.


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For the High and Exalted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy says this: "I live in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and lowly of spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the oppressed.


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For I will not accuse [you] forever, and I will not always be angry; for then the spirit would grow weak before Me, even the breath [of man], which I have made.


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Because of his sinful greed I was angry, so I struck him; I was angry and hid; but he went on turning back to the desires of his heart.


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creating words of praise." The LORD says, "Peace, peace to the one who is far or near, and I will heal him.


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But the wicked are like the storm-tossed sea, for it cannot be still, and its waters churn up mire and muck.


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Cry out loudly, don't hold back! Raise your voice like a trumpet. Tell My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.


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They seek Me day after day and delight to know My ways, like a nation that does what is right and does not abandon the justice of their God. They ask Me for righteous judgments; they delight in the nearness of God."


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Why have we fasted, but You have not seen? We have denied ourselves, but You haven't noticed!" "Look, you do as you please on the day of your fast, and oppress all your workers.


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You fast [with] contention and strife to strike viciously with [your] fist. You cannot fast as [you do] today, [hoping] to make your voice heard on high.


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Will the fast I choose be like this: A day for a person to deny himself, to bow his head like a reed, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the LORD?


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Isn't the fast I choose: To break the chains of wickedness, to untie the ropes of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, and to tear off every yoke?


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Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your house, to clothe the naked when you see him, and to not ignore your own flesh [and blood]?


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Then your light will appear like the dawn, and your recovery will come quickly. Your righteousness will go before you, and the LORD's glory will be your rear guard.


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At that time, when you call, the LORD will answer; when you cry out, He will say: Here I am. If you get rid of the yoke from those around you, the finger-pointing and malicious speaking,


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and if you offer yourself to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted one, then your light will shine in the darkness, and your night will be like noonday.


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The LORD will always lead you, satisfy you in a parched land, and strengthen your bones. You will be like a watered garden and like a spring whose waters never run dry.


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Some of you will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will restore the foundations laid long ago; you will be called the repairer of broken walls, the restorer of streets where people live.


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If you keep from desecrating the Sabbath, from doing whatever you want on My holy day; if you call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy [day] of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, seeking your own pleasure, or talking too much;


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then you will delight yourself in the LORD, and I will make you ride over the heights of the land, and let you enjoy the heritage of your father Jacob." For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.


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But your iniquities have built barriers between you and your God, and your sins have made Him hide [His] face from you so that He does not listen.


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For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, and you mutter injustice.


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No one makes claims justly; no one pleads honestly. They trust in empty and worthless words; they conceive trouble and give birth to iniquity.


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They hatch viper's eggs and weave spider's webs. Whoever eats their eggs will die; crack one open, and a viper is hatched.


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Their webs cannot become clothing, and they cannot cover themselves with their works. Their works are sinful works, and violent acts are in their hands.


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Their feet run after evil, and they rush to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and wretchedness are in their paths.


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They have not known the path of peace, and there is no justice in their ways. They have made their roads crooked; no one who walks on them will know peace.


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Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We hope for light, but there is darkness; for brightness, but we live in the night.


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We grope along a wall like the blind; we grope like those without eyes. We stumble at noon as though it were twilight; [we are] like the dead among those who are healthy.


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We all growl like bears and moan like doves. We hope for justice, but there is none; for salvation, [but] it is far from us.


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For our transgressions have multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us. For our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities:


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transgression and deception against the LORD, turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering lying words from the heart.


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Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far off. For truth has stumbled in the public square, and honesty cannot enter.


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Truth is missing, and whoever turns from evil is plundered. The LORD saw that there was no justice, and He was offended.


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He saw that there was no man-- He was amazed that there was no one interceding; so His own arm brought salvation, and His own righteousness supported Him.


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He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and He wrapped Himself in zeal as in a cloak.


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Thus He will repay according to [their] deeds: fury to His enemies, retribution to His foes, and He will repay the coastlands.


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They will fear the name of the LORD in the west, and His glory in the east; for He will come like a rushing stream driven by the wind of the LORD.


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The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those in Jacob who turn from transgression. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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As for Me, this is My covenant with them," says the LORD: "My Spirit who is on you, and My words that I have put in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouth of your children, or from the mouth of your children's children, from now on and forever," says the LORD.


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For look, darkness covers the earth, and total darkness the peoples; but the LORD will shine over you, and His glory will appear over you.


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Raise your eyes and look around: they all gather and come to you; your sons will come from far away, and your daughters will be carried on the hip.


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Then you will see and be radiant, and your heart will tremble and rejoice, because the riches of the sea will become yours, and the wealth of the nations will come to you.


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Caravans of camels will cover your land-- young camels of Midian and Ephah-- all of them will come from Sheba. They will carry gold and frankincense and proclaim the praises of the LORD.


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All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered to you; the rams of Nebaioth will serve you and go up on My altar as an acceptable [sacrifice]. I will glorify My beautiful house.


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Yes, the islands will wait for Me with the ships of Tarshish in the lead, to bring your children from far away, their silver and gold with them, for the honor of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, who has glorified you.


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Foreigners will build up your walls, and their kings will serve you. Although I struck you in My wrath, yet I will show mercy to you with My favor.


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Your gates will always be open; they will never be shut day or night so that the wealth of the nations may be brought into you, with their kings being led [in procession].


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For the nation and the kingdom that will not serve you will perish; those nations will be annihilated.


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The glory of Lebanon will come to you-- [its] pine, fir, and cypress together-- to beautify the place of My sanctuary, and I will glorify My dwelling place.


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The sons of your oppressors will come and bow down to you; all who reviled you will fall down on their faces at your feet. They will call you the City of the LORD, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.


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Instead of your being deserted and hated, with no one passing through, I will make you an object of eternal pride, a joy from age to age.


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You will nurse on the milk of nations, and nurse at the breast of kings; you will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.


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I will bring gold instead of bronze; I will bring silver instead of iron, bronze instead of wood, and iron instead of stones. I will appoint peace as your guard and righteousness as your ruler.


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Violence will never again be heard of in your land; devastation and destruction [will be gone from] your borders. But you will name your walls salvation, and your gates praise.


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The sun will no longer be your light by day, and the brightness of the moon will not shine on you; but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your splendor.


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Your sun will no longer set, and your moon will not fade; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and the days of your sorrow will be over.


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Then all your people will be righteous; they will possess the land forever; they are the branch I planted, the work of My hands, so that I may be glorified.


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The least will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation. I am the LORD; I will accomplish it quickly in its time.


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The Spirit of the Lord God is on Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and freedom to the prisoners;


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to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of our God's vengeance; to comfort all who mourn,


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to provide for those who mourn in Zion; to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, festive oil instead of mourning, and splendid clothes instead of despair. And they will be called righteous trees, planted by the LORD, to glorify Him.


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They will rebuild the ancient ruins; they will restore the former devastations; they will renew the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.


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But you will be called the LORD's priests; they will speak of you as ministers of our God; you will eat the wealth of the nations, and you will boast in their riches.


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Because your shame was double, and they cried out, "Disgrace is their portion," therefore, they will possess double in their land, and eternal joy will be theirs.


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For I the LORD love justice; I hate robbery and injustice; I will faithfully reward them and make an everlasting covenant with them.


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Their descendants will be known among the nations, and their posterity among the peoples. All who see them will recognize that they are a people the LORD has blessed.


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I greatly rejoice in the LORD, I exult in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom wears a turban and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.


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For as the earth brings forth its growth, and as a garden enables what is sown to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.


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I will not keep silent because of Zion, and I will not keep still because of Jerusalem until her righteousness shines like a bright light, and her salvation like a flaming torch.


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Nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory. You will be called by a new name that the LORD's mouth will announce.


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You will no longer be called Deserted, and your land will not be called Desolate; instead, you will be called My Delight is in Her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land will be married.


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For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons will marry you; and as a bridegroom rejoices over [his] bride, so your God will rejoice over you.


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Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen on your walls; they will never be silent, day or night. You, who remind the LORD, no rest for you!


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The LORD has sworn with His right hand and His strong arm: I will no longer give your grain to your enemies for food, and foreigners will not drink your new wine you have labored for.


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For those who gather grain will eat it and praise the LORD, and those who harvest the grapes will drink [the wine] in My holy courts.


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Go out, go out through the gates; prepare a way for the people! Build it up, build up the highway; clear away the stones! Raise a banner for the peoples.


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Look, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth, "Say to Daughter Zion: Look, your salvation is coming, His reward is with Him, and His recompense is before Him."


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And they will be called the Holy People, the LORD's Redeemed; and you will be called Cared For, A City Not Deserted.


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Who is this coming from Edom in crimson-stained garments from Bozrah-- this One who is splendid in His apparel, rising up proudly in His great might? It is I, proclaiming vindication, powerful to save.


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I trampled the winepress alone, and no one from the nations was with Me. I trampled them in My anger and ground them underfoot in My fury; their blood spattered My garments, and all My clothes were stained.


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I looked, but there was no one to help, and I was amazed that no one assisted; so My arm accomplished victory for Me, and My wrath assisted Me.


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I crushed nations in My anger; I made them drunk with My wrath and poured out their blood on the ground.


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I will make known the LORD's faithful love [and] the LORD's praiseworthy acts, because of all the LORD has done for us-- even the many good things [He has done] for the house of Israel and has done for them based on His compassions and the abundance of His faithful love.


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He said, "They are indeed My people, children who will not be disloyal," and He became their Savior.


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In all their suffering, He suffered, and the Angel of His Presence saved them. He redeemed them because of His love and compassion; He lifted them up and carried them all the days of the past.


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Then He remembered the days of the past, [the days] of Moses [and] his people. Where is He who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is He who put His Holy Spirit among the flock?


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He sent His glorious arm at Moses' right hand, divided the waters before them to obtain eternal fame for Himself,


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Like cattle that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. You led Your people this way to make a glorious name for Yourself.


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Look down from heaven and see from Your lofty home-- holy and beautiful. Where is Your zeal and Your might? Your yearning and Your compassion are withheld from me.


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Yet You are our Father, even though Abraham does not know us and Israel doesn't recognize us. You, LORD, are our Father; from ancient times, Your name is our Redeemer.


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Why, LORD, do You make us stray from Your ways? You harden our hearts so we do not fear You. Return, because of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage.


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Your holy people had a possession for a little while, [but] our enemies have trampled down Your sanctuary.


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If only You would tear the heavens open [and] come down, so that mountains would quake at Your presence--


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as fire kindles the brushwood, and fire causes water to boil-- to make Your name known to Your enemies, so that nations will tremble at Your presence!


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When You did awesome deeds that we did not expect, You came down, and the mountains quaked at Your presence.


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From ancient times no one has heard, no one has listened, no eye has seen any God except You, who acts on behalf of the one who waits for Him.


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You welcome the one who joyfully does what is right; they remember You in Your ways. But we have sinned, and You were angry; we will remain in Your ways and be saved.


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All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment; all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.


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No one calls on Your name, striving to take hold of You. For You have hidden Your face from us and made us melt because ofour iniquity.


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Yet LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our potter; we all are the work of Your hands.


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LORD, do not be terribly angry or remember [our] iniquity forever. Please look-- all of us are Your people!


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Our holy and beautiful temple, where our fathers praised You, has been burned with fire, and all that was dear to us lies in ruins.


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I was sought by those who did not ask; I was found by those who did not seek Me. I said: Here I am, here I am, to a nation that was not called by My name.


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I spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people who walk in the wrong path, following their own thoughts.


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sitting among the graves, spending nights in secret places, eating swine's flesh, and putting polluted broth in their bowls.


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They say: Keep to yourself, don't come near me, for I am too holy for you! These practices are smoke in My nostrils, a fire that burns all day long.


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[for] your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together," says the LORD. "Because they burned incense on the mountains and reproached Me on the hills, I will reward them fully for their former deeds."


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The LORD says this: As the new wine is found in a bunch of grapes, and one says: Don't destroy it, for there's some good in it, so I will act because of My servants and not destroy them all.


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I will produce descendants from Jacob, and heirs to My mountains from Judah; My chosen ones will possess it, and My servants will dwell there.


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Sharon will be a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a place for cattle to lie down, for My people who have sought Me.


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But you who abandon the LORD, who forget My holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,


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I will destine you for the sword, and all of you will kneel down to be slaughtered, because I called and you did not answer, I spoke and you did not hear; you did what was evil in My sight and chose what I did not delight in.


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Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: My servants will eat, but you will be hungry; My servants will drink, but you will be thirsty; My servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame.


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My servants will shout for joy from a glad heart, but you will cry out from an anguished heart, and you will lament out of a broken spirit.


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You will leave your name behind as a curse for My chosen ones, and the Lord God will kill you; but He will give His servants another name.


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Whoever is blessed in the land will be blessed by the God of truth, and whoever swears in the land will swear by the God of truth. For the former troubles will be forgotten and hidden from My sight.


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For I will create a new heaven and a new earth; the past events will not be remembered or come to mind.


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Then be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I will create Jerusalem to be a joy, and its people to be a delight.


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I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people. The sound of weeping and crying will no longer be heard in her.


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In her, a nursing infant will no longer live only a few days, or an old man not live out his days. Indeed, the youth will die at a hundred years, and the one who misses a hundred years will be cursed.


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They will not build and others live [in them]; they will not plant and others eat. For My people's lives will be like the lifetime of a tree. My chosen ones will fully enjoy the work of their hands.


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They will not labor without success or bear children [destined] for disaster, for they will be a people blessed by the LORD along with their descendants.


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The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but the serpent's food will be dust! They will not do what is evil or destroy on My entire holy mountain," says the LORD.


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This is what the LORD says: Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What house could you possibly build for Me? And what place could be My home?


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My hand made all these things, and so they all came into being. [This is] the LORD's declaration. I will look favorably on this kind of person: one who is humble, submissive in spirit, and who trembles at My word.


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One slaughters an ox, one kills a man; one sacrifices a lamb, one breaks a dog's neck; one offers a grain offering, one offers swine's blood; one offers incense, one praises an idol-- all these have chosen their ways and delight in their abominations.


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So I will choose their punishment, and I will bring on them what they dread, because I called and no one answered; I spoke and they didn't hear; they did what is evil in My sight and chose what I didn't delight in.


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You who tremble at His word, hear the word of the LORD: "Your brothers who hate and exclude you because of Me have said: Let the LORD be glorified, so that we can see your joy! But they will be put to shame."


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A sound of uproar from the city! A voice from the temple-- the voice of the LORD, paying back His enemies what they deserve!


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Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day, or a nation be delivered in an instant? Yet as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her sons.


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Will I bring a baby to the point of birth and not deliver [it]?" says the LORD; "or will I who deliver, close [the womb]?" says your God.


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Be glad for Jerusalem and rejoice over her, all who love her. Rejoice greatly with her, all who mourn over her--


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so that you may nurse and be satisfied from her comforting breast and drink deeply and delight yourselves from her glorious breasts.


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For this is what the LORD says: I will make peace flow to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flood; you will nurse and be carried on [her] hip, and bounced on [her] lap.


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You will see, you will rejoice, and you will flourish like grass; then the LORD's power will be revealed to His servants, but He will show His wrath against His enemies.


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Look, the LORD will come with fire-- His chariots are like the whirlwind-- to execute His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire.


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For the LORD will execute judgment on all flesh with His fiery sword, and many will be slain by the LORD.


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Those who dedicate and purify themselves to [enter] the groves following their leader, eating meat from pigs, vermin, and rats, will perish together." [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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Knowing their works and their thoughts, I have come to gather all nations and languages; they will come and see My glory.


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I will establish a sign among them, and I will send survivors from them to the nations-- to Tarshish, Put, Lud (who are archers), Tubal, Javan, and the islands far away-- who have not heard of My fame or seen My glory. And they will proclaim My glory among the nations.


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They will bring all your brothers from all the nations as a gift to the LORD on horses and chariots, in litters, and on mules and camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD.


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For just as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, will endure before Me"-- the LORD's declaration-- "so will your offspring and your name endure.


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All mankind will come to worship Me, from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another," says the LORD.


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As they leave, they will see the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against Me; for their maggots will never die, their fire will never go out, and they will be a horror to all mankind."


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The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests living in Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin.


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The word of the LORD came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah.


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It also came throughout the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.


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I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.


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Then the LORD said to me: Do not say: I am [only] a youth, for you will go to everyone I send you to and speak whatever I tell you.


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Do not be afraid of anyone, for I will be with you to deliver you. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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Then the LORD reached out His hand, touched my mouth, and told me: Look, I have filled your mouth with My words.


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See, today I have set you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and demolish, to build and plant.


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Then the word of the LORD came to me, asking, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" I replied, "I see a branch of an almond tree."


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Again the word of the LORD came to me inquiring, "What do you see?" And I replied, "I see a boiling pot, its mouth tilted from the north [to the south]."


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Indeed, I am about to summon all the clans and kingdoms of the north." [This is] the LORD's declaration. They will come, and each [king] will set up his throne at the entrance to Jerusalem's gates. They will attack all her surrounding walls and all the other cities of Judah.


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I will pronounce My judgments against them for all the evil they did when they abandoned Me to burn incense to other gods and to worship the works of their own hands.


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Now, get ready. Stand up and tell them everything that I command you. Do not be intimidated by them or I will cause you to cower before them.


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Today, I am the One who has made you a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land-- against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the population.


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They will fight against you but never prevail over you, since I am with you to rescue you." [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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Go and announce directly to Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: I remember the loyalty of your youth, your love as a bride-- how you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.


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Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of His harvest. All who ate of it found themselves guilty; disaster came on them." [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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Here is what the LORD says: What fault did your fathers find in Me that they went so far from Me, followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves?


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They stopped asking: Where is the LORD who brought us from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, through a land of drought and darkness, a land no one traveled through and where no one lived?


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I brought you to a fertile land to eat its fruit and bounty, but after you entered, you defiled My land; you made My inheritance detestable.


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The priests quit asking: Where is the LORD? The experts in the law no longer knew Me, and the rulers rebelled against Me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and followed useless idols.


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Therefore, I will bring a case against you again. [This is] the LORD's declaration. I will bring a case against your children's children.


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Cross over to Cyprusand take a look. Send [someone] to Kedar and consider carefully; see if there has ever been anything like this:


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Has a nation [ever] exchanged its gods? (but they were not gods!) Yet My people have exchanged their Glory for useless idols.


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For My people have committed a double evil: They have abandoned Me, the fountain of living water, and dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.


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The young lions have roared at him; they have roared loudly. They have laid waste his land. His cities are in ruins, without inhabitants.


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Have you not brought this on yourself by abandoning the LORD your God while He was leading you along the way?


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Now what will you gain by traveling along the way to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? What will you gain by traveling along the way to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates?


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Your own evil will discipline you; your own apostasies will reprimand you. Think it over and see how evil and bitter it is for you to abandon the LORD your God and to have no fear of Me. [This is] the declaration of the Lord God of Hosts.


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For long ago I broke your yoke; I tore off your fetters. You insisted: I will not serve! On every high hill and under every leafy tree you lie down [like] a prostitute.


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I planted you, a choice vine from the very best seed. How then could you turn into a degenerate, foreign vine?


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Even if you wash with lye and use a great amount of soap, the stain of your guilt is still in front of Me. [This is] the Lord GOD's declaration.


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How can you protest: I am not defiled; I have not followed the Baals? Look at your behavior in the valley; acknowledge what you have done. [You are] a swift young camel twisting and turning on her way,


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a wild donkey at home in the wilderness. She sniffs the wind in the heat of her desire. Who can control her passion? All who look for her will not become tired; they will find her in her mating season.


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Keep your feet from going bare and your throat from thirst. But you say: It's hopeless; I love strangers, and I will continue to follow them.


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Like the shame of a thief when he is caught, so the house of Israel has been put to shame. They, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets


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say to a tree: You are my father, and to a stone: You gave birth to me. For they have turned their back to Me and not their face, but in their time of disaster they beg: Rise up and save us!


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But where are your gods you made for yourself? Let them rise up and save you in your time of disaster if they can, for your gods are as numerous as your cities, Judah.


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Why do you bring a case against Me? All of you have rebelled against Me. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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I have struck down your children in vain; they would not accept discipline. Your own sword has devoured your prophets like a ravaging lion.


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[Evil] generation, pay attention to the word of the LORD! Have I been a wilderness to Israel or a land of dense darkness? Why do My people claim: We will go where we want; we will no longer come to You?


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Can a young woman forget her jewelry or a bride her wedding sash? Yet My people have forgotten Me for countless days.


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Moreover, your skirts are stained with the blood of the innocent poor. You did not catch them breaking and entering. But in spite of all these things


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you claim: I am innocent. His anger is sure to turn away from me. But I will certainly judge you because you have said: I have not sinned.


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How unstable you are, constantly changing your way! You will be put to shame by Egypt just as you were put to shame by Assyria.


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Moreover, you will be led out from here with your hands on your head since the LORD has rejected those you trust; you will not succeed even with their help.


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If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Wouldn't such a land become totally defiled? But you! You have played the prostitute with many partners-- can you return to Me? [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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Look to the barren heights and see. Where have you not been immoral? You sat waiting for them beside the highways like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness.


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This is why the showers haven't come-- why there has been no spring rain. You have the brazen look of a prostitute and refuse to be ashamed.


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Will He bear a grudge forever? Will He be endlessly infuriated? This is what you have spoken and done, the evil you are capable of.


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In the days of King Josiah the LORD asked me, "Have you seen what unfaithful Israel has done? She has ascended every high hill and gone under every green tree to prostitute herself there.


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I thought: After she has done all these things, she will return to Me. But she didn't return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.


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I observed that it was because unfaithful Israel had committed adultery that I had sent her away and had given her a certificate of divorce. Nevertheless, her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid but also went and prostituted herself.


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Yet in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah didn't return to Me with all her heart-- only in pretense." [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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The LORD announced to me, "Unfaithful Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.


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Go, proclaim these words to the north, and say: Return, unfaithful Israel. [This is] the LORD's declaration. I will not look on you with anger, for I am unfailing in My love. [This is] the LORD's declaration. I will not be angry forever.


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Only acknowledge your guilt-- you have rebelled against the LORD your God. You have scattered your favors to strangers under every green tree and have not obeyed My voice. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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Return, you faithless children"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- "for I am your master, and I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.


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When you multiply and increase in the land, in those days"-- the LORD's declaration-- "no one will say any longer: The ark of the LORD's covenant. It will never come to mind, and no one will remember or miss it. It will never again be made.


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At that time Jerusalem will be called, The LORD's Throne, and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the name of the LORD in Jerusalem. They will cease to follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts.


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In those days the house of Judah will join with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land I have given your ancestors to inherit."


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I thought: How I long to make you [My] sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations. I thought: You will call Me, my Father, and never turn away from Me.


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However, as a woman may betray her lover, so you have betrayed Me, house of Israel. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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A sound is heard on the barren heights, the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy, for they have perverted their way; they have forgotten the LORD their God.


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Return, you faithless children. I will heal your unfaithfulness. "Here we are, coming to You, for You are the LORD our God.


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Surely, falsehood comes from the hills, commotion from the mountains, but the salvation of Israel is only in the LORD our God.


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From the time of our youth the shameful one has consumed what our fathers have worked for-- their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.


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Let us lie down in our shame; let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the LORD our God, both we and our fathers, from the time of our youth even to this day. We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God."


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If you return, Israel-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- [if] you return to Me, if you remove your detestable idols from My presence and do not waver,


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if you swear, As the LORD lives, in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then the nations will be blessed by Him and will pride themselves in Him.


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For this is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: Break up the unplowed ground; do not sow among the thorns.


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Circumcise yourselves to the LORD; remove the foreskin of your hearts, men of Judah and residents of Jerusalem. Otherwise, My wrath will break out like fire and burn with no one to extinguish [it] because of your evil deeds.


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Declare in Judah, proclaim in Jerusalem, and say: Blow the ram's horn throughout the land. Cry out loudly and say: Assemble yourselves, and let's flee to the fortified cities.


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Lift up a signal flag toward Zion. Run for cover! Don't stand still! For I am bringing disaster from the north-- a great destruction.


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A lion has gone up from his thicket; a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his lair to make your land a waste. Your cities will be reduced to uninhabited ruins.


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Because of this, put on sackcloth; mourn and wail, for the LORD's burning anger has not turned away from us.


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On that day"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- "the king and the officials will lose their courage. The priests will tremble in fear, and the prophets will be scared speechless."


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I said, "Oh no, Lord God, You have certainly deceived this people and Jerusalem, by announcing, 'You will have peace,' while a sword is at our throats."


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At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, "A searing wind [blows] from the barren heights in the wilderness on the way to My dear people. [It comes] not to winnow or to sift;


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Look, he advances like clouds; his chariots are like a storm. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!


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Wash the evil from your heart, Jerusalem, so that you will be delivered. How long will you harbor malicious thoughts within you?


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Warn the nations: Look! Proclaim to Jerusalem: Those who besiege are coming from a distant land; they raise their voices against the cities of Judah.


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They have her surrounded like those who guard a field, because she has rebelled against Me. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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Your way of life and your actions have brought this on you. This is your punishment. It is very bitter, because it has reached your heart!


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My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in agony! Oh, the pain in my heart! My heart pounds; I cannot be silent. For you, my soul, have heard the sound of the ram's horn-- the shout of battle.


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Disaster after disaster is reported, for the whole land is destroyed. Suddenly my tents are destroyed, my tent curtains, in a moment.


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For My people are fools; they do not know Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing what is evil, but they do not know how to do what is good.


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I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty. [I looked] to the heavens, and their light was gone.


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I looked, and the fertile field was a wilderness. All its cities were torn down because of the LORD and His burning anger.


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Because of this, the earth will mourn; the skies above will grow dark. I have spoken; I have planned, and I will not relent or turn back from it.


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Every city flees at the sound of the horseman and the archer. They enter the thickets and climb among the rocks. Every city is abandoned; no inhabitant is left.


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And you devastated one, what are you doing that you dress yourself in scarlet, that you adorn yourself with gold jewelry, that you enlarge your eyes with paint? You beautify yourself for nothing. Your lovers reject you; they want to take your life.


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I hear a cry like a woman in labor, [a cry of] anguish like one bearing her first child. The cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands: Woe is me, for my life is weary because of the murderers!


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Roam through the streets of Jerusalem. Look and take note; search in her squares. If you find a single person, anyone who acts justly, who seeks to be faithful, then I will forgive her.


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LORD, don't Your eyes [look for] faithfulness? You have struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They made their faces harder than rock, and they refused to return.


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Then I thought: They are just the poor; they have played the fool. For they don't understand the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.


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I will go to the powerful and speak to them. Surely they know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God. However, these also had broken the yoke and torn off the fetters.


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Therefore, a lion from the forest will strike them down. A wolf from an arid plain will ravage them. A leopard keeps watch over their cities. Anyone who leaves them will be torn to pieces because their rebellious acts are many, their unfaithful deeds numerous.


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Why should I forgive you? Your children have abandoned Me and sworn by those who are not gods. I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery; they gashed themselves at the prostitute's house.


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Should I not punish them for these things? [This is] the LORD's declaration. Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?


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Go up among her vineyard terraces and destroy them, but do not finish them off. Prune away her shoots, for they do not belong to the LORD.


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They, the house of Israel and the house of Judah, have dealt very treacherously with Me. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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They have contradicted the LORD and insisted, "It won't happen. Harm won't come to us; we won't see sword or famine."


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The prophets become [only] wind, for the [LORD's] word is not in them. This will in fact happen to them.


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Therefore, this is what the Lord God of Hosts says: Because you have spoken this word, I am going to make My words become fire in your mouth. These people are the wood, and the fire will consume them.


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I am about to bring a nation from far away against you, house of Israel. [This is] the LORD's declaration. It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you do not understand.


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They will consume your harvest and your food. They will consume your sons and your daughters. They will consume your flocks and your herds. They will consume your vines and your fig trees. They will destroy with the sword your fortified cities in which you trust.


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When people ask: For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us? You will respond to them: Just as you abandoned Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.


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Hear this, you foolish and senseless people. They have eyes, but they don't see. They have ears, but they don't hear.


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Do you not fear Me? [This is] the LORD's declaration. Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary of the sea, an enduring barrier that it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot pass over it.


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They have not said to themselves: Let's fear the LORD our God, who gives the rain, both early and late, in its season, who guarantees to us the fixed weeks of the harvest.


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Your guilty acts have diverted these things [from you]. Your sins have withheld [My] bounty from you,


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for wicked men live among My people. They watch like fowlers lying in wait. They set a trap; they catch men.


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Like a cage full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have grown powerful and rich.


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They have become fat and sleek. They have also excelled in evil matters. They have not taken up cases, such as the case of orphans, so they might prosper, and they have not defended the rights of the needy.


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The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it like this. But what will you do at the end of it?


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Run for cover, Benjaminites, out of Jerusalem! Sound the ram's horn in Tekoa; raise a smoke signal over Beth-haccherem, for disaster threatens from the north, even great destruction.


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Shepherds and their flocks will come against her; they will pitch [their] tents all around her. Each will pasture his own portion.


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Set [them] apart for war against her; rise up, let's attack at noon. Woe to us, for the day is passing; the evening shadows grow long.


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For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: Cut down the trees; raise a siege ramp against Jerusalem. This city must be punished. There is nothing but oppression within her.


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As a well gushes out its water, so she pours forth her evil. Violence and destruction resound in her. Sickness and wounds keep coming to My attention.


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Be warned, Jerusalem, or I will be torn away from you; I will make you a desolation, a land devoid of inhabitant.


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This is what the LORD of Hosts says: Glean as thoroughly as a vine the remnant of Israel. Pass your hand once more like a grape gatherer over the branches.


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Who can I speak to and give such a warning that they will listen? Look, their ear is uncircumcised, so they cannot pay attention. See, the word of the LORD has become contemptible to them-- they find no pleasure in it.


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But I am full of the LORD's wrath; I am tired of holding it back. Pour [it] out on the children in the street, on the gang of young men as well. For both husband and wife will be captured, the old with the very old.


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Their houses will be turned over to others, [their] fields and wives as well, for I will stretch out My hand against the residents of the land. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is gaining profit unjustly. From prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely.


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They have treated My people's brokenness superficially, claiming: Peace, peace, when there is no peace.


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Were they ashamed when they acted so abhorrently? They weren't at all ashamed. They can no longer feel humiliation. Therefore, they will fall among the fallen. When I punish them, they will collapse, says the LORD.


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This is what the LORD says: Stand by the roadways and look. Ask about the ancient paths: Which is the way to what is good? Then take it and find rest for yourselves. But they protested: We won't!


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I appointed watchmen over you [and said:] Listen for the sound of the ram's horn. But they protested: We won't listen!


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Listen, earth! I am about to bring disaster on these people, the fruit of their own plotting, for they have paid no attention to My word. They have rejected My law.


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What use to Me is frankincense from Sheba or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please Me.


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Therefore, this is what the LORD says: I am going to place stumbling blocks before these people; fathers and sons together will stumble over them; friends and neighbors will [also] perish.


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This is what the LORD says: Look, an army is coming from a northern land; a great nation will be awakened from the remote regions of the earth.


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They grasp bow and javelin. They are cruel and show no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, lined up like men in battle formation against you, Daughter Zion.


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We have heard about it, and we are discouraged. Distress has seized us-- pain like a woman in labor.


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Don't go out to the fields; don't walk on the road. For the enemy has a sword; terror is on every side.


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My dear people, dress yourselves in sackcloth and roll in the dust. Mourn [as you would for] an only son, a bitter lament, for suddenly the destroyer will come on us.


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I have appointed you to be an assayer among My people-- a refiner-- so you may know and assay their way of life.


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The bellows blow, blasting the lead with fire. The refining is completely in vain; the evil ones are not separated out.


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Stand in the gate of the house of the LORD and there call out this word: Hear the word of the LORD, all [you people] of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the LORD.


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This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Correct your ways and your deeds, and I will allow you to live in this place.


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Do not trust deceitful words, chanting: This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.


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if you no longer oppress the alien, the fatherless, and the widow and no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods, bringing harm on yourselves,


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Do you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known?


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Then do you come and stand before Me in this house called by My name and insist: We are safe? As a result, you are free to continue doing all these detestable acts!


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Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your view? Yes, I too have seen [it]." [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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But return to My place that was at Shiloh, where I made My name dwell at first. See what I did to it because of the evil of My people Israel.


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Now, because you have done all these things"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- "and because I have spoken to you time and time again but you wouldn't listen, and I have called to you, but you wouldn't answer,


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what I did to Shiloh I will do to the house that is called by My name-- the house in which you trust-- the place that I gave you and your ancestors.


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I will drive you from My presence, just as I drove out all of your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim.


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As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not offer a cry or a prayer on their behalf, and do not beg Me, for I will not listen to you.


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The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven,and they pour out drink offerings to other gods so that they provoke Me to anger.


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But are they really provoking Me?" [This is] the LORD's declaration. "Isn't it they themselves [being provoked] to disgrace?"


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Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: "Look, My anger-- My burning wrath-- is about to be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the tree of the field, and on the fruit of the ground. My wrath will burn and not be quenched."


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This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: "Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices, and eat the meat yourselves,


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for when I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them or command them concerning burnt offering and sacrifice.


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However, I did give them this command: Obey Me, and then I will be your God, and you will be My people. You must walk in every way I command you so that it may go well with you."


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Yet they didn't listen or pay attention but walked according to their own advice and according to their own stubborn, evil heart. They went backward and not forward.


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Since the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent all My servants the prophets to you time and time again.


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However, they wouldn't listen to Me or pay attention but became obstinate;they did more evil than their ancestors.


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When you speak all these things to them, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer you.


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You must therefore declare to them: This is the nation that would not listen to the voice of the LORD their God and would not accept discipline. Truth has perished-- it has disappeared from their mouths.


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Cut off the hair of your sacred vowand throw it away. Raise up a dirge on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and abandoned the generation under His wrath.


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For the Judeans have done what is evil in My sight." [This is] the LORD's declaration. "They have set up their detestable things in the house that is called by My name and defiled it.


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They have built the high places of Tophethin the Valley of Hinnomin order to burn their sons and daughters in the fire, a thing I did not command; I never entertained the thought.


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Therefore, take note! Days are coming"-- the LORD's declaration-- "when [this place] will no longer be called Topheth and the Valley of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. Topheth will become a cemetery, because there will be no other burial place.


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The corpses of these people will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land, with no one to scare them off.


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I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sound of joy and gladness and the voices of the bridegroom and the bride, for the land will become a desolate waste.


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At that time"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- "the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of her officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the residents of Jerusalem will be brought out of their graves.


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They will be exposed to the sun, the moon, and the whole heavenly host, which they have loved, served, followed, pursued, and worshiped. [Their bones] will not be collected and buried but will become like manure on the surface of the soil.


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Death will be chosen over life by all the survivors of this evil family, those who remain wherever I have banished them." [This is] the declaration of the LORD of Hosts.


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You are to say to them: This is what the LORD says: Do [people] fall and not get up again? If they turn away, do they not return?


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Why have these people turned away? Why is Jerusalem always turning away? They take hold of deceit; they refuse to return.


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I have paid careful attention. They do not speak what is right. No one regrets his evil, asking: What have I done? Everyone has stayed his course like a horse rushing into battle.


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Even the stork in the sky knows her seasons. The turtledove, swallow, and crane are aware of their migration, but My people do not know the requirements of the LORD.


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How can you claim: We are wise; the law of the LORD is with us? In fact, the lying pen of scribes has produced falsehood.


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The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and snared. They have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom do they really have?


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Therefore, I will give their wives to other men, their fields to new occupants, for from the least to the greatest, everyone is gaining profit unjustly. From prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely.


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They have treated superficially the brokenness of My dear people, claiming: Peace, peace, when there is no peace.


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I will gather them and bring them to an end. [This is] the LORD's declaration. There will be no grapes on the vine, no figs on the fig tree, and even the leaf will wither. Whatever I have given them will be lost to them.


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Why are we just sitting here? Gather together; let us enter the fortified cities and there suffer our fate, for the LORD our God has condemned us. He has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.


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From Dan is heard the snorting of horses. At the sound of the neighing of mighty steeds, the whole land quakes. They come to devour the land and everything in it, the city and all its residents.


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Indeed, I am about to send snakes among you, poisonous vipers that cannot be charmed. They will bite you. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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Listen-- the cry of my dear people from a far away land: Is the LORD no longer in Zion, her King not in her midst? Why have they provoked Me to anger with their graven images, with their worthless foreign idols?


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Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? So why has the healing of my dear people not come about?


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If my head were water, my eyes a fountain of tears, I would weep day and night over the slain of my dear people.


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If only I had a traveler's lodging place in the wilderness, I would abandon my people and depart from them, for they are all adulterers, a solemn assembly of treacherous people.


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They bent their tongues [like] their bows; lies and not faithfulness prevail in the land, for they proceed from one evil to another, and they do not take Me into account. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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Everyone has to be on guard against his friend. Don't trust any brother, for every brother will certainly deceive, and every friend spread slander.


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Each one betrays his friend; no one tells the truth. They have taught their tongues to speak lies; they wear themselves out doing wrong.


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You live in [a world] of deception. In [their] deception they refuse to know Me. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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Therefore, this is what the LORD of Hosts says: I am about to refine them and test them, for what else can I do because of My dear people?


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Their tongues are deadly arrows-- they speak deception. With his mouth a man speaks peaceably with his friend, but inwardly he sets up an ambush.


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Should I not punish them for these things? [This is] the LORD's declaration. Should I not take My revenge against a nation such as this?


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I will raise weeping and a lament over the mountains, a dirge over the wilderness grazing land, for they have been so scorched that no one passes through. The sound of cattle is no longer heard. From the birds of the sky to the animals, [everything] has fled-- they have gone away.


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I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a jackals' den. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, an uninhabited place.


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Who is the man wise enough to understand this? Who has the LORD spoken to, that he may explain it? Why is the land destroyed and scorched like a wilderness, so no one can pass through?


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The LORD said, "It is because they abandoned My law I set in front of them and did not obey My voice or walk according to it.


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Instead, they followed the stubbornness of their hearts and the Baals, as their fathers taught them."


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Therefore, this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: "I am about to feed this people wormwood and give them poisonous waters to drink.


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I will scatter them among nations that they and their fathers have not known. I will send a sword after them until I have finished them off."


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This is what the LORD of Hosts says: Consider, and summon the women who mourn; send for the skillful women.


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Let them come quickly to raise a lament over us so that our eyes may overflow with tears, our eyelids soaked with weeping.


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For a sound of lamentation is heard from Zion: How devastated we are. We are greatly ashamed, for we have abandoned the land; our dwellings have been torn down.


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Now hear the word of the LORD, you women. Pay attention to the word of His mouth. Teach your daughters a lament and one another a dirge,


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for Death has climbed through our windows; it has entered our fortresses, cutting off children from the streets, young men from the squares.


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Speak as follows: This is what the LORD says: Human corpses will fall like manure on the surface of the field, like newly cut grain after the reaper with no one to gather [it].


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This is what the LORD says: The wise must not boast in his wisdom; the mighty must not boast in his might; the rich must not boast in his riches.


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But the one who boasts should boast in this, that he understands and knows Me-- that I am the LORD, showing faithful love, justice, and righteousness on the earth, for I delight in these things. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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The days are coming"-- the LORD's declaration-- "when I will punish all the circumcised yet uncircumcised:


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Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, all those who clip the hair on their temples and reside in the wilderness. All these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart."


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This is what the LORD says: Do not learn the way of the nations or be terrified by signs in the heavens, although the nations are terrified by them,


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for the customs of the peoples are worthless. Someone cuts down a tree from the forest; [it is] worked by the hands of a craftsman with a chisel.


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Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch, their idols cannot speak. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them for they can do no harm-- and they cannot do any good.


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Who should not fear You, King of the nations? It is what You deserve. For among all the wise people of the nations and among all their kingdoms, there is no one like You.


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Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz from the hands of a goldsmith, the work of a craftsman. Their clothing is blue and purple, all the work of skilled artisans.


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But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and eternal King. The earth quakes at His wrath, and the nations cannot endure His rage.


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You are to say this to them: The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under these heavens.


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He made the earth by His power, established the world by His wisdom, and spread out the heavens by His understanding.


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When He thunders, the waters in the heavens are in turmoil, and He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain and brings the wind from His storehouses.


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Everyone is stupid and ignorant. Every goldsmith is put to shame by [his] carved image, for his cast images are a lie; there is no breath in them.


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Jacob's Portion is not like these because He is the One who formed all things. Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; the LORD of Hosts is His name.


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For this is what the LORD says: Look, I am slinging out the land's residents at this time and bringing them such distress that they will feel it.


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Woe to me because of my brokenness-- I am severely wounded! I exclaimed, "This is my intense suffering, but I must bear it."


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My tent is destroyed; all my tent cords are snapped. My sons have departed from me and are no more. [I have] no one to pitch my tent again or to hang up my curtains.


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For the shepherds are stupid: they don't seek the LORD. Therefore they have not prospered, and their whole flock is scattered.


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Listen! A noise-- it is coming-- a great commotion from the land to the north. The cities of Judah will be made desolate, a jackals' den.


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Pour out Your wrath on the nations that don't recognize You and on the families that don't call on Your name, for they have consumed Jacob; they have consumed him and finished him off and made his homeland desolate.


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Listen to the words of this covenant, and tell them to the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem.


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You must tell them: This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Let a curse be on the man who does not obey the words of this covenant,


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which I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace. I declared: 'Obey Me, and do everything that I command you, and you will be My people, and I will be your God,'


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in order to establish the oath I swore to your ancestors, to give [them] a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is today." I answered, " Amen, LORD."


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The LORD said to me, "Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Obey the words of this covenant and carry them out.


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For I strongly warned your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt until today, warning them time and time again: Obey My voice.


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Yet they would not obey or pay attention; each one followed the stubbornness of his evil heart. So I brought on them all the curses of this covenant, because they had not done what I commanded [them] to do."


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The LORD said to me, "A conspiracy has been discovered among the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem.


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They have returned to the sins of their ancestors who refused to obey My words and have followed other gods to worship them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah broke My covenant I made with their ancestors.


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Therefore, this is what the LORD says: I am about to bring on them disaster that they cannot escape. They will cry out to Me, but I will not hear them.


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Then the cities of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods they have been burning incense to, but they certainly will not save them in their time of disaster.


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Your gods are indeed as numerous as your cities, Judah, and the altars you have set up to Shame-- altars to burn incense to Baal-- as numerous as the streets of Jerusalem.


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As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not raise up a cry or a prayer on their behalf, for I will not be listening when they call out to Me at the time of their disaster.


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What [right] does My beloved have to be in My house, having carried out so many evil schemes? Can holy meatprevent your disaster so you can rejoice?


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The LORD named you a flourishing olive tree, beautiful with well-formed fruit. He has set fire to it, and its branches are consumed with a great roaring sound.


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The LORD of Hosts who planted you has decreed disaster against you, because of the harm the house of Israel and the house of Judah brought on themselves, provoking Me to anger by burning incense to Baal."


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for I was like a docile lamb led to slaughter. I didn't know that they had devised plots against me: "Let's destroy the tree with its fruit; let's cut him off from the land of the living so that his name will no longer be remembered."


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But, LORD of Hosts, who judges righteously, who tests heart and mind, let me see Your vengeance on them, for I have presented my case to You.


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Therefore, here is what the LORD says concerning the people of Anathoth who want to take your life. They warn, "You must not prophesy in the name of the LORD, or you will certainly die at our hand."


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Therefore, this is what the LORD of Hosts says: "I am about to punish them. The young men will die by the sword; their sons and daughters will die by famine.


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They will have no remnant, for I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth [in] the year of their punishment."


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You will be righteous, LORD, even if I bring a case against You. Yet, I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? [Why] do the treacherous live at ease?


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You planted them, and they have taken root. They have grown and produced fruit. You are ever on their lips, but far from their conscience.


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As for You, You know me, LORD; You see me. You test whether my heart is with You. Drag the wicked away like sheep to slaughter, and set them apart for the day of killing.


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How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field wither? Because of the evil of its residents, animals and birds have been swept away, for [the people] have said, "He cannot see what our end will be."


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If you have raced with runners and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in a peaceful land, what will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?


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Even your brothers-- your own father's household-- even they were treacherous to you; even they have cried out loudly after you. Do not have confidence in them, though they speak well of you.


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I have abandoned My house; I have deserted My inheritance. I have given the love of My life into the hand of her enemies.


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My inheritance has acted toward Me like a lion in the forest. She has roared against Me. Therefore, I hate her.


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Is My inheritance like a hyena to Me? Are birds of prey circling her? Go, gather all the wild animals; bring them to devour [her].


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Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard; they have trampled My plot of land. They have turned My desirable plot into a desolate wasteland.


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They have made it a desolation. It mourns, desolate, before Me. All the land is desolate, but no one takes it to heart.


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Over all the barren heights in the wilderness the destroyers have come, for the LORD has a sword that devours from one end of the earth to the other. No one has peace.


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They have sown wheat but harvested thorns. They have exhausted themselves but have no profit. Be put to shame by your harvests because of the LORD's burning anger.


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This is what the LORD says: "Concerning all My evil neighbors who attack the inheritance that I bequeathed to My people, Israel, I am about to uproot them from their land, and I will uproot the house of Judah from among them.


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After I have uprooted them, I will once again have compassion on them and return each one to his inheritance and to his land.


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If they will diligently learn the ways of My people-- to swear by My name, 'As the LORD lives,' just as they taught My people to swear by Baal-- they will be built up among My people.


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However, if they will not obey, then I will uproot and destroy that nation." [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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This is what the LORD said to me: "Go and buy yourself linen underwear and put it on, but don't get it wet."


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Take the underwear that you bought and are wearing, and go at once to the Euphrates River and hide it in a rocky crevice."


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A long time later the LORD said to me, "Go at once to the Euphrates and get the underwear that I commanded you to hide there."


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So I went to the Euphrates and dug up the underwear and got it from the place where I had hidden it, but it was ruined-- of no use whatsoever.


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These evil people, who refuse to listen to Me, who walk in the stubbornness of their own hearts, and who have followed other gods to serve and worship-- they will be like this underwear, of no use whatsoever.


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Just as underwear clings to one's waist, so I fastened the whole house of Israel and of Judah to Me"-- [this is the LORD's declaration]-- "so that they might be My people for My fame, praise, and glory, but they would not obey.


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Say this to them: This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Every jar should be filled with wine. Then they will respond to you: Don't we know that every jar should be filled with wine?


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And you will say to them, This is what the LORD says: I am about to fill all who live in this land-- the kings who reign for David on his throne, the priests, the prophets and all the residents of Jerusalem-- with drunkenness.


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I will smash them against each other, fathers and sons alike"-- the LORD's declaration. "I will allow no mercy, pity, or compassion [to keep Me] from destroying them."


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Give glory to the LORD your God before He brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the mountains at dusk. You wait for light, but He brings darkest gloom and makes thick darkness.


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But if you will not listen, my innermost being will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, for the LORD's flock has been taken captive.


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Say to the king and the queen mother: Take a humble seat, for your glorious crowns have fallen from your heads.


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The cities of the Negev are under siege; no one can help [them]. All of Judah has been taken into exile, taken completely into exile.


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Look up and see those coming from the north. Where is the flock entrusted to you, the sheep [that were] your pride?


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What will you say when He appoints close friends as leaders over you, ones you yourself trained? Won't labor pains seize you, as [they do] a woman in labor?


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And when you ask yourself: Why have these things happened to me?-- it is because of your great guilt that your skirts have been stripped off, your body ravished.


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Can the Cushite change his skin, or a leopard his spots? If so, you might be able to do what is good, you who are instructed in evil.


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This is your lot, what I have decreed for you-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- because you have forgotten Me and trusted in Falsehood.


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Your adulteries and your [lustful] neighings, your heinous prostitution on the hills, in the fields-- I have seen your detestable acts. Woe to you, Jerusalem! You are unclean-- for how long yet?


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Judah mourns; her gates languish. [Her people] are on the ground in mourning; Jerusalem's cry rises up.


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Their nobles send their servants for water. They go to the cisterns; they find no water; their containers return empty. They are ashamed and humiliated; they cover their heads.


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The ground is cracked since no rain [has fallen] on the land. The farmers are ashamed; they cover their heads.


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Wild donkeys stand on the barren heights panting for air like jackals. Their eyes fail because there are no green plants.


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Though our guilt testifies against us, LORD, act for Your name's sake. Indeed, our rebellions are many; we have sinned against You.


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Hope of Israel, its Savior in time of distress, why are You like an alien in the land, like a traveler stopping only for the night?


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Why are You like a helpless man, like a warrior unable to save? Yet You are among us, LORD, and we are called by Your name. Don't leave us!


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This is what the LORD says concerning these people: Truly they love to wander; they never rest their feet. So the LORD does not accept them. Now He will remember their guilt and punish their sins.


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If they fast, I will not hear their cry of despair. If they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. Rather, I will finish them off by sword, famine, and plague."


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And I replied, "Oh no, Lord God! The prophets are telling them, 'You won't see sword or suffer famine. I will certainly give you true peace in this place.'"


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But the LORD said to me, "These prophets are prophesying a lie in My name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, worthless divination, the deceit of their own minds.


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Therefore, this is what the LORD says concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, though I did not send them, and who say: There will never be sword or famine in this land: By sword and famine these prophets will meet their end.


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The people they are prophesying to will be thrown into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. There will be no one to bury them-- they, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. I will pour out their own evil on them."


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You are to speak this word to them: Let my eyes overflow with tears; day and night may [they] not stop, for the virgin daughter of my people has been destroyed by a great disaster, an extremely severe wound.


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If I go out to the field, look-- those slain by the sword! If I enter the city, look-- those ill from famine! For both prophet and priest travel to a land they do not know.


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Have You completely rejected Judah? Do You detest Zion? Why do You strike us with no hope of healing for us? We hoped for peace, but there was nothing good; for a time of healing, but there was only terror.


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Because of Your name, don't despise [us]. Don't disdain Your glorious throne. Remember Your covenant with us; do not break it.


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Can any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Or can the skies alone give showers? Are You not the LORD our God? We therefore put our hope in You, for You have done all these things.


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Then the LORD said to me: "Even if Moses and Samuel should stand before Me, My compassions would not [reach out] to these people. Send them from My presence, and let them go.


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If they ask you: Where will we go? you must tell them: This is what the LORD says: Those [destined] for death, to death; those [destined] for the sword, to the sword. Those [destined] for famine, to famine; those [destined] for captivity, to captivity.


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I will ordain four kinds [of judgment] for them"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- "the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the land to devour and destroy.


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I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.


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Who will have pity on you, Jerusalem? Who will show sympathy toward you? Who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?


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You have left Me. [This is] the LORD's declaration. You have turned your back, so I have stretched out My hand against you and destroyed you. I am tired of showing compassion.


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I scattered them with a winnowing fork at the gates of the land. I made [them] childless; I destroyed My people. They would not turn from their ways.


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I made their widows more numerous than the sand of the seas. I brought against the mother of young men a destroyer at noon. I suddenly released on her agitation and terrors.


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The mother of seven grew faint; she breathed her [last] breath. Her sun set while it was still day; she was ashamed and humiliated. The rest of them I will give over to the sword in the presence of their enemies." [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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Woe is me, my mother, that you gave birth to me, a man who incites dispute and conflict in all the land. I did not lend or borrow, yet everyone curses me.


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The LORD said: Assuredly, I will set you free and care for you. Assuredly, I will intercede for you in a time of trouble, in your time of distress, with the enemy.


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Your wealth and your treasures I will give as plunder, without cost, for all your sins, and within all your borders.


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Then I will make you serve your enemies in a land you do not know, for My anger will kindle a fire that will burn against you.


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You know, LORD; remember me and take note of me. Avenge me against my persecutors. In Your patience, don't take me away. Know that I suffer disgrace for Your honor.


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Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became a delight to me and the joy of my heart, for I am called by Your name, LORD God of Hosts.


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I never sat with the band of revelers, and I did not celebrate [with them]. Because Your hand was [on me], I sat alone, for You filled me with indignation.


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Why has my pain become unending, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? You truly have become like a mirage to me-- water that is not reliable.


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Therefore, this is what the LORD says: If you return, I will restore you; you will stand in My presence. And if you speak noble [words], rather than worthless ones, you will be My spokesman. It is they who must return to you; you must not return to them.


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Then I will make you a fortified wall of bronze to this people. They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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For this is what the LORD says concerning sons and daughters born in this place as well as concerning the mothers who bear them and the fathers who father them in this land:


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They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like manure on the face of the earth. They will be finished off by sword and famine. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.


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For this is what the LORD says: Don't enter a house where a mourning feast is taking place. Don't go to lament or sympathize with them, for I have removed My peace from these people"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- "[as well as My] faithful love and compassion.


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Both great and small will die in this land without burial. No lament will be made for them, nor will anyone cut himself or shave his head for them.


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Food won't be provided for the mourner to comfort him because of the dead. A cup of consolation won't be given him because of [the loss of] his father or mother.


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For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am about to eliminate from this place, before your very eyes and in your time, the sound of joy and gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the bride.


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When you tell these people all these things, they will say to you: Why has the LORD declared all this great disaster against us? What is our guilt? What is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?


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Then you will answer them: Because your fathers abandoned Me"-- the LORD's declaration-- "and followed other gods, served them, and worshiped them. Indeed, they abandoned Me and did not keep My law.


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You did more evil than your fathers. Look, each one of you was following the stubbornness of his evil heart, not obeying Me.


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So I will hurl you from this land into a land that you and your fathers are not familiar with. There you will worship other gods both day and night, for I will not grant you grace.


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However, take note! The days are coming"-- the LORD's declaration-- "when it will no longer be said: As the LORD lives who brought the Israelites from the land of Egypt,


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but rather: As the LORD lives who brought the Israelites from the land of the north and from all the other lands where He had banished them. For I will return them to their land that I gave to their ancestors.


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I am about to send for many fishermen"-- the LORD's declaration-- "and they will fish for them. Then I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and out of the clefts of the rocks,


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for My gaze takes in all their ways. They are not concealed from Me, and their guilt is not hidden from My sight.


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I will first repay them double for their guilt and sin because they have polluted My land. They have filled My inheritance with the lifelessness of their detestable and abhorrent idols."


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LORD, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in a time of distress, the nations will come to You from the ends of the earth, and they will say, "Our fathers inherited only lies, worthless idols of no benefit at all."


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Therefore, I am about to inform them, and this time I will make them know My power and My might; then they will know that My name is Yahweh."


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The sin of Judah is written with an iron stylus. With a diamond point it is engraved on the tablet of their hearts and on the horns of their altars,


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while their children remember their altars and their Asherah poles, by the green trees on the high hills--


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My mountains in the countryside. Your wealth and all your treasures I will give up as plunder because of the sin of your high places within all your borders.


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You will, of yourself, relinquish your inheritance that I gave you. I will make you serve your enemies in a land you do not know, for you have set My anger on fire; it will burn forever.


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This is what the LORD says: Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes [human] flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD.


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He will be like a juniper in the Arabah; he cannot see when good comes but dwells in the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land where no one lives.


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He will be like a tree planted by water: it sends its roots out toward a stream, it doesn't fear when heat comes, and its foliage remains green. It will not worry in a year of drought or cease producing fruit.


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I, the LORD, examine the mind, I test the heart to give to each according to his way, according to what his actions deserve.


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He who makes a fortune unjustly is [like] a partridge that hatches eggs it didn't lay. In the middle of his days [his riches] will abandon him, so in the end he will be a fool.


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LORD, the hope of Israel, all who abandon You will be put to shame. All who turn away from Me will be written in the dirt, for they have abandoned the fountain of living water, the LORD.


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But I have not run away from being Your shepherd, and I have not longed for the fatal day. You know my words were spoken in Your presence.


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Let my persecutors be put to shame, but don't let me be put to shame. Let them be terrified, but don't let me be terrified. Bring on them the day of disaster; shatter them with total destruction.


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This is what the LORD said to me, "Go and stand in the People's Gate, through which the kings of Judah enter and leave, and in all the gates of Jerusalem.


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Announce to them: Hear the word of the LORD, kings of Judah, all Judah, and all the residents of Jerusalem who enter through these gates.


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This is what the LORD says: Watch yourselves; do not pick up a load and bring it in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day.


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You must not carry a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day or do any work, but you must consecrate the Sabbath day, just as I commanded your ancestors.


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However, if you listen to Me, says the LORD, and do not bring loads through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day and consecrate the Sabbath day and do no work on it,


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kings and princes will enter through the gates of this city. They will sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses with their officials, the men of Judah, and the residents of Jerusalem. This city will be inhabited forever.


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Then [people] will come from the cities of Judah and from the area around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin and from the Judean foothills, from the hill country and from the Negev bringing burnt offerings and sacrifice, grain offerings and frankincense, and thank offerings to the house of the LORD.


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If you do not listen to Me to consecrate the Sabbath day by not carrying a load while entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, I will set fire to its gates, and it will consume the citadels of Jerusalem and not be extinguished."


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But the jar that he was making from the clay became flawed in the potter's hand, so he made it into another jar, as it seemed right for him to do.


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House of Israel, can I not treat you as this potter [treats his clay]?"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration. "Just like clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel.


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At one moment I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will uproot, tear down, and destroy [it].


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However, if that nation I have made an announcement about, turns from its evil, I will not bring the disaster on it I had planned.


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However, if it does what is evil in My sight by not listening to My voice, I will not bring the good I had said I would do to it.


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So now, say to the men of Judah and to the residents of Jerusalem: This is what the LORD says: I am about to bring harm to you and make plans against you. Turn now, each from your evil way, and correct your ways and your deeds.


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But they will say: It's hopeless. We will continue to follow our plans, and each of us will continue to act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart."


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Therefore, this is what the LORD says: Ask among the nations, Who has heard [things] like these? Virgin Israel has done a most terrible thing.


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Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave the highland crags? Or does cold water flowing from a distance ever fail?


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Yet My people have forgotten Me. They burn incense to false [idols] that make them stumble in their ways-- in the ancient roads-- to walk on [new] paths, not the highway.


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They have made their land a horror, a perpetual object of scorn; everyone who passes by it will be horrified and shake his head.


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I will scatter them before the enemy like the east wind. I will show them [My] back and not [My] face on the day of their calamity.


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Then certain ones said, "Come, let's make plans against Jeremiah, for the law will never be lost from the priest, or counsel from the wise, or an oracle from the prophet. Come, let's denounce him and pay no attention to all his words."


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Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You to speak good on their behalf, to turn Your anger from them.


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Therefore, hand their children over to famine, and pour the sword's power on them. Let their wives become childless and widowed, their husbands slain by deadly disease, their young men struck down by the sword in battle.


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Let a cry be heard from their houses when You suddenly bring raiders against them, for they have dug a pit to capture me and have hidden snares for my feet.


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But You, LORD, know all their deadly plots against me. Do not wipe out their guilt; do not blot out their sin before You. Let them be forced to stumble before You; deal with them in the time of Your anger.


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This is what the LORD says: "Go, buy a potter's clay jug. Take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests


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and go out to the Valley of Hinnom near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. Proclaim there the words I speak to you.


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Say: Hear the word of the LORD, kings of Judah and residents of Jerusalem. This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on this place that everyone who hears about it will shudder


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because they have abandoned Me and made this a foreign place. They have burned incense in it to other gods that they, their fathers, and the kings of Judah have never known. They have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.


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They have built high places to Baal on which to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, something I have never commanded or mentioned; I never entertained the thought.


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Therefore, take note! The days are coming"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- "when this place will no longer be called Topheth and the Valley of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.


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I will spoil the plans of Judah and Jerusalem in this place. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, by the hand of those who want to take their life. I will provide their corpses as food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.


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I will make this city desolate, an object of scorn. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and scoff because of all its wounds.


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I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and they will eat each other's flesh in the siege and distress that their enemies, those who want to take their life, inflict on them.


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and you are to proclaim to them: This is what the LORD of Hosts says: I will shatter these people and this city, like one shatters a potter's jar that can never again be mended. They will bury in Topheth until there is no place left to bury.


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I will do so to this place"-- [this is] the declaration of the LORD-- "and to its residents, making this city like Topheth.


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The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will become impure like that place Topheth-- all the houses on whose rooftops they have burned incense to the whole heavenly host and poured out drink offerings to other gods."


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Jeremiah came back from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy, stood in the courtyard of the LORD's temple, and proclaimed to all the people,


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This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'I am about to bring on this city-- and on all its [dependent] villages-- all the disaster that I spoke against it, for they have become obstinate, not obeying My words.'"


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Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer and chief officer in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.


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So Pashhur had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put him in the stocks at the Upper Benjamin Gate in the LORD's temple.


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The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, "The LORD does not call you Pashhur, but Magor-missabib,


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for this is what the LORD says, 'I am about to make you a terror to both yourself and those you love. They will fall by the sword of their enemies before your very eyes. I will hand Judah over to the king of Babylon, and he will deport them to Babylon and put them to the sword.


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I will give away all the wealth of this city, all its products and valuables. Indeed, I will hand all the treasures of the kings of Judah over to their enemies. They will plunder them, seize them, and carry them off to Babylon.


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As for you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house, you will go into captivity. You will go to Babylon. There you will die, and there you will be buried, you and all your friends that you prophesied falsely to.'"


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You deceived me, LORD, and I was deceived. You seized me and prevailed. I am a laughingstock all the time; everyone ridicules me.


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For whenever I speak, I cry out-- I proclaim: Violence and destruction! because the word of the LORD has become for me constant disgrace and derision.


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If I say: I won't mention Him or speak any longer in His name, His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones. I become tired of holding it in, and I cannot prevail.


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For I have heard the gossip of the multitudes, "Terror is on every side! Report [him]; let's report him!" Everyone I trusted watches for my fall. "Perhaps he will be deceived so that we might prevail against him and take our vengeance on him."


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But the LORD is with me like a violent warrior. Therefore, my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. Since they have not succeeded, they will be utterly shamed, an everlasting humiliation that will never be forgotten.


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LORD of Hosts, testing the righteous and seeing the heart and mind, let me see Your vengeance on them, for I have presented my case to You.


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Sing to the LORD! Praise the LORD, for He rescues the life of the needy from the hand of evil people.


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Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father, saying, "A male child is born to you," bringing him great joy.


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Let that man be like the cities the LORD overthrew without compassion. Let him hear an outcry in the morning and a war cry at noontime


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because he didn't kill me in the womb so that my mother might have been my grave, her womb eternally pregnant.


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[This is] the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD when King Zedekiah sent Pashhur son of Malchijah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah, asking,


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Ask the LORD on our behalf, since Nebuchadnezzarking of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the LORD will perform for us something like all His [past] wonderful works so that [Nebuchadnezzar] will withdraw from us."


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'This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I will repel the weapons of war in your hands, those you are using to fight the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the wall, and I will bring them into the center of this city.


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I will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm, with anger, rage, and great wrath.


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Afterwards'"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- "'King Zedekiah of Judah, his officers, and the people-- those in this city who survive the plague, the sword, and the famine-- I will hand over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, to their enemies, yes, to those who want to take their lives. He will put them to the sword; he won't spare them or show pity or compassion.'


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But you must say to this people, 'This is what the LORD says: Look, I am presenting to you the way of life and the way of death.


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Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine, and plague, but whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live and will retain his life like the spoils [of war].


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For I have turned against this city to [bring] disaster and not good""-- [this is] the LORD's declaration. "'It will be handed over to the king of Babylon, who will burn it down.'


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House of David, this is what the LORD says: Administer justice every morning, and rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor, or My anger will flare up like fire and burn unquenchably because of their evil deeds.


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Beware! I am against you, you who sit above the valley, [you atop] the rocky plateau-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- you who say: Who can come down against us? Who can enter our hiding places?


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I will punish you according to what you have done-- [this is] the LORD's declaration. I will kindle a fire in its forest that will consume everything around it.'"


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This is what the LORD says: "Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and announce this word there.


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You are to say: Hear the word of the LORD, king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David-- you, your officers, and your people who enter these gates.


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This is what the LORD says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor. Don't exploit or brutalize the alien, the fatherless, or the widow. Don't shed innocent blood in this place.


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For if you conscientiously carry out this word, then kings sitting on David's throne will enter through the gates of this palace riding on chariots and horses-- they, their officers, and their people.


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But if you do not obey these words, then I swear by Myself"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- "that this house will become a ruin."


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For this is what the LORD says concerning the house of the king of Judah: You are like Gilead to Me, [or] the summit of Lebanon, but I will certainly turn you into a wilderness, uninhabited cities.


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I will appoint destroyers against you, each with his weapons. They will cut down the choicest of your cedars and throw them into the fire.


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Many nations will pass by this city and ask one another: Why did the LORD do such a thing to this great city?


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They will answer: Because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD their God and worshiped and served other gods."


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Do not weep for the dead; do not mourn for him. Weep bitterly for the one who has gone away, for he will never return again and see his native land.


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For this is what the LORD says concerning Shallum son of Josiah, king of Judah, who succeeded Josiah his father as king: "He has left this place-- he will never return here again,


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Woe for the one who builds his palace through unrighteousness, his upper rooms through injustice, who makes his fellow man serve without pay and will not give him his wages,


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who says: I will build myself a massive palace, with spacious upper rooms. He will cut windows in it, and it will be paneled with cedar and painted with vermilion.


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Are you a king because you excel in cedar? Your own father, did he not eat and drink? He administered justice and righteousness, then it went well with him.


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He took up the case of the poor and needy, then it went well. Is this not what it means to know Me? [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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But you have eyes and heart for nothing except your own unjust gain, shedding innocent blood and committing extortion and oppression.


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Therefore, this is what the LORD says concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: They will not mourn for him, [saying,] Woe, my brother! or Woe, [my] sister! They will not mourn for him, saying, Woe, lord! Woe, his majesty!


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Go up to Lebanon and cry out; raise your voice in Bashan; cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers have been crushed.


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I spoke to you when you were secure. You said: I will not listen. This has been your way since youth; indeed, you have never listened to Me.


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The wind will take charge of all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into captivity. Then you will be ashamed and humiliated because of all your evil.


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You residents of Lebanon, nestled among the cedars, how you will groan when labor pains come on you, agony like a woman in labor.


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As I live," says the LORD, "though you, Coniah son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, were a signet ring on My right hand, I would tear you from it.


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In fact, I will hand you over to those you dread, who want to take your life, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Chaldeans.


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I will hurl you and the mother who gave birth to you into another land, where neither of you were born, and there you will both die.


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Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered pot, a jar no one wants? Why are he and his descendants hurled out and cast into a land they have not known?


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This is what the LORD says: Record this man as childless, a man who will not be successful in his lifetime. None of his descendants will succeed in sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah.


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Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!" [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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Therefore, this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who shepherd My people: You have scattered My flock, banished them, and have not attended to them. I will attend to you because of your evil acts"-- the LORD's declaration.


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I will gather the remnant of My flock from all the lands where I have banished them, and I will return them to their grazing land. They will become fruitful and numerous.


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I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them. They will no longer be afraid or dismayed, nor will any be missing." [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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The days are coming"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- "when I will raise up a righteous Branch of David. He will reign wisely as king and administer justice and righteousness in the land.


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In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. This is what He will be named: The LORD Is Our Righteousness.


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The days are coming"-- the LORD's declaration-- "when it will no longer be said: As the LORD lives who brought the Israelites from the land of Egypt,


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but: As the LORD lives, who brought and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from all the other countries where I had banished them. They will dwell once more in their own land."


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Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me, and all my bones tremble. I have become like a drunkard, like a man overcome by wine, because of the LORD, because of His holy words.


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For the land is full of adulterers; the land mourns because of the curse, and the grazing lands in the wilderness have dried up. Their way of life has become evil, and their power is not rightly used


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because both prophet and priest are ungodly, even in My house I have found their evil. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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Therefore, their way will be to them like slippery paths in the gloom. They will be driven away and fall down there, for I will bring disaster on them, the year of their punishment. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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Among the prophets of Samaria I saw something disgusting: They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray.


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Among the prophets of Jerusalem also I saw a horrible thing: They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, and none turns his back on evil. They are all like Sodom to Me; Jerusalem's residents are like Gomorrah.


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Therefore, this is what the LORD of Hosts says concerning the prophets: I am about to feed them wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land.


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This is what the LORD of Hosts says: "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are making you worthless. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the LORD's mouth.


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They keep on saying to those who despise Me: The LORD has said: You will have peace. To everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his heart they have said, No harm will come to you."


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For who has stood in the council of the LORD to see and hear His word? Who has paid attention to His word and obeyed?


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Look, a storm from the LORD! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling storm. It will whirl about the head of the wicked.


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The LORD's anger will not turn back until He has completely fulfilled the purposes of His heart. In time to come you will understand it clearly.


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I did not send these prophets, yet they ran [with a message]. I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.


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If they had really stood in My council, they would have enabled My people to hear My words and would have turned them back from their evil ways and their evil deeds.


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Can a man hide himself in secret places where I cannot see him?"-- the LORD's declaration. "Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?"-- the LORD's declaration.


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I have heard what the prophets who prophesy a lie in My name have said: I had a dream! I had a dream!


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How long will this continue in the minds of the prophets prophesying lies, prophets of the deceit of their own minds?


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Through their dreams that they tell one another, they make plans to cause My people to forget My name as their fathers forgot My name through Baal worship.


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The prophet who has [only] a dream should recount the dream, but the one who has My word should speak My word truthfully, for what is straw [compared] to grain?"-- the LORD's declaration.


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Therefore, take note! I am against the prophets"-- the LORD's declaration-- "who steal My words from each other.


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I am against the prophets"-- the LORD's declaration-- "who use their own tongues to deliver an oracle.


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I am against those who prophesy false dreams"-- the LORD's declaration-- "telling them and leading My people astray with their falsehoods and their boasting. It was not I who sent or commanded them, and they are of no benefit at all to these people"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration.


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Now when these people or a prophet or a priest asks you: What is the burden of the LORD? you will respond to them: What is the burden? I will throw you away"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration.


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As for the prophet, priest, or people who say: The burden of the LORD, I will punish that man and his household.


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This is what each man is to say to his friend and to his brother: What has the LORD answered? or What has the LORD spoken?


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But no longer refer to the burden of the LORD, for each man's word becomes his burden and you pervert the words of the living God, the LORD of Hosts, our God.


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But if you say: The burden of the LORD, then this is what the LORD says: Because you have said, The burden of the LORD, and I specifically told you not to say, The burden of the LORD,


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I will surely forget you and throw away from My presence both you and the city that I gave you and your fathers.


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After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had deported Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, the officials of Judah, and the craftsmen and metalsmiths from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon, the LORD showed me two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the LORD.


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One basket [contained] very good figs, like early figs, but the other basket contained very bad figs, so bad they were inedible.


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The LORD said to me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" I said, "Figs! The good figs are very good, but the bad figs are extremely bad, so bad they are inedible."


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This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Like these good figs, so I regard as good the exiles from Judah I sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans.


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I will keep My eyes on them for their good and will return them to this land. I will build them up and not demolish them; I will plant them and not uproot them.


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I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD. They will be My people, and I will be their God because they will return to Me with all their heart.


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But as for the bad figs, so bad they are inedible, this is what the LORD says: in this way I will deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem-- those remaining in this land and those living in the land of Egypt.


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I will make them an object of horror and disaster to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace, an object of scorn, ridicule, and cursing, wherever I have banished them.


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I will send the sword, famine, and plague against them until they have perished from the land I gave to them and their ancestors."


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[This is] the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon).


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The prophet Jeremiah spoke concerning all the people of Judah and all the residents of Jerusalem as follows:


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From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until this very day-- 23 years-- the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken to you time and time again, but you have not obeyed.


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The LORD sent all His servants the prophets to you time and time again, but you have not obeyed or even paid attention.


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He announced, 'Turn, each of you, from your evil way of life and from your evil deeds. Live in the land the LORD gave to you and your ancestors for ever and ever.


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Do not follow other gods to serve them and to worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger by the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.


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'But you would not obey Me'-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- 'in order that you might provoke Me to anger by the work of your hands and bring disaster on yourselves.'


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I am going to send for all the families of the north'-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- 'and [send for] My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will bring them against this land, against its residents, and against all these surrounding nations, and I will completely destroy them and make them a desolation, a derision, and ruins forever.


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I will eliminate the sound of joy and gladness from them-- the voice of the bridegroom and the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.


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This whole land will become a desolate ruin, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for 70 years.


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When the 70 years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation'-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- 'the land of the Chaldeans, for their guilt, and I will make it a ruin forever.


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I will bring on that land all My words I have spoken against it, all that is written in this book that Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations.


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For many nations and great kings will enslave them, and I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.'"


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This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: "Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and make all the nations I am sending you to drink from it.


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So I took the cup from the LORD's hand and made all the nations drink [from it], everyone the LORD sent me to.


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[These included:] Jerusalem and the [other] cities of Judah, its kings and its officials, to make them a desolate ruin, an object of scorn and cursing-- as it is today;


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and all the mixed peoples; all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the land of the Philistines-- Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;


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all the kings of the north, both near and far from one another; that is, all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. Finally, the king of Sheshach will drink after them.


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Then you are to say to them: This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk, and vomit. Fall down and never get up again, as a result of the sword I am sending among you.


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If they refuse to take the cup from you and drink, you are to say to them: This is what the LORD of Hosts says: You must drink!


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For I am already bringing disaster on the city that bears My name, so how could you possibly go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth"-- [this is] the declaration of the LORD of Hosts.


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As for you, you are to prophesy all these things to them, and say to them: The LORD roars from on high; He raises His voice from His holy dwelling. He roars loudly over His grazing land; He calls out with a shout, like those who tread [grapes], against all the inhabitants of the earth.


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The tumult reaches to the ends of the earth because the LORD brings a case against the nations. He enters into judgment with all flesh. As for the wicked, He hands them over to the sword-- [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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This is what the LORD of Hosts says: Pay attention! Disaster goes forth from nation to nation. A great storm is stirred up from the ends of the earth."


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Those slain by the LORD on that day will be [spread] from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned, gathered, or buried. They will be like manure on the surface of the ground.


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Wail, you shepherds, and cry out. Roll [in the dust],you leaders of the flock. Because the days of your slaughter have come, you will fall and become shattered like a precious vase.


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[Hear] the sound of the shepherds' cry, the wail of the leaders of the flock, for the LORD is destroying their pasture.


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He has left His den like a lion, for their land has become a desolation because of the sword of the oppressor, because of His burning anger.


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At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the LORD:


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This is what the LORD says: Stand in the courtyard of the LORD's temple and speak all the words I have commanded you to speak to all Judah's cities that are coming to worship there. Do not hold back a word.


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Perhaps they will listen and return-- each from his evil way of life-- so that I might relent concerning the disaster that I plan to do to them because of the evil of their deeds.


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You are to say to them: This is what the LORD says: If you do not listen to Me by living according to My law that I set before you


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and by listening to the words of My servants the prophets I have been sending you time and time again, though you did not listen,


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I will make this temple like Shiloh. I will make this city an object of cursing for all the nations of the earth."


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The priests, the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the temple of the LORD.


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He finished the address the LORD had commanded him to deliver to all the people. Then the priests, the prophets, and all the people took hold of him, yelling, "You must surely die!


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How dare you prophesy in the name of the LORD, 'This temple will become like Shiloh and this city will become an uninhabited ruin'!" Then all the people assembled against Jeremiah at the LORD's temple.


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When the officials of Judah heard these things, they went up from the king's palace to the LORD's temple and sat at the entrance of the New Gate.


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Then the priests and prophets said to the officials and all the people, "This man deserves the death sentence because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears."


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Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and the people, "The LORD sent me to prophesy all the words that you have heard against this temple and city.


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So now, correct your ways and deeds and obey the voice of the LORD your God so that He might relent concerning the disaster that He warned about.


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But know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city, and on its residents, for it is certain the LORD has sent me to speak all these things directly to you."


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Then the officials and all the people told the priests and prophets, "This man doesn't deserve the death sentence, for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God!"


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Micah the Moreshite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and said to all the people of Judah, 'This is what the LORD of Hosts says: Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become ruins, and the temple mount a forested hill.'


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Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all [the people of] Judah put him to death? Did he not fear the LORD and plead for the LORD's favor, and did not the LORD relent concerning the disaster He had pronounced against them? We are about to bring great harm on ourselves!"


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Another man was also prophesying in the name of the LORD-- Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land in words like all those of Jeremiah.


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King Jehoiakim, all his warriors, and all the officials heard his words, and the king tried to put him to death. When Uriah heard, he fled in fear and went to Egypt.


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But King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt: Elnathan son of Achbor and [certain other] men with him [went] to Egypt.


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They brought Uriah out of Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who executed him with the sword and threw his corpse into the burial place of the common people.


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But Ahikam son of Shaphan supported Jeremiah, so he was not handed over to the people to be put to death.


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At the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:


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This is what the LORD said to me: Make fetters and yoke bars for yourself and put them on your neck.


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Send [word] to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon through messengers who are coming to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem.


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Command them [to go] to their masters, saying: This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: This is what you must say to your masters:


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By My great strength and outstretched arm, I made the earth, and the people, and animals on the face of the earth. I give it to anyone I please.


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So now I have placed all these lands under the authority of My servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. I have even given him the wild animals to serve him.


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All nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson until the time for his own land comes, and then many nations and great kings will enslave him.


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As for the nation or kingdom that does not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and does not place its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish by sword, famine, and plague"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- "until through him I have destroyed it.


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But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your fortune-tellers, or your sorcerers who say to you: Don't serve the king of Babylon!


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for they prophesy a lie to you so that you will be removed from your land. I will banish you, and you will perish.


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But as for the nation that will put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave it in its own land, and that nation will till it and reside in it." [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah in the same way: "Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, serve him and his people, and live!


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Why should you and your people die by the sword, famine, or plague as the LORD has threatened against any nation that does not serve the king of Babylon?


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Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are telling you, 'You must not serve the king of Babylon,' for they are prophesying a lie to you.


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'I have not sent them'-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- 'and they are prophesying falsely in My name; therefore, I will banish you, and you will perish-- you and the prophets who are prophesying to you.'"


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Then I spoke to the priests and all these people, saying, "This is what the LORD says, 'Do not listen to the words of your prophets. They are prophesying to you, claiming: Look, very soon now the articles of the LORD's temple will be brought back from Babylon. They are prophesying a lie to you.


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If they are indeed prophets and if the word of the LORD is with them, let them intercede with the LORD of Hosts not to let the articles that remain in the LORD's temple, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem go to Babylon.'


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For this is what the LORD of Hosts says about the pillars, the sea, the water carts, and the rest of the articles that still remain in this city,


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those Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he deported Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem.


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Yes, this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says about the articles that remain in the temple of the LORD, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem:


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'They will be brought to Babylon and will remain there until I attend to them again.' [This is] the LORD's declaration. 'Then I will bring them up and restore them to this place.'"


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In that same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur from Gibeon said to me in the temple of the LORD in the presence of the priests and all the people,


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This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.


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Within two years I will restore to this place all the articles of the LORD's temple that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took from here and transported to Babylon.


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And I will restore to this place Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon'-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- 'for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.'"


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The prophet Jeremiah replied to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the temple of the LORD.


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The prophet Jeremiah said, " Amen! May the LORD do so. May the LORD make the words you have prophesied come true and may He restore the articles of the LORD's temple and all the exiles from Babylon to this place!


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The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, disaster, and plague against many lands and great kingdoms.


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As for the prophet who prophesies peace-- only when the word of the prophet comes true will the prophet be recognized as one whom the LORD has truly sent."


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In the presence of all the people Hananiah proclaimed, "This is what the LORD says: 'In this way, within two years I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, from the neck of all the nations.'" Jeremiah the prophet then went on his way.


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The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke bar from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet:


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Go say to Hananiah: This is what the LORD says: You broke a wooden yoke bar, but in its place you will make an iron yoke bar.


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For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I have put an iron yoke on the neck of all these nations that they might serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him. I have also put the wild animals under him."


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The prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah, "Listen, Hananiah! The LORD did not send you, but you have led these people to trust in a lie.


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Therefore, this is what the LORD says: 'I am about to send you off the face of the earth. You will die this year because you have spoken rebellion against the LORD.'"


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This is the text of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exiles, the priests, the prophets, and all the people Nebuchadnezzar had deported from Jerusalem to Babylon.


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[This was] after King Jeconiah,the queen mother, the court officials, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metalsmiths had left Jerusalem.


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[The letter was sent] by Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah whom Zedekiah king of Judah had sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. [The letter] stated:


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This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles I deported from Jerusalem to Babylon:


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Take wives and have sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters to men [in marriage] so that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there; do not decrease.


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Seek the welfare of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the LORD on its behalf, for when it has prosperity, you will prosper."


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For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: "Don't let your prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you, and don't listen to the dreams you elicit from them,


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for they are prophesying falsely to you in My name. I have not sent them." [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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For this is what the LORD says: "When 70 years for Babylon are complete, I will attend to you and will confirm My promise concerning you to restore you to this place.


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For I know the plans I have for you"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- "plans for [your] welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.


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I will be found by you"-- the LORD's declaration-- "and I will restore your fortunesand gather you from all the nations and places where I banished you"-- the LORD's declaration. "I will restore you to the place I deported you from."


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But this is what the LORD says concerning the king sitting on David's throne and concerning all the people living in this city-- that is, concerning your brothers who did not go with you into exile.


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This is what the LORD of Hosts says: "I am about to send against them sword, famine, and plague and will make them like rotten figs that are inedible because they are so bad.


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I will pursue them with sword, famine, and plague. I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth-- a curse and a desolation, an object of scorn and a disgrace among all the nations where I will have banished them.


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[I will do this] because they have not listened to My words"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- "that I sent to them with My servants the prophets time and time again.And you too have not listened." [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says to Ahab son of Kolaiah and to Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, the ones prophesying a lie to you in My name: "I am about to hand them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will kill them before your very eyes.


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Based on [what happens to] them, all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon will create a curse that says: May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire!


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because they have committed an outrage in Israel by committing adultery with their neighbors' wives and have spoken a lie in My name, which I did not command them. I am He who knows, and I am a witness." [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: You in your own name have sent out letters to all the people of Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, and to all the priests, saying:


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The LORD has appointed you priest in place of Jehoiada the priest to be the chief officer in the temple of the LORD, responsible for every madman who acts like a prophet. You must confine him in stocks and an iron collar.


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For he has sent [word] to us in Babylon, claiming: The exile will be long. Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat their produce."


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Send [a message] to all the exiles, saying: This is what the LORD says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite. Because Shemaiah prophesied to you, though I did not send him, and made you trust a lie,


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this is what the LORD says: I am about to punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants. There will not be even one of his [descendants] living among these people, nor will any ever see the good that I will bring to My people"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- "for he has preached rebellion against the LORD."


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This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: "Write down on a scroll all the words that I have spoken to you,


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for the days are certainly coming"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- "when I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel and Judah"-- the LORD's declaration. "I will restore them to the land I gave to their ancestors and they will possess it."


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Ask and see whether a male can give birth. Why then do I see every man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor and every face turned pale?


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How awful that day will be! There will be none like it! It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be delivered out of it.


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On that day"-- [this is] the declaration of the LORD of Hosts-- "I will break his yoke from your neck and snap your fetters so strangers will never again enslave him.


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As for you, My servant Jacob, do not be afraid-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- and do not be dismayed, Israel, for I will without fail save you from far away, your descendants, from the land of their captivity! Jacob will return and have calm and quiet with no one to frighten him.


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For I will be with you-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- to save you! I will bring destruction on all the nations where I have scattered you; however, I will not bring destruction on you. I will discipline you justly, but I will by no means leave you unpunished.


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All your lovers have forgotten you; they no longer look for you, for I have struck you like an enemy would, with the discipline of someone cruel, because of your enormous guilt and your innumerable sins.


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Why do you cry out about your injury? Your pain has no cure! I have done these things to you because of your enormous guilt and your innumerable sins.


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Nevertheless, all who devoured you will be devoured, and all your adversaries-- all of them-- will go off into exile. Your despoilers will become spoil, and all who plunder you will be plundered.


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But I will bring you health and will heal you of your wounds-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- for they call you The Outcast, that Zion no one cares about.


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This is what the LORD says: I will certainly restore the fortunes of Jacob's tents and show compassion on his dwellings. Every city will be rebuilt on its mound; every citadel will stand on its proper site.


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Thanksgiving will come out of them, a sound of celebration. I will multiply them, and they will not decrease; I will honor them, and they will not be insignificant.


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His children will be as in past days; his congregation will be established in My presence. I will punish all his oppressors.


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Jacob's leader will be one of them; his ruler will issue from him. I will invite him to Me, and he will approach Me, for who would otherwise risk his life to approach Me? [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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Look, a storm from the LORD! Wrath has gone forth. A churning storm, it will whirl about the head of the wicked.


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The LORD's burning anger will not turn back until He has completely fulfilled the purposes of His heart. In time to come you will understand it.


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At that time"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- "I will be God of all the families of Israel, and they will be My people."


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This is what the LORD says: They found favor in the wilderness-- the people who survived the sword. [When] Israel went to find rest,


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the LORD appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have continued to extend faithful love to you.


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Again I will build you so that you will be rebuilt, Virgin Israel. You will take up your tambourines again and go forth in joyful dancing.


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You will plant vineyards again on the mountains of Samaria; the planters will plant and will enjoy [the fruit].


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For there will be a day when watchmen will call out in the hill country of Ephraim: Get up, let's go up to Zion, to the LORD our God!


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For this is what the LORD says: Sing with joy for Jacob; shout for the chief of the nations! Proclaim, praise, and say: LORD, save Your people, the remnant of Israel!


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Watch! I am going to bring them from the northern land. I will gather them from remote regions of the earth-- the blind and the lame will be with them, along with those who are pregnant and those about to give birth. They will return here as a great assembly!


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They will come weeping, but I will bring them back with consolation. I will lead them to wadis [filled] with water by a smooth way where they will not stumble, for I am Israel's Father, and Ephraim is My firstborn.


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Nations, hear the word of the LORD, and tell it among the far off coastlands! Say: The One who scattered Israel will gather him. He will watch over him as a shepherd [guards] his flock,


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They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will be radiant with joy because of the LORD's goodness, because of the grain, the new wine, the fresh oil, and because of the young of the flocks and herds. Their life will be like an irrigated garden, and they will no longer grow weak [from hunger].


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Then the virgin will rejoice with dancing, while young and old men [rejoice] together. I will turn their mourning into joy, give them consolation, and [bring] happiness out of grief.


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I will give the priests their fill with abundance, and My people will be satisfied with My goodness. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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This is what the LORD says: A voice was heard in Ramah, a lament with bitter weeping-- Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children because they are no more.


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This is what the LORD says: Keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for the reward for your work will come-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- and your children will return from the enemy's land.


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There is hope for your future-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- and your children will return to their own territory.


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I have heard Ephraim moaning: You disciplined me, and I have been disciplined like an untrained calf. Restore me, and I will return, for you, LORD, are my God.


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After I returned, I repented; After I was instructed, I struck my thigh [in grief]. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.


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Isn't Ephraim a precious son to Me, a delightful child? Whenever I speak against him, I certainly still think about him. Therefore, My inner being yearns for him; I will truly have compassion on him. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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Set up road markers for yourself; establish signposts! Keep the highway in mind, the way you have traveled. Return, Virgin Israel! Return to these cities of yours.


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How long will you turn here and there, faithless daughter? For the LORD creates something new in the land-- a female will shelter a man.


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This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: "When I restore their fortunes, they will once again speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities: May the LORD bless you, righteous settlement, holy mountain.


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Judah and all its cities will live in it together-- also farmers and those who move with the flocks--


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The days are coming"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- "when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast.


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Just as I watched over them to uproot and to tear them down, to demolish and to destroy, and to cause disaster, so will I be attentive to build and to plant them," says the LORD.


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In those days, it will never again be said: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.


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Rather, each will die for his own wrongdoing. Anyone who eats sour grapes-- his own teeth will be set on edge.


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Look, the days are coming"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.


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[This one will] not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt-- a covenant they broke even though I had married them"-- the LORD's declaration.


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Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days"-- the LORD's declaration. "I will place My law within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people.


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No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying: Know the LORD, for they will all know Me, from the least to the greatest of them"-- the LORD's declaration. "For I will forgive their wrongdoing and never again remember their sin."


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This is what the LORD says: The One who gives the sun for light by day, the fixed order of moon and stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea and makes its waves roar-- the LORD of Hosts is His name:


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If this fixed order departs from My presence-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- then also Israel's descendants will cease to be a nation before Me forever.


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This is what the LORD says: If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below explored, I will reject all of Israel's descendants because of all they have done-- [this is] the LORD's declaration.


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Look, the days are coming"-- the LORD's declaration-- "when the city from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate will be rebuilt for the LORD.


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A measuring line will once again stretch out straight to the hill of Gareb and then turn toward Goah.


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The whole valley-- the corpses, the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Kidron Valley to the corner of the Horse Gate to the east-- will be holy to the LORD. It will never be uprooted or demolished again."


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[This is] the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.


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At that time, the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was imprisoned in the guard's courtyard in the palace of the king of Judah.


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Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying: "Why are you prophesying, 'This is what the LORD says: Look, I am about to hand this city over to Babylon's king, and he will capture it.


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Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape from the Chaldeans; indeed, he will certainly be handed over to Babylon's king. They will speak face to face and meet eye to eye.


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He will take Zedekiah to Babylon where he will stay until I attend to him'-- [this is] the LORD's declaration. 'You will fight the Chaldeans, but you will not succeed'?"


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'Watch! Hanamel, the son of your uncle Shallum, is coming to you to say: Buy my field in Anathoth for yourself, for you own the right of redemption to buy it.'


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Then my cousin Hanamel [came] to the guard's courtyard as the LORD had said and urged me, 'Please buy my field in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for you own the right of inheritance and redemption. Buy it for yourself.' Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.


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So I bought the field in Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, and I weighed out to him the money-- 17 shekels of silver.


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and gave the purchase agreement to Baruch son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah. [I did this] in the sight of my cousin Hanamel, the witnesses who were signing the purchase agreement, and all the Judeans sitting in the guard's courtyard.


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'This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Take these scrolls-- this purchase agreement with the sealed copy and this open copy-- and put them in an earthen storage jar so they will last a long time.


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For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land.'


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Ah, Lord God! You Yourself made the heavens and earth by Your great power and with Your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!


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You show faithful love to thousands but lay the fathers' sins on their sons' laps after them, great and mighty God whose name is the LORD of Hosts,


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the One great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are on all the ways of the sons of men in order to give to each person according to his ways and the result of his deeds.


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You performed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt and do so to this very day both in Israel and among mankind. You made a name for Yourself, as [is the case] today.


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You brought Your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror.


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They entered and possessed it, but they did not obey Your voice or live according to Your law. They failed to perform all You commanded them to do, and so You have brought all this disaster on them.


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Look! Siege ramps have come against the city to capture it, and the city, as a result of the sword, famine, and plague, has been handed over to the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What You have spoken has happened. Look, You can see it!


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Yet You, Lord God, have said to me: Buy the field with silver and call in witnesses-- even though the city has been handed over to the Chaldeans!"


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Therefore, this is what the LORD says: I am about to hand this city over to the Chaldeans, to Babylon's king Nebuchadnezzar, and he will capture it.


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The Chaldeans who are going to fight against this city will come, set this city on fire, and burn it along with the houses where incense has been burned to Baal on their rooftops and where drink offerings have been poured out to other gods to provoke Me to anger.


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From their youth, the Israelites and Judeans have done nothing but what is evil in My sight! They have done nothing but provoke Me to anger by the work of their hands"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration--


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for this city has been up against My wrath and fury from the day it was built until now. I will therefore remove it from My presence,


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because of all the evil the Israelites and Judeans have done to provoke Me to anger-- they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets, the men of Judah, and the residents of Jerusalem.


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They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Though I taught them time and time again, they do not listen and receive discipline.


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They have placed their detestable things in the house that is called by My name and have defiled it.


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They have built the high places of Baal in the Valley of Hinnom to make their sons and daughters pass through [the fire] to Molech-- something I had not commanded them. I had never entertained the thought that they do this detestable act causing Judah to sin!


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Now therefore, this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to this city about which you said: It has been handed over to Babylon's king through sword, famine, and plague:


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I am about to gather them from all the lands where I have banished them in My wrath, rage, and great fury, and I will return them to this place and make them live in safety.


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I will give them one heart and one way so that for their good and for [the good of] their descendants after them, they will fear Me always.


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I will make with them an everlasting covenant: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put fear of Me in their hearts so they will never again turn away from Me.


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I will rejoice over them to do what is good to them, and I will plant them faithfully in this land with all My mind and heart.


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For this is what the LORD says: Just as I have brought all this great disaster on these people, so am I about to bring on them all the good I am promising them.


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Fields will be bought in this land about which you are saying: It's a desolation without man or beast; it has been handed over to the Chaldeans!


text:
Fields will be purchased with silver, the transaction written on a scroll and sealed, and witnesses will be called on in the land of Benjamin, in the areas surrounding Jerusalem, and in Judah's cities-- the cities of the hill country, the cities of the Judean foothills, and the cities of the Negev-- because I will restore their fortunes." [This is] the LORD's declaration.


text:
While he was still confined in the guard's courtyard, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah a second time:


text:
The LORD who made the earth, the LORD who forms it to establish it, the LORD is His name, says this:


text:
For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says concerning the houses of this city and the palaces of Judah's kings, the ones torn down [for defense] against the siege ramps and the sword:


text:
The people coming to fight the Chaldeans will fill the houses with the corpses of [their own] men I strike down in My wrath and rage. I have hidden My face from this city because of all their evil.


text:
Yet I will certainly bring health and healing to it and will indeed heal them. I will let them experience the abundance of peace and truth.


text:
I will purify them from all the wrongs they have committed against Me, and I will forgive all the wrongs they have committed against Me, rebelling against Me.


text:
This city will bear on My behalf a name of joy, praise, and glory before all the nations of the earth, who will hear of all the good I will do for them. They will tremble with awe because of all the good and all the peace I will bring about for them.


text:
This is what the LORD says: In this place which you say is a ruin, without man or beast-- that is, in Judah's cities and Jerusalem's streets that are a desolation without man, without inhabitant, and without beast-- there will be heard again


text:
a sound of joy and gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the bride, and the voice of those saying, Praise the LORD of Hosts, for the LORD is good; His faithful love endures forever as they bring thank offerings to the temple of the LORD. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as in former times, says the LORD.


text:
This is what the LORD of Hosts says: In this desolate place-- without man or beast-- and in all its cities there will once more be a grazing land where shepherds may rest flocks.


text:
The flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who counts them in the cities of the hill country, the cities of the Judean foothills, the cities of the Negev, the land of Benjamin-- the cities surrounding Jerusalem and Judah's cities, says the LORD.


text:
Look, the days are coming"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- "when I will fulfill the good promises that I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah.


text:
In those days and at that time I will cause a Branch of righteousness to sprout up for David, and He will administer justice and righteousness in the land.


text:
In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely, and this is what she will be named: The LORD Is Our Righteousness.


text:
For this is what the LORD says: David will never fail to have a man sitting on the throne of the house of Israel.


text:
The Levitical priests will never fail to have a man always before Me to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices."


text:
This is what the LORD says: If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night so that day and night cease to come at their regular time,


text:
then also My covenant with My servant David may be broken so that he will not have a son reigning on his throne, and the Levitical priests will not be My ministers.


text:
The hosts of heaven cannot be counted; the sand of the sea cannot be measured. So, too, I will make the descendants of My servant David and the Levites who minister to Me innumerable."


text:
Have you not noticed what these people have said? They say: The LORD has rejected the two families He had chosen. My people are treated with contempt and no longer regarded as a nation among them.


text:
This is what the LORD says: If I do not [keep] My covenant with the day and with the night and fail to establish the fixed order of heaven and earth,


text:
then I might also reject the seed of Jacob and of My servant David-- not taking from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Instead, I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them."


text:
[This is] the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, all his army, all the earthly kingdoms under his control, and all other nations were fighting against Jerusalem and all its surrounding cities:


text:
This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Go, speak to Zedekiah, king of Judah, and tell him: This is what the LORD says: I am about to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down.


text:
As for you, you will not escape from his hand but are certain to be captured and handed over to him. You will meet the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak face to face;you will go to Babylon.


text:
Yet hear the LORD's word, Zedekiah, king of Judah. This is what the LORD says concerning you: You will not die by the sword;


text:
you will die peacefully. There will be a burning ceremony for you just like the burning ceremonies for your fathers, the former kings who preceded you. Alas, lord! will be the lament for you, for I have spoken [this] word." [This is] the LORD's declaration.


text:
while the king of Babylon's army was attacking Jerusalem and all of Judah's remaining cities-- against Lachish and Azekah, for only they were left among Judah's fortified cities.


text:
[This is] the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after King Zedekiah made a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom to them,


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All the officials and people who entered into covenant to free their male and female slaves-- in order not to enslave them any longer-- obeyed and freed them.


text:
Afterwards, however, they changed their minds and took back their male and female slaves they had freed and forced them to become slaves [again].


text:
This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery, saying:


text:
At the end of seven years, each of you must free his Hebrew brother who sold himself to you. He may serve you six years, but then you must send him out free from you. But your ancestors did not obey Me or pay any attention.


text:
Today you repented and did what pleased Me, each of you proclaiming freedom for his neighbor. You made a covenant before Me at the temple called by My name.


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But you have changed your minds and profaned My name. Each has taken back his male and female slaves who had been freed [to go] wherever they wanted, and you have [again] subjugated them to be your slaves.


text:
Therefore, this is what the LORD says: You have not obeyed Me by proclaiming freedom, each man for his brother and for his neighbor. I hereby proclaim freedom for you"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- "to the sword, to plague, and to famine! I will make you a horror to all the earth's kingdoms.


text:
As for those who disobeyed My covenant, not keeping the terms of the covenant they made before Me, I will treat them like the calf they cut in two in order to pass between its pieces.


text:
The officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf


text:
will be handed over to their enemies, to those who want to take their life. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.


text:
I will hand Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials over to their enemies, to those who want to take their life, to the king of Babylon's army that is withdrawing.


text:
I am about to give the command"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- "and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it down. I will make Judah's cities a desolation, without inhabitant."


text:
[This is] the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah:


text:
Go to the house of the Rechabites, speak to them, and bring them to one of the chambers of the temple of the LORD to offer them a drink of wine."


text:
So I took Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons-- the entire house of the Rechabites--


text:
and I brought them into the temple of the LORD to a chamber [occupied by] the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah, a man of God, who had a chamber near the officials' chamber, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah son of Shallum the doorkeeper.


text:
I set jars filled with wine and some cups before the sons of the house of the Rechabites and said to them, "Drink wine!"


text:
But they replied, "We do not drink wine, for Jonadab, son of our ancestor Rechab, commanded: 'You and your sons must never drink wine.


text:
You must not build a house or sow seed or plant a vineyard. [Those things] are not for you. Rather, you must live in tents your whole life, so you may live a long time on the soil where you stay as a resident alien.'


text:
We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab, son of our ancestor Rechab, in all he commanded us. So we haven't drunk wine our whole life-- we, our wives, our sons, and our daughters.


text:
However, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched into the land, we said: Come, let's go into Jerusalem to get away from the Chaldean and Aramean armies. So we have been living in Jerusalem."


text:
This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Go, say to the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem: Will you not accept discipline by listening to My words?"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration.


text:
The words of Jonadab, son of Rechab, have been carried out. He commanded his sons not to drink wine, and they have not drunk to this very day because they have obeyed their ancestor's command. But I have spoken to you time and time again, and you have not obeyed Me!


text:
Time and time again I have sent you all My servants the prophets, proclaiming: Turn, each one from his evil way of life, and correct your actions. Stop following other gods to serve them. Live in the land that I gave you and your ancestors. But you would not pay attention or obey Me.


text:
Yes, the sons of Jonadab son of Rechab carried out their ancestor's command he gave them, but these people have not obeyed Me.


text:
Therefore, this is what the LORD, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I will certainly bring to Judah and to all the residents of Jerusalem all the disaster I have pronounced against them because I have spoken to them, but they have not obeyed, and I have called to them, but they would not answer."


text:
Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites: "This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'Because you have obeyed the command of your ancestor Jonadab and have kept all his commands and have done all that he commanded you,


text:
this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Jonadab son of Rechab will never fail to have a man to always stand before Me.'"


text:
In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:


text:
Take a scroll, and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah, and all the nations from the time I [first] spoke to you during Josiah's reign until today.


text:
Perhaps, when the house of Judah hears about all the disaster I am planning to bring on them, each one of them will turn from his evil way. Then I will forgive their wrongdoing and sin."


text:
So Jeremiah summoned Baruch son of Neriah. At Jeremiah's dictation, Baruch wrote on a scroll all the words the LORD had spoken to Jeremiah.


text:
so you must go and read from the scroll-- which you wrote at my dictation-- the words of the LORD in the hearing of the people at the temple of the LORD on a day of fasting. You must also read them in the hearing of all the Judeans who are coming from their cities.


text:
Perhaps their petition will come before the LORD, and each one will turn from his evil way, for the anger and fury that the LORD has pronounced against this people are great."


text:
So Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet had commanded him. At the LORD's temple he read the LORD's words from the scroll.


text:
In the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people of Jerusalem and all those coming in from Judah's cities into Jerusalem proclaimed a fast before the LORD.


text:
Then at the LORD's temple, in the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper courtyard at the opening of the New Gate of the LORD's temple, in the hearing of all the people, Baruch read Jeremiah's words from the scroll.


text:
he went down to the scribe's chamber in the king's palace. All the officials were sitting there-- Elishama the scribe, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials.


text:
Micaiah reported to them all the words he had heard when Baruch read from the scroll in the hearing of the people.


text:
Then all the officials sent [word] to Baruch through Jehudi son of Nethaniah, son of Shelemiah, son of Cushi, saying, "Bring the scroll that you read in the hearing of the people, and come." So Baruch son of Neriah took the scroll and went to them.


text:
When they had heard all the words, they turned to each other in fear and said to Baruch, "We must surely tell the king all these things."


text:
Baruch said to them, "At his dictation. He recited all these words to me while I was writing on the scroll in ink."


text:
The officials said to Baruch, "You and Jeremiah must hide yourselves and tell no one where you are."


text:
Then they came to the king at the courtyard, having deposited the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and reported everything in the hearing of the king.


text:
The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the scribe. Jehudi then read it in the hearing of the king and all the officials who were standing by the king.


text:
Since it was the ninth month, the king was sitting in his winter quarters with a fire burning in front of him.


text:
As soon as Jehudi would read three or four columns, Jehoiakim would cut the scroll with a scribe's knife and throw the columns into the blazing fire until the entire scroll was consumed by the fire in the brazier.


text:
As they heard all these words, the king and all of his servants did not became terrified or tear their garments.


text:
Even though Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah had urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.


text:
Then the king commanded Jerahmeel the king's son, Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but the LORD had hidden them.


text:
After the king had burned the scroll with the words Baruch had written at Jeremiah's dictation, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:


text:
Take another scroll, and once again write on it the very words that were on the original scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah burned.


text:
You are to proclaim concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: This is what the LORD says: You have burned the scroll, saying: Why have you written on it: The king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land and cause it to be without man or beast?


text:
Therefore, this is what the LORD says concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on David's throne, and his corpse will be thrown out [to be exposed] to the heat of day and the frost of night.


text:
I will punish him, his descendants, and his officers for their wrongdoing. I will bring on them, on the residents of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah all the disaster, which I warned them about but they did not listen."


text:
Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch son of Neriah, the scribe, and he wrote on it at Jeremiah's dictation all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim, Judah's king, had burned in the fire. And many other words like them were added.


text:
Zedekiah son of Josiah reigned as king in the land of Judah in place of Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made him king.


text:
He and his officers and the people of the land did not obey the words of the LORD that He spoke through Jeremiah the prophet.


text:
Nevertheless, King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, the priest, to Jeremiah the prophet, requesting, "Please pray to the LORD our God for us!"


text:
Jeremiah was going about his daily tasks among the people, for they had not [yet] put him into the prison.


text:
Pharaoh's army had left Egypt, and when the Chaldeans, who were besieging Jerusalem, heard the report, they withdrew from Jerusalem.


text:
This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: This is what you will say to Judah's king, who is sending you to inquire of Me: Watch: Pharaoh's army, which has come out to help you, is going to return to its own land of Egypt.


text:
This is what the LORD says: Don't deceive yourselves by saying: The Chaldeans will leave us for good, for they will not leave.


text:
Indeed, if you were to strike down the entire Chaldean army that is fighting with you, and there remained among them only the badly wounded men, each in his tent, they would get up and burn this city down."


text:
Jeremiah [started to] leave Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to claim his portion there among the people.


text:
But when he was at the Benjamin Gate, an officer of the guard was there, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah, and he apprehended Jeremiah the prophet, saying, "You are deserting to the Chaldeans."


text:
[That's] a lie," Jeremiah replied. "I am not deserting to the Chaldeans!" Irijah would not listen to him but apprehended Jeremiah and took him to the officials.


text:
The officials were angry at Jeremiah and beat him and placed him in jail in the house of Jonathan the scribe, for it had been made into a prison.


text:
King Zedekiah later sent [for him] and received him, and in his house privately asked him, "Is there a word from the LORD?" "There is," Jeremiah responded, and he continued, "You will be handed over to the king of Babylon."


text:
Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, "How have I sinned against you or your servants or these people that you have put me in prison?


text:
Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, claiming, 'The king of Babylon will not come against you and this land'?


text:
So now please listen, my lord the king. May my petition come before you. Don't send me back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, or I will die there."


text:
So King Zedekiah gave orders, and Jeremiah was placed in the guard's courtyard. He was given a loaf of bread each day from the baker's street until all the bread was gone from the city. So Jeremiah remained in the guard's courtyard.


text:
Now Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchijah heard the words Jeremiah was speaking to all the people:


text:
This is what the LORD says: 'Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine, and plague, but whoever surrenders to the Chaldeans will live. He will keep his life like the spoils [of war] and will live.'


text:
This is what the LORD says: 'This city will most certainly be handed over to the king of Babylon's army, and he will capture it.'"


text:
The officials then said to the king, "This man ought to die, because he is weakening the morale of the warriors who remain in this city and of all the people by speaking to them in this way. This man is not seeking the well-being of this people, but disaster."


text:
So they took Jeremiah and dropped him into the cistern of Malchiah the king's son, which was in the guard's courtyard, lowering Jeremiah with ropes. There was no water in the cistern, only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.


text:
But Ebed-melech, a Cushite court official employed in the king's palace, heard Jeremiah had been put into the cistern. While the king was sitting at the Benjamin Gate,


text:
My lord king, these men have been evil in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have dropped him into the cistern where he will die from hunger, because there is no more bread in the city."


text:
So the king commanded Ebed-melech, the Cushite, "Take from here 30 men under your authority and pull Jeremiah the prophet up from the cistern before he dies."


text:
So Ebed-melech took the men under his authority and went to the king's palace to a place below the storehouse. From there he took old rags and worn-out clothes and lowered them by ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern.


text:
Ebed-melech the Cushite cried out to Jeremiah, "Place these old rags and clothes between your armpits and the ropes." Jeremiah did so,


text:
and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern, but he continued to stay in the guard's courtyard.


text:
King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and received him at the third entrance of the LORD's temple. The king said to Jeremiah, "I am going to ask you something; don't hide anything from me."


text:
Jeremiah replied to Zedekiah, "If I tell you, you will kill me, won't you? Besides, if I give you advice, you won't listen to me anyway."


text:
King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah in private, "As the LORD lives, who has given us this life, I will not kill you or hand you over to these men who want to take your life."


text:
Jeremiah therefore said to Zedekiah, "This is what the LORD, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'If indeed you surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then you will live, this city will not be burned down, and you and your household will survive.


text:
But if you do not surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then this city will be handed over to the Chaldeans. They will burn it down, and you yourself will not escape from them.'"


text:
But King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "I am worried about the Judeans who have deserted to the Chaldeans. They may hand me over to them to abuse me."


text:
They will not hand you over," Jeremiah replied. "Obey the voice of the LORD in what I am telling you, so it may go well for you and you can live.


text:
'All the women who remain in the palace of Judah's king will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon and will say: Your trusted friends misled you and overcame you. Your feet sank into the mire, and they deserted you.


text:
All your wives and sons will be brought out to the Chaldeans. You yourself will not escape from them, for you will be seized by the king of Babylon and this city will burn down.'"


text:
If the officials hear that I have spoken with you and come and demand of you, 'Tell us what you said to the king; don't hide anything from us and we won't kill you. Also, what did the king say to you?'


text:
then you will tell them, 'I was bringing before the king my petition that he not return me to the house of Jonathan to die there.'"


text:
When all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him, he reported the exact words to them the king had commanded, and they quit speaking with him because nothing had been heard.


text:
Jeremiah remained in the guard's courtyard until the day Jerusalem was captured, and he was [there] when it happened.


text:
In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem with his entire army and laid siege to it.


text:
In the fourth month of Zedekiah's eleventh year, on the ninth day of the month, the city was broken into.


text:
All the officials of the king of Babylon entered and sat at the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim the Rab-saris, Nergal-sharezer the Rab-mag, and all the rest of the officials of Babylon's king.


text:
When he saw them, Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers fled. They left the city at night by way of the king's garden through the gate between the two walls. They left along the route to the Arabah.


text:
However, the Chaldean army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, arrested him, and brought him to Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon's king, at Riblah in the land of Hamath. The king passed sentence on him [there].


text:
At Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah's sons before his eyes, and he [also] slaughtered all Judah's nobles.


text:
The Chaldeans next burned down the king's palace and the people's houses and tore down the walls of Jerusalem.


text:
Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, deported to Babylon the rest of the people-- those who had remained in the city and those deserters who had defected to him along with the rest of the people who had remained.


text:
[However,] Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing, and he gave them vineyards and fields at that time.


text:
[Speaking] through Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon gave orders concerning Jeremiah, saying:


text:
Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, Nebushazban the Rab-saris, Nergal-sharezer the Rab-mag, and all the captains of the king of Babylon


text:
had Jeremiah brought from the guard's courtyard and turned him over to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, to take him home. So he settled among [his own] people.


text:
Go tell Ebed-melech the Cushite: This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am about to fulfill My words for harm and not for good against this city. They will take place before your eyes on that day.


text:
But I will rescue you on that day"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- "and you will not be handed over to the men you fear.


text:
Indeed, I will certainly deliver you so that you do not fall by the sword. Because you have trusted in Me, you will keep your life like the spoils [of war]." [This is] the LORD's declaration.


text:
[This is] the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, released him at Ramah when he had been bound in chains with all the exiles of Jerusalem and Judah who were being exiled to Babylon.


text:
The captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, "The LORD your God decreed this disaster on this place,


text:
and the LORD has fulfilled [it]. He has done just what He decreed. Because you [people] have sinned against the LORD and have not obeyed Him, this thing has happened.


text:
Now pay attention [to what I say]. Today I am setting you free from the chains that were on your hands. If it pleases you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will take care of you. But if it seems wrong to you to come with me to Babylon, go no farther. Look-- the whole land is in front of you. Wherever it seems good and right for you to go, go there."


text:
When Jeremiah had not yet turned [to go, Nebuzaradan said to him:] "Return to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed over the cities of Judah, and stay with him among the people or go wherever you want to go." So the captain of the guard gave him a ration and a gift and released him.


text:
Jeremiah therefore went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah, and he stayed with him among the people who remained in the land.


text:
When all the commanders of the armies in the field-- they and their men-- heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam over the land and that he had put him in charge of the men, women, and children, the poorest of the land who had not been deported to Babylon,


text:
they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. [The commanders included] Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah son of the Maacathite-- they and their men.


text:
Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, swore an oath to them and their men, assuring them, "Don't be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well for you.


text:
As for me, I am going to live in Mizpah to represent [you] before the Chaldeans who come to us. As for you, gather wine, summer fruit, and oil, place them in your [storage] jars, and live in the cities you have captured."


text:
When all the Judeans in Moab and among the Ammonites and in Edom and in all the other lands also heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, over them,


text:
they all returned from all the places where they had been banished and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and harvested a great amount of wine and summer fruit.


text:
Meanwhile, Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies in the field came to Gedaliah at Mizpah


text:
and warned him, "Don't you realize that Baalis, king of the Ammonites, has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to strike you down?" But Gedaliah son of Ahikam would not believe them.


text:
Then Johanan son of Kareah suggested to Gedaliah in private at Mizpah, "Let me go kill Ishmael son of Nethaniah. No one will know it. Why should he strike you down and scatter all of Judah that has gathered to you so that the remnant of Judah would perish?"


text:
But Gedaliah son of Ahikam responded to Johanan son of Kareah, "Don't do that! What you're saying about Ishmael is a lie."


text:
In the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family and one of the king's chief officers, came with 10 men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah. They ate a meal together there in Mizpah,


text:
but then Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the 10 men who were with him got up and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with the sword; he killed the one the king of Babylon had appointed in the land.


text:
Ishmael also struck down all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Chaldean soldiers who were there.


text:
80 men came from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria who had shaved their beards, torn their garments, and gashed themselves, and who were carrying grain and incense offerings to bring to the temple of the LORD.


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Ishmael son of Nethaniah came out of Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he came. When he encountered them, he said: "Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam!"


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But when they came into the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the men with him slaughtered them and threw them into a cistern.


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However, there were 10 men among them who said to Ishmael, "Don't kill us, for we have hidden treasure in the field-- wheat, barley, oil, and honey!" So he stopped and did not kill them along with their companions.


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Now the cistern where Ishmael had thrown all the corpses of the men he had struck down was a large one that King Asa had made in the encounter with Baasha king of Israel. Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled [it] with the slain.


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Then Ishmael took captive all the remnant of the people of Mizpah including the daughters of the king-- all those who remained in Mizpah over whom Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive and set off to cross over to the Ammonites.


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When Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael son of Nethaniah had done,


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they took all their men and went to fight with Ishmael son of Nethaniah and found him by the great pool in Gibeon.


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When all the people with Ishmael saw Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the army with him, they rejoiced,


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and all the people whom Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned around and rejoined Johanan son of Kareah.


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Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies with him then took from Mizpah all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael son of Nethaniah after Ishmael had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam-- men, soldiers, women, children, and court officials whom he brought back from Gibeon.


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They left, stopping in Geruth Chimham, which is near Bethlehem, in order to make their way into Egypt


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away from the Chaldeans. For they feared them because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed in the land.


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Then all the commanders of the armies, along with Johanan son of Kareah, Jazaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest, approached


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Jeremiah the prophet and said, "May our petition come before you; pray to the LORD your God on our behalf, on behalf of this entire remnant (for few of us remain out of the many, as you can see with your own eyes),


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So Jeremiah the prophet said to them, "I have heard. I will now pray to the LORD your God according to your words, and every word that the LORD answers you I will tell you; I won't withhold a word from you."


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And they said to Jeremiah, "As for every word the LORD your God sends you to [tell] us, if we don't act accordingly, may the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us.


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Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you so that it may go well with us. We will certainly obey the voice of the LORD our God!"


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and he summoned Johanan son of Kareah, all the commanders of the armies who were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest.


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He said to them, "This is what the LORD says, the God of Israel to whom you sent me to bring your petition before Him:


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'If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will rebuild and not demolish you, and I will plant and not uproot you, because I relent concerning the disaster that I have brought on you.


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Don't be afraid of the king of Babylon whom you now fear; don't be afraid of him'-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- 'because I am with you to save you and deliver you from him.


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I will grant you compassion, and he will have compassion on you and allow you to return to your own soil.


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and if you say: No, instead we'll go to the land of Egypt where we will not see war or hear the sound of the ram's horn or hunger for food, and we'll live there,


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then hear the word of the LORD, remnant of Judah! This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: If you are firmly resolved to go to Egypt and live there for a while,


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then the sword you fear will overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine you are worried about will follow on your heels there to Egypt, and you will die there.


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All who resolve to go to Egypt to live there for a while will die by the sword, famine, and plague. They will have no survivor or escapee from the disaster I will bring on them.'


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For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'Just as My anger and fury were poured out on Jerusalem's residents, so will My fury pour out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become an object of execration, scorn, cursing, and disgrace, and you will never see this place again.'


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The LORD has spoken concerning you, remnant of Judah: 'Don't go to Egypt.' Know for certain that I have warned you today!


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You have led your own selves astray because you are the ones who sent me to the LORD your God, saying, 'Pray to the LORD our God on our behalf, and as for all that the LORD our God says, tell it to us, and we'll act accordingly.'


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For I have told you today, but you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God in everything He has sent me to [tell] you.


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Now therefore, know for certain that by the sword, famine, and plague you will die in the place where you desired to go to live for a while."


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When Jeremiah had finished speaking to all the people all the words of the LORD their God-- all these words the LORD their God had sent him to give them--


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then Azariah son of Hoshaiah, Johanan son of Kareah, and all the other arrogant men responded to Jeremiah, "You are speaking a lie! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, 'You must not go to Egypt to live there for a while!'


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Rather, Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Chaldeans to put us to death or to deport us to Babylon!"


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So Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies did not obey the voice of the LORD to stay in the land of Judah.


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Instead, Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies took the whole remnant of Judah, those who had returned from all the nations where they had been banished to live in the land of Judah for a while--


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the men, women, children, king's daughters, and everyone whom Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, had allowed to remain with Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan, along with Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah--


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and they went to the land of Egypt because they did not obey the voice of the LORD. They went as far as Tahpanhes.


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Pick up some large stones and set them in the mortar of the brick pavement that is at the opening of Pharaoh's palace at Tahpanhes. [Do this] in the sight of the Judean men


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and tell them: This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will place his throne on these stones that I have embedded, and he will pitch his pavilion over them.


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He will come and strike down the land of Egypt-- those [destined] for death, to death; those [destined] for captivity, to captivity; and those [destined] for the sword, to the sword.


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I will kindle a fire in the temples of Egypt's gods, and he will burn them and take them prisoner. He will clean the land of Egypt as a shepherd picks lice off his garment, and he will leave there unscathed.


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He will smash the sacred pillars of the sun temple in the land of Egypt and burn down the temples of the Egyptian gods."


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[This is] the word that came to Jeremiah for all the Jews living in the land of Egypt-- at Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and in the land of Pathros:


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This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: You have seen all the disaster I brought against Jerusalem and all Judah's cities; look, they are a ruin today without an inhabitant in them


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because of their evil ways that provoked Me to anger, going and burning incense to serve other gods they, you, and your fathers did not know.


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So I sent you all My servants the prophets time and time again, saying, Don't do this detestable thing that I hate.


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But they did not listen or pay attention; they did not turn from their evil or stop burning incense to other gods.


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So My fierce wrath poured forth and burned in Judah's cities and Jerusalem's streets so that they became the desolate ruin they are today.


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So now, this is what the LORD, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Why are you doing such great harm to yourselves? You are cutting off man and woman, child and infant from Judah, leaving yourselves without a remnant.


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You are provoking Me to anger by the work of your hands. You are burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to live for a while. As a result, you will be cut off and become an object of cursing and insult among all the nations of earth.


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Have you forgotten the evils of your fathers, the evils of Judah's kings, the evils of their wives, your own evils, and the evils of your wives that were committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?


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They have not become humble to this day, and they have not feared or walked by My law or My statutes that I set before you and your ancestors.


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Therefore, this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am about to turn against you to [bring] disaster, to cut off all Judah.


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And I will take away the remnant of Judah, those who have resolved to go to the land of Egypt to live there for a while; they will meet their end. All of them in the land of Egypt will fall by the sword; they will meet their end by famine. From the least to the greatest, they will die by the sword and by famine. Then they will become an object of execration, of scorn, of cursing, and of disgrace.


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I will punish those living in the land of Egypt just as I punished Jerusalem by sword, famine, and plague.


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Then the remnant of Judah-- those going to live for a while there in the land of Egypt-- will have no fugitive or survivor to return to the land of Judah where they are longing to return to live, for they will not return except [for a few] fugitives."


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However, all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, all the women standing by-- a great assembly-- and all the people who were living in the land of Egypt at Pathros answered Jeremiah,


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Instead, we will do everything we said we would: burn incense to the queen of heaven and offer drink offerings to her just as we, our fathers, our kings, and our officials did in Judah's cities and in Jerusalem's streets. Then we had enough food and good things and saw no disaster,


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but from the time we ceased to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to offer her drink offerings, we have lacked everything, and through sword and famine we have met our end."


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And the women said, "When we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, was it apart from our husbands' knowledge that we made sacrificial cakes in her image and poured out drink offerings to her?"


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But Jeremiah responded to all the people-- the men, women, and all the people who were answering him-- saying,


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As for the incense you burned in Judah's cities and in Jerusalem's streets-- you, your fathers, your kings, your officials, and the people of the land-- did the LORD not remember them? He brought this to mind.


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The LORD can no longer bear your evil deeds and the detestable acts you have committed, so your land has become a waste, a desolation, and an object of cursing, without inhabitant, as [you see] today.


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Because you burned incense and sinned against the LORD and didn't obey the LORD's voice and didn't walk in His law, His statutes, and His testimonies, this disaster has come to you, as [you see] today."


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Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including all the women, "Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt.


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This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'As for you and your wives, you women have spoken with your mouths, and you men fulfilled it by your deeds, saying: We will keep our vows we have made to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings for her. [Go ahead,] confirm your vows! Pay your vows!'


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Therefore, hear the word of the LORD, all you Judeans who live in the land of Egypt: 'I have sworn by My great name, says the LORD, that My name will never again be invoked by anyone of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, As the Lord God lives.


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I am watching over them for disaster and not for good, and every man of Judah who is in the land of Egypt will meet his end by sword or famine until they are finished off.


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Those who escape the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah only few in number, and the whole remnant of Judah, the ones going to the land of Egypt to live there for a while, will know whose word stands, Mine or theirs!


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This will be a sign to you'-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- 'that I am about to punish you in this place, so you may know that My words of disaster concerning you will certainly come to pass.


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This is what the LORD says: I am about to hand over Pharaoh Hophra, Egypt's king, to his enemies, to those who want to take his life, just as I handed over Judah's King Zedekiah to Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar, who was his enemy, the one who wanted to take his life.'"


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[This is] the word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch son of Neriah when he wrote these words on a scroll at Jeremiah's dictation in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah:


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'You have said, Woe is me, because the LORD has added misery to my pain! I am worn out with groaning and have found no rest.


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'This is what you are to say to him: This is what the LORD says: What I have built I am about to demolish, and what I have planted I am about to uproot-- the whole land!


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But as for you, do you seek great things for yourself? Stop seeking! For I am about to bring disaster on every living creature'-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- 'but I will grant you your life like the spoils [of war] wherever you go.'"


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About Egypt and the army of Pharaoh Neco, Egypt's king, which was defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates River by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the fourth year of Judah's King Jehoiakim son of Josiah:


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Harness the horses; mount the steeds; take your positions with helmets on! Polish the lances; put on armor!


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Why have I seen [this]? They are terrified, they are retreating, their warriors are crushed, they flee headlong, they never look back, terror is on every side! [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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The swift cannot flee, and the warrior cannot escape! In the north by the bank of the Euphrates River, they stumble and fall.


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Egypt rises like the Nile, and its waters churn like rivers. He boasts: I will go up, I will cover the earth; I will destroy cities with their residents.


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Rise up, you cavalry! Race furiously, you chariots! Let the warriors go forth-- Cush and Put, who are able to handle shields, and the Ludim, who are able to handle and string the bow.


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That day belongs to the Lord, the God of Hosts, a day of vengeance to avenge Himself against His adversaries. The sword will devour and be satisfied; it will drink its fill of their blood, because it will be a sacrifice to the Lord, the God of Hosts, in the northern land by the Euphrates River.


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Go up to Gilead and get balm, Virgin Daughter Egypt! You have multiplied remedies in vain; there is no healing for you.


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The nations have heard of your dishonor, and your outcry fills the earth, because warrior stumbles against warrior and together both of them have fallen.


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[This is] the word the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to defeat the land of Egypt:


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Announce it in Egypt, and proclaim it in Migdol! Proclaim it in Memphis and in Tahpanhes! Say: Take positions! Prepare yourself, for the sword devours all around you.


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He continues to stumble. Indeed, each falls over the other. They say: Get up! Let's return to our people and to the land of our birth, away from the sword that oppresses.


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As I live-- [this is] the King's declaration; the LORD of Hosts is His name. He will come like Tabor among the mountains and like Carmel by the sea.


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Pack your bags for exile, inhabitant of Daughter Egypt! For Memphis will become a desolation, uninhabited ruins.


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Even her mercenaries among her are like stall-fed calves. They too will turn back; together they will flee; they will not take their stand, for the day of their calamity is coming on them, the time of their punishment.


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Egypt will hiss like a slithering snake, for [the enemy] will come with an army; with axes they will come against her like those who cut trees.


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They will cut down her forest-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- though it is dense, for they are more numerous than locusts; they cannot be counted.


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The LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: "I am about to punish Amon, [god] of Thebes, along with Pharaoh, Egypt, her gods, and her kings-- Pharaoh and those trusting in him.


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I will hand them over to those who want to take their lives-- to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. But after this, it will be inhabited again as in ancient times." [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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But you, My servant Jacob, do not be afraid, and do not be discouraged, Israel, for without fail I will save you from far away and your descendants, from the land of their captivity! Jacob will return and have calm and quiet with no one to frighten him.


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And you, My servant Jacob, do not be afraid-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- for I will be with you. I will bring destruction on all the nations where I have banished you, but I will not bring destruction on you. I will discipline you with justice, but I will by no means leave you unpunished.


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[This is] the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet about the Philistines before Pharaoh defeated Gaza.


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This is what the LORD says: Look, waters are rising from the north and becoming an overflowing wadi. They will overflow the land and everything in it, the cities and their inhabitants. The people will cry out, and every inhabitant of the land will wail.


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At the sound of the stomping hooves of his stallions, the rumbling of his chariots, and the clatter of their wheels, fathers will not turn back for their sons, because they will be utterly helpless


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on account of the day that is coming to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every remaining ally. Indeed, the LORD is about to destroy the Philistines, the remnant of the islands of Caphtor.


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Baldness is coming to Gaza. Ashkelon will become silent, a remnant of their valley. How long will you gash yourself?


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Ah, sword of the LORD! How long will you be restless? Go back to your scabbard; be still; be silent!


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How can it rest when the LORD has given it a command? He has assigned it against Ashkelon and the shore of the sea.


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About Moab, this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Woe to Nebo, because it is about to be destroyed; Kiriathaim will be put to shame; it will be taken captive. The fortress will be put to shame and dismayed!


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There is no longer praise for Moab; they plan harm against her in Heshbon: Come, let's cut her off from nationhood. You madmen will also be silenced; the sword will pursue you.


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For on the ascent to Luhith they will be weeping continually, and on the descent to Horonaim will be heard cries of distress over the destruction:


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Because you trust in your works and treasures, you will be captured also. Chemosh will go into exile with his priests and officials.


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The destroyer will move against every town; not one town will escape. The valley will perish, and the plain will be annihilated, as the LORD has said.


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Make Moab a salt marsh, for she will run away; her towns will become a desolation, without inhabitant.


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Cursed is the one who does the LORD's business deceitfully, and cursed is the one who withholds his sword from bloodshed.


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Moab has been left quiet since his youth, settled [like wine] on its dregs. He hasn't been poured from one container to another or gone into exile. So his taste has remained the same, and his aroma hasn't changed.


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Therefore look, the days are coming-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- when I will send those to him, who will pour him out. They will empty his containers and smash his jars.


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Moab will be put to shame because of Chemosh, just as the house of Israel was put to shame because of Bethel that they trusted in.


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The destroyer of Moab and its towns has come up, and the best of its young men have gone down to slaughter. [This is] the King's declaration; the LORD of Hosts is His name.


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Mourn for him, all you surrounding [nations], everyone who knows his name. Say: How the mighty scepter is shattered, the glorious staff!


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Come down from glory; sit on parched ground, resident of the daughter of Dibon, for the destroyer of Moab has come against you; he has destroyed your fortresses.


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Stand by the highway and look, resident of Aroer! Ask him who is fleeing or her who is escaping, What happened?


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Moab is put to shame, indeed dismayed. Wail and cry out! Declare by the Arnon that Moab is destroyed.


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Make him drunk, because he has exalted himself against the LORD. Moab will wallow in his own vomit, and he will also become a laughingstock.


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Wasn't Israel a laughingstock to you? Was he ever found among thieves? For whenever you speak of him you shake [your head]."


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Abandon the towns! Live in the cliffs, residents of Moab! Be like a dove that nests inside the mouth of a cave.


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We have heard of Moab's pride, great pride, indeed-- his insolence, arrogance, pride, and haughty heart.


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Therefore, I will wail over Moab. I will cry out for Moab, all of it; he will moan for the men of Kir-heres.


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I will weep for you, vine of Sibmah, with more than the weeping for Jazer. Your tendrils have extended to the sea; they have reached to the sea [and to] Jazer. The destroyer has fallen on your summer fruit and grape harvest.


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Joy and celebration are taken from the fertile field and from the land of Moab. I have stopped the flow of wine from the winepresses; no one will tread with shouts of joy. The shouting is not a shout of joy.


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There is a cry from Heshbon to Elealeh; they raise their voices as far as Jahaz-- from Zoar to Horonaim [and] Eglath-shelishiyah-- because even the waters of Nimrim have become desolate.


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In Moab, I will stop"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- "the one who offers sacrifices on the high place and burns incense to his gods.


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Therefore, My heart moans like flutes for Moab, and My heart moans like flutes for the people of Kir-heres. And therefore, the wealth he has gained has perished.


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Indeed, every head is bald and every beard clipped; on every hand is a gash and sackcloth around the waist.


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On all the rooftops of Moab and in her public squares, everyone is mourning because I have shattered Moab like a jar no one wants." [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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How broken it is! They wail! How Moab has turned his back! He is ashamed. Moab will become a laughingstock and a shock to all those around him."


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The towns have been captured, and the strongholds seized. In that day the heart of Moab's warriors will be like the heart of a woman with contractions.


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He who flees from the panic will fall in the pit, and he who climbs from the pit will be captured in the trap, for I will bring against Moab the year of their punishment. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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Those who flee will stand exhausted in Heshbon's shadow because fire has come out from Heshbon and a flame from within Sihon. It will devour Moab's forehead and the skull of the noisemakers.


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Woe to you, Moab! The people of Chemosh have perished because your sons have been taken captive and your daughters have gone into captivity.


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Yet, I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the last days. [This is] the LORD's declaration. The judgment on Moab ends here.


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About the Ammonites, this is what the LORD says: Does Israel have no sons? Is he without an heir? Why then has Milcomdispossessed Gad and his people settled in their cities?


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Therefore look, the days are coming-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- when I will make the shout of battle heard against Rabbah of the Ammonites. It will become a desolate mound, and its villages will be burned down. Israel will dispossess their dispossessors, says the LORD.


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Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is devastated; cry out, daughters of Rabbah! Clothe yourselves with sackcloth, and lament; run back and forth within your walls, because Milcom will go into exile together with his priests and officials.


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Why do you brag about your valleys, your flowing valley, you faithless daughter? You who trust in your treasures [and boast]: Who can attack me?


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Look, I am about to bring terror on you-- [this is] the declaration of the Lord, the God of Hosts-- from all those around you. You will be banished, each man headlong, with no one to gather up the fugitives.


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About Edom, this is what the LORD of Hosts says: Is there no longer wisdom in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom rotted away?


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Run! Turn back! Lie low, residents of Dedan, for I will bring Esau's calamity on him at the time I punish him.


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If grape harvesters came to you, wouldn't they leave some gleanings? Were thieves to come in the night, they would destroy only what they wanted.


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But I will strip Esau bare; I will uncover his secret places. He will try to hide himself, but he will be unable. His descendants will be destroyed along with his relatives and neighbors. He will exist no longer.


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For this is what the LORD says: If those who do not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, can you possibly remain unpunished? You will not remain unpunished, for you must drink [it] too.


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For by Myself I have sworn"-- the LORD's declaration-- "Bozrah will become a desolation, a disgrace, a ruin, and a curse, and all her cities will become ruins forever."


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I have heard a message from the LORD; an envoy has been sent among the nations: Assemble yourselves to come against her. Rise up for war!


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As to the terror you cause, your presumptuous heart has deceived you. You who live in the clefts of the rock, you who occupy the mountain summit, though you elevate your nest like the eagle, even from there I will bring you down. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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Edom will become a desolation. Everyone who passes by her will be horrified and scoff because of all her wounds.


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As when Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown along with their neighbors," says the LORD, "no one will live there; no human being will even stay in it as a resident alien.


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Look, it will be like a lion coming up from the thickets of the Jordan to the perennially watered grazing land. Indeed, I will chase Edom away from her [land] in a flash. I will appoint whoever is chosen for her. For who is like Me? Who will summon Me? Who is the shepherd who can stand against Me?"


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Therefore, hear the plans that the LORD has drawn up against Edom and the strategies He has devised against the people of Teman: The flock's little lambs will certainly be dragged away, and their grazing land will be made desolate because of them.


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Look! It will be like an eagle soaring upward, then swooping down and spreading its wings over Bozrah. In that day the hearts of Edom's warriors will be like the heart of a woman with contractions.


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About Damascus: Hamath and Arpad are put to shame, for they have heard a bad report and are agitated; in the sea there is anxiety that cannot be calmed.


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Damascus has become weak; she has turned to run; panic has gripped her. Distress and labor pains have seized her like a woman in labor.


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Therefore, her young men will fall in her public squares; all the warriors will be silenced in that day. [This is] the declaration of the LORD of Hosts.


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About Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon's king, defeated, this is what the LORD says: Rise up, go against Kedar, and destroy the people of the east!


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They will take their tents and their flocks along with their tent curtains and all their equipment. They will take their camels for themselves. They will call out to them: Terror is on every side!


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Run! Escape quickly! Lie low, residents of Hazor-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has drawn up a plan against you; he has devised a strategy against you.


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Rise up, go up against a nation at ease, one living in security. [This is] the LORD's declaration. They have no doors, not even a gate bar; they live alone.


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Their camels will become plunder, and their massive herds of cattle will become spoil. I will scatter them to the wind in every direction, those who shave their temples; I will bring calamity on them across all their borders. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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Hazor will become a jackals' den, a desolation forever. No one will live there; no human being will even stay in it as a resident alien.


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[This is] the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet about Elam at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah.


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I will bring the four winds against Elam from the four corners of the heavens, and I will scatter them to all these winds. There will not be a nation to which Elam's banished ones will not go.


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I will devastate Elam before their enemies, before those who want to take their lives. I will bring disaster on them, My burning anger. [This is] the LORD's declaration. I will send the sword after them until I finish them off.


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I will set My throne in Elam, and I will destroy the king and officials from there. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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Announce to the nations; proclaim and raise up a signal flag; proclaim, and hide nothing. Say: Babylon is captured; Bel is put to shame; Marduk is devastated; her idols are put to shame; her false gods, devastated.


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For a nation from the north will come against her; it will make her land desolate. No one will be living in it-- both man and beast will escape.


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In those days and at that time-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- the Israelites and Judeans will come together, weeping as they come, and will seek the LORD their God.


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They will ask about Zion, [turning] their faces to this road. They will come and join themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.


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My people are lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray, guiding them the wrong way in the mountains. They have wandered from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place.


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All who found them devoured them. Their adversaries said: We're not guilty; instead, they have sinned against the LORD, their righteous grazing land, the hope of their ancestors, the LORD.


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For I will soon stir up and bring against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country. They will line up in battle formation against her; from there she will be captured. Their arrows will be like those of a skilled warrior who does not return empty-handed.


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The Chaldeans will become plunder; all her plunderers will be fully satisfied. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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Because you rejoice, because you sing in triumph-- you who plundered My inheritance-- because you frolic like a young cow treading grain and neigh like stallions,


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your mother will be utterly humiliated; she who bore you will be put to shame. Look! She will lag behind all the nations-- a dry land, a wilderness, an Arabah.


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Because of the LORD's wrath, she will not be inhabited; she will become a desolation, every bit of her. Everyone who passes through Babylon will be horrified and scoff because of all her wounds.


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Line up in battle formation around Babylon, all you archers! Shoot at her! Do not spare an arrow, for she has sinned against the LORD.


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Raise a war cry against her on every side! She has thrown up her hands [in surrender]; her defense towers have fallen; her walls are demolished. Since this is the LORD's vengeance, take out your vengeance on her; as she has done, do the same to her.


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Cut off the sower from Babylon as well as him who wields the sickle at harvest time. Because of the oppressor's sword, each will turn to his own people, each will flee to his own land.


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Israel is a stray lamb, chased by lions. The first who devoured him was the king of Assyria; this last who has crunched his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.


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Therefore, this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: "I am about to punish the king of Babylon and his land just as I punished the king of Assyria.


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I will return Israel to his grazing land, and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan; he will be satisfied in the hill country of Ephraim and of Gilead.


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In those days and at that time-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- one will search for Israel's guilt, but there will be none, and for Judah's sins, but they will not be found, for I will forgive those I leave as a remnant.


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Go against the land of Merathaim, and against those living in Pekod. Put them to the sword; completely destroy them-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- do everything I have commanded you.


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How the hammer of the whole earth is cut down and smashed! What a horror Babylon has become among the nations!


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Babylon, I laid a trap for you, and you were caught, but you did not even know it. You were found and captured because you fought against the LORD.


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The LORD opened His armory and brought out His weapons of wrath, because it is a task of the Lord God of Hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.


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Come against her from the most distant places. Open her granaries; pile her up like mounds of grain and completely destroy her. Leave her no survivors.


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Put all her young bulls to the sword; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them, because their day has come, the time of their punishment.


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[There is] a voice of fugitives and escapees from the land of Babylon announcing in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance for His temple.


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Summon the archers to Babylon, all who string the bow; camp all around her; let none escape. Repay her according to her deeds; just as she has done, do the same to her, for she has acted arrogantly against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.


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Therefore, her young men will fall in her public squares; all the warriors will be silenced in that day. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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Look, I am against you, you arrogant one-- [this is] the declaration of the Lord God of Hosts-- because your day has come, the time when I will punish you.


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The arrogant will stumble and fall with no one to pick him up. I will set fire to his cities, and it will consume everything around him."


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This is what the LORD of Hosts says: Israelites and Judeans alike have been oppressed. All their captors hold them fast; they refuse to release them.


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Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of Hosts is His name. He will fervently plead their case so that He might bring rest to the earth but turmoil to those who live in Babylon.


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A sword is over the Chaldeans-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- against those who live in Babylon, against her officials, and against her sages.


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A sword is against the diviners, and they will act foolishly. A sword is against her heroic warriors, and they will be terrified.


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A sword is against his horses and chariots and against all the foreigners among them, and they will be like women. A sword is against her treasuries, and they will be plundered.


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A drought will come on her waters, and they will be dried up. For it is a land of carved images, and they go mad because of terrifying things.


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Therefore, desert creatures will live with jackals, and ostriches will also live in her. It will never again be inhabited or lived in through all generations.


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Just as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- so no one will live there; no human being will even stay in it as a resident alien.


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Look! A people comes from the north. A great nation and many kings will be stirred up from the remote regions of the earth.


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They grasp bow and javelin. They are cruel and show no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, lined up like men in battle formation against you, Daughter of Babylon.


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The king of Babylon has heard reports about them, and his hands fall helpless. Distress has seized him-- pain, like a woman in labor.


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Look, it will be like a lion coming up from the thickets of the Jordan to the perennially watered grazing land. Indeed, I will chase Babylon away from her [land] in a flash. I will appoint whoever is chosen for her. For who is like Me? Who will summon Me? Who is the shepherd who can stand against Me?"


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Therefore, hear the plans that the LORD has drawn up against Babylon and the strategies He has devised against the land of the Chaldeans: Certainly the flock's little lambs will be dragged away; certainly the grazing land will be made desolate because of them.


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This is what the LORD says: I am about to stir up a destructive wind against Babylon and against the population of Leb-qamai.


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I will send strangers to Babylon who will scatter her and strip her land bare, for they will come against her from every side in the day of disaster.


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Don't let the archer string his bow; don't let him put on his armor. Don't spare her young men; completely destroy her entire army!


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Those who were slain will fall in the land of the Chaldeans, those who were pierced through, in her streets.


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For Israel and Judah are not left widowed by their God, the LORD of Hosts, though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.


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Leave Babylon; save your lives, each of you! Don't be silenced by her guilt. For this is the time of the LORD's vengeance-- He will pay her what she deserves.


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Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD's hand making the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore, the nations go mad.


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Suddenly Babylon fell and was shattered. Wail for her; get balm for her wound-- perhaps she can be healed.


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We tried to heal Babylon, but she could not be healed. Abandon her! Let each of us go to his own land, for her judgment extends to the sky and reaches as far as the clouds.


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The LORD has brought about our vindication; come, let's tell in Zion what the LORD our God has accomplished.


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Sharpen the arrows! Fill the quivers! The LORD has put it into the mind of the kings of the Medes because His plan is aimed at Babylon to destroy her, for it is the LORD's vengeance, vengeance for His temple.


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Raise up a signal flag against the walls of Babylon; fortify the watch post; set the watchmen in place; prepare the ambush. For the LORD has both planned and accomplished what He has threatened against those who live in Babylon.


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The LORD of Hosts has sworn by Himself: I will fill you up with men as with locusts, and they will sing the victory song over you.


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Jacob's Portion is not like these because He is the One who formed all things. [Israel is] the tribe of His inheritance; the LORD of Hosts is His name.


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You are My battle club, My weapons of war. With you I will smash nations; with you I will bring kingdoms to ruin.


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With you I will smash man and woman; with you I will smash the old man and the youth; with you I will smash the young man and the virgin.


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With you I will smash the shepherd and his flock; with you I will smash the farmer and his ox-team. With you I will smash governors and officials.


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I will repay Babylon and all the residents of Chaldea for all their evil they have done in Zion before your very eyes." [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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Look, I am against you, devastating mountain-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- you devastate the whole earth. I will stretch out My hand against you, roll you down from the cliffs, and turn you into a burned-out mountain.


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No one will be able to retrieve a cornerstone or a foundation stone from you, because you will become desolate forever. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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Raise a signal flag in the land; blow a ram's horn among the nations; set apart the nations against her. Summon kingdoms against her-- Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a marshal against her; bring up horses like a swarm of locusts.


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Set apart the nations for battle against her-- the kings of Media, her governors and all her officials, and all the lands they rule.


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The earth quakes and trembles, because the LORD's purposes against Babylon stand: to make the land of Babylon an uninhabited desolation.


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Babylon's warriors have stopped fighting; they sit in their strongholds. Their might is exhausted; they have become like women. Babylon's homes have been set ablaze, her gate bars are shattered.


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Messenger races to meet messenger, and herald to meet herald, to announce to the king of Babylon that his city has been captured from end [to end].


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For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled. In just a little while her harvest time will come.


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Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me. He has set me aside like an empty dish; he has swallowed me like a sea monster; he filled his belly with my delicacies; he has vomited me out,


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says the inhabitant of Zion; "Let the violence [done] to me and my family [be done] to Babylon. Let my blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea," says Jerusalem.


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Therefore, this is what the LORD says: I am about to plead your case and take vengeance on your behalf; I will dry up her sea and make her fountain run dry.


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Babylon will become a heap of rubble, a jackals' den, a desolation and an object of scorn, without inhabitant.


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While they are flushed with heat, I will serve them a feast, and I will make them drunk so that they revel. Then they will fall asleep forever and never wake up. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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How Sheshach has been captured, the praise of the whole earth seized. What a horror Babylon has become among the nations!


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Her cities have become a desolation, a dry and arid land, a land where no one lives, where no human being passes through.


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I will punish Bel in Babylon. I will make him vomit what he swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him; even Babylon's wall will fall.


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May you not become faint-hearted and fearful when the report is proclaimed in the land, for the report will come one year, and then another the next year. There will be violence in the land with ruler against ruler.


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Therefore, look, the days are coming when I will punish Babylon's carved images. Her entire land will suffer shame, and all her slain will lie fallen within her.


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Heaven and earth and everything in them will shout for joy over Babylon because the destroyers from the north will come against her. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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Babylon must fall [because of] the slain of Israel, even as the slain of all the earth fell because of Babylon.


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You who have escaped the sword, go and do not stand still! Remember the LORD from far away, and let Jerusalem come to your mind.


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We are ashamed because we have heard insults. Humiliation covers our faces because foreigners have entered the holy places of the LORD's temple.


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Therefore, look, the days are coming-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- when I will punish her carved images, and the wounded will groan throughout her land.


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Even if Babylon should ascend to the heavens and fortify her tall fortresses, destroyers will come against her from Me. [This is] the LORD's declaration.


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For the LORD is going to devastate Babylon; He will silence her mighty voice. Their waves roar like abundant waters; the tumult of their voice resounds,


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for a destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon. Her warriors will be captured, their bows shattered, for the LORD is a God of retribution; He will certainly repay.


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I will make her princes and sages drunk, along with her governors, officials, and warriors. Then they will fall asleep forever and never wake up. [This is] the King's declaration; the LORD of Hosts is His name.


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This is what the LORD of Hosts says: Babylon's thick walls will be totally demolished, and her high gates consumed by fire. The peoples will have labored for nothing; the nations will exhaust themselves [only to feed] the fire.


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[This is] what Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, the quartermaster, when he went to Babylon with Zedekiah king of Judah in the fourth year of Zedekiah's reign.


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Jeremiah wrote on one scroll about all the disaster that would come to Babylon; all these words were written against Babylon.


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You must say, 'LORD, You have threatened to cut off this place so that no one will live in it-- man or beast. Indeed, it will remain desolate forever.'


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When you have finished reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates River.


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Then say, 'In the same way, Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the disaster I am bringing on her. They will grow weary.'" The words of Jeremiah end here.


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Because of the LORD's anger, it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that He finally banished them from His presence. Nevertheless, Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.


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In the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem with his entire army. They laid siege to the city and built a siege wall all around it.


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By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that the people of the land had no food.


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Then the city was broken into, and all the warriors fled. They left the city by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king's garden, though the Chaldeans surrounded the city. They made their way along the route to the Arabah.


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The Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. Zedekiah's entire army was scattered from him.


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The Chaldeans seized the king and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him.


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At Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah's sons before his eyes and also slaughtered the Judean commanders.


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Then he blinded Zedekiah and bound him with bronze chains. The king of Babylon brought Zedekiah to Babylon, where he kept him in custody until his dying day.


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On the tenth day of the fifth month-- which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon-- Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, entered Jerusalem as the representative of the king of Babylon.


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He burned the LORD's temple, the king's palace, all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the nobles.


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The whole Chaldean army with the commander of the guards tore down all the walls surrounding Jerusalem.


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Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, deported some of the poorest of the people, as well as the rest of the people who were left in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen.


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But some of the poor people of the land Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, left to be vinedressers and farmers.


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Now the Chaldeans broke into pieces the bronze pillars for the LORD's temple and the water carts and the bronze reservoir that were in the LORD's temple, and carried all the bronze to Babylon.


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They took the pots, the shovels, the wick trimmers, the sprinkling basins, the dishes, and all the bronze articles used in [temple] service.


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The commander of the guards took away the bowls, the firepans, the sprinkling basins, the pots, the lampstands, the pans, and the drink offering bowls-- whatever was gold or silver.


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As for the two pillars, the one reservoir, and the 12 bronze bulls under the water carts that King Solomon had made for the LORD's temple, the weight of the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure.


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and had a bronze capital on top of it. One capital, encircled by bronze latticework and pomegranates, stood seven and a half feet high. The second pillar was the same, with pomegranates.


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[Each capital had] 96 pomegranates all around it. All the pomegranates around the latticework numbered 100.


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From the city he took a court official who had been appointed over the warriors; seven trusted royal aides found in the city; the secretary of the commander of the army, who enlisted the people of the land for military duty; and 60 men from the common people who were found within the city.


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The king of Babylon put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah went into exile from its land.


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in Nebuchadnezzar's twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, deported 745 Jews. All together 4,600 people [were deported].


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On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Judah's King Jehoiachin, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the [first] year of his reign, pardoned King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from the prison.


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He spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon.


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As for his allowance, a regular allowance was given to him by the king of Babylon, a portion for each day until the day of his death, for the rest of his life.


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How she sits alone, the city [once] crowded with people! She who was great among the nations has become like a widow. The princess among the provinces has become a slave.


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She weeps aloud during the night, with tears on her cheeks. There is no one to offer her comfort, [not one] from all her lovers. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.


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Judah has gone into exile following affliction and harsh slavery; she lives among the nations but finds no place to rest. All her pursuers have overtaken her in narrow places.


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The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to the appointed festivals. All her gates are deserted; her priests groan, her young women grieve, and she herself is bitter.


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Her adversaries have become [her] masters; her enemies are at ease, for the LORD has made her suffer because of her many transgressions. Her children have gone away as captives before the adversary.


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All her splendor has vanished from Daughter Zion. Her leaders are like stags that find no pasture; they walk away exhausted before the hunter.


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During the days of her affliction and homelessness Jerusalem remembers all her precious belongings that were [hers] in days of old. When her people fell into the adversary's hand, she had no one to help. The adversaries looked at her, laughing over her downfall.


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Jerusalem has sinned grievously; therefore, she has become an object of scorn. All who honored her [now] despise her, for they have seen her nakedness. She herself groans and turns away.


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Her uncleanness [stains] her skirts. She never considered her end. Her downfall was astonishing; there was no one to comfort her. LORD, look on my affliction, for the enemy triumphs!


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The adversary has seized all her precious belongings. She has even seen the nations enter her sanctuary-- those You had forbidden to enter Your assembly.


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All her people groan while they search for bread. They have traded their precious belongings for food in order to stay alive. LORD, look and see how I have become despised.


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Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see! Is there any pain like mine, which was dealt out to me, which the LORD made [me] suffer on the day of His burning anger?


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He sent fire from on high into my bones; He made it descend. He spread a net for my feet and turned me back. He made me desolate, sick all day long.


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My transgressions have been formed into a yoke, fastened together by His hand; they have been placed on my neck, and the Lord has broken my strength. He has handed me over to those I cannot withstand.


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The Lord has rejected all the mighty men within me. He has summoned an army against me to crush my young warriors. The Lord has trampled Virgin Daughter Judah [like grapes] in a winepress.


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I weep because of these things; my eyes flow with tears. For there is no one nearby to comfort [me], no one to keep me alive. My children are desolate because the enemy has prevailed.


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Zion stretches out her hands; there is no one to comfort her. The LORD has issued a decree against Jacob that his neighbors should be his adversaries. Jerusalem has become something impure among them.


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The LORD is in the right, for I have rebelled against His command. Listen, all you people; look at my pain. My young men and women have gone into captivity.


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I called to my lovers, but they betrayed me. My priests and elders perished in the city while searching for food to keep themselves alive.


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LORD, see how I am in distress. I am churning within; my heart is broken, for I have been very rebellious. Outside, the sword takes the children; inside, there is death.


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People have heard me groaning, but there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my misfortune; they are glad that You have caused [it]. Bring on the day You have announced, so that they may become like me.


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Let all their wickedness come before You, and deal with them as You have dealt with me because of all my transgressions. For my groans are many, and I am sick at heart.


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How the Lord has overshadowed Daughter Zion with His anger! He has thrown down Israel's glory from heaven to earth. He has abandoned His footstool in the day of His anger.


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Without compassion the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob. In His wrath He has demolished the fortified cities of Daughter Judah. He brought [them] to the ground and defiled the kingdom and its leaders.


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He has cut off every horn of Israel in His burning anger and withdrawn His right hand in the presence of the enemy. He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire that consumes everything [in its path].


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Like an enemy He has bent His bow; His right hand is positioned like an adversary. He has killed everyone who was loved, pouring out His wrath like fire on the tent of Daughter Zion.


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The Lord is like an enemy; He has swallowed up Israel. He swallowed up all its palaces and destroyed its fortified cities. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation within Daughter Judah.


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He has done violence to His temple as if [it were] a garden [booth], destroying His place of meeting. The LORD has abolished appointed festivals and Sabbaths in Zion. He has despised king and priest in His fierce anger.


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The Lord has rejected His altar, repudiated His sanctuary; He has handed the walls of her palaces over to the enemy. They have raised a shout in the house of the LORD as on the day of an appointed festival.


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The LORD determined to destroy the wall of Daughter Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not restrain Himself from destroying. He made the ramparts and walls grieve; together they waste away.


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Zion's gates have fallen to the ground; He has destroyed and shattered the bars on her [gates]. Her king and her leaders [live] among the nations, instruction is no more, and even her prophets receive no vision from the LORD.


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The elders of Daughter Zion sit on the ground in silence. They have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.


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My eyes are worn out from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief because of the destruction of my dear people, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.


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They cry out to their mothers: Where is the grain and wine? as they faint like the wounded in the streets of the city, as their lives fade away in the arms of their mothers.


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What can I say on your behalf? To what can I compare you, Daughter Jerusalem? What can I liken you to, so that I may console you, Virgin Daughter Zion? For your ruin is as vast as the sea. Who can heal you?


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Your prophets saw visions for you that were empty and deceptive; they did not reveal your guilt and so restore your fortunes. They saw oracles for you that were empty and misleading.


