# verses

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For I have set My face against this city for trouble and not for good," says the Lord. "It will be given to the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire." '


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O house of David, the Lord says, "Do what is right every morning. Take the person who has been robbed away from the one who has made it hard for him. So My anger will not go out like fire and burn with no one to put it out, because of the sinful things you have done.


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"See, I am against you, O you who live in the valley, O rock of the plain," says the Lord, "you who say, 'Who will come down against us? Or who will come into our houses?'


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I will punish you for what has come of what you have done," says the Lord. "I will start a fire among your trees, and it will destroy all that is around it." ' ''


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Say, 'Hear the Word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits on David's throne, you and your servants and your people who come through these gates.


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The Lord says, "Do what is right and fair and good, and take the one who has been robbed away from the power of the one who has made it hard for him. Do not hurt or do wrong to the stranger, the one whose parents have died, or the woman whose husband has died. And do not kill those who are not guilty in this place.


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For if you will obey this word, then kings will come through the gates of this house and sit on the throne of David. They will be in war-wagons and on horses, together with their servants and their people.


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But if you will not obey these words, I promise by Myself," says the Lord, "that this house will be destroyed." ' ''


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For the Lord says about the house of the king of Judah: "You are like Gilead to Me, or like the top of Lebanon. Yet I will be sure to make you like a desert, like cities without people.


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I will send destroyers against you, each with his things for fighting. And they will cut down your best cedar trees and throw them on the fire.


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Many nations will pass by this city, and they will say to one another, 'Why has the Lord done such a thing to this great city?'


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And they will answer, 'Because they did not keep the agreement of the Lord their God. They worshiped other gods and served them.' "


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Do not cry for the one who is dead or have sorrow for him. But cry all the time for the one who goes away, for he will never return or see the land of his birth again.


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For the Lord says about Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who ruled in the place of Josiah his father, and who left this place: "He will never return.


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"It is bad for him who builds his house by wrong-doing, and his upper rooms by not being fair, who has his neighbor serve him for nothing and does not pay him,


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who says, 'I will build myself a big house with large upper rooms. I will cut out its windows, cover it with cedar and color it bright red.'


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Do you become a king by trying to build better houses of cedar? Did not your father eat and drink? He did what was right and fair and good, so all went well with him.


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He spoke strong words in the cause of the poor and those in need, and so all went well. Is not that what it means to know Me?" says the Lord.


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"But your eyes and heart are set only on what you can get by wrongdoing, and on killing those who are not guilty, and on making it hard for people and on hurting others."


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So the Lord says about Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, "They will not cry in sorrow for him, saying, 'It is bad, my brother!' or, 'It is bad, my sister!' They will not cry in sorrow for him, saying, 'O lord!' or, 'O, how great he was!'


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He will be buried like they bury a donkey, pulled away and thrown out on the other side of the gates of Jerusalem.


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"Go up to Lebanon and cry out. And let your voice be heard in Bashan. Cry out from Abarim also. For all your lovers have been destroyed.


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I spoke to you when things were going well for you, but you said, 'I will not listen!' This has been your way since you were young. You have not obeyed My voice.


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The wind will take away all your shepherds, and your lovers will be taken away in chains. Then you will be ashamed and troubled because of all your sin.


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O you people of Lebanon, who make your nest among the cedars, how you will cry inside yourselves when pain comes upon you! It will be pain like a woman giving birth."


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"As I live," says the Lord, "even if Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were a marking ring on My right hand, I would still pull you off.


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I will give you over to those who want to kill you, to those whom you fear. I will give you to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and to the Babylonians.


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I will throw you and your mother who gave birth to you into another country where you were not born, and there you will die.


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Is this man Coniah a hated, broken jar? Is he a pot that no one cares for? Why have he and his children been thrown out into a land that they had not known?


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The Lord says, "Write this man down as one who has no children, a man who will not do well in his days. For none of his children or children's children will do well sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah."


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The Lord God of Israel says this about the shepherds who are caring for My people, "You have made My flock go everywhere and have driven them away, and have not cared for them. See, I am about to punish you for your sinful things you have done," says the Lord.


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"Then I Myself will gather those who are left of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and will bring them back to their field. And they will have many children.


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I will have shepherds over them who will care for them. And they will not be afraid any longer, or filled with fear, and none of them will be missing," says the Lord.


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"See, the days are coming," says the Lord, "when I will raise up for David a right and good Branch. He will rule as king and be wise and do what is right and fair and good in the land.


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In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will be safe. And this is the name He will be called by: 'The Lord Who makes us right and good.'


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So see, the days are coming," says the Lord, "when they will no longer say, 'As the Lord lives, Who brought the sons of Israel up from the land of Egypt.'


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But they will say, 'As the Lord lives, Who brought up and led the children of the people of Israel back from the north country and from all the countries where He had driven them.' Then they will live in their own land."


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As for the men who speak for God, my heart is broken within me. All my bones shake. I have become like a drunk man, like a man who has had too much wine, because of the Lord and because of His holy words.


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For the land is full of people who are not faithful. Because of the bad things that have come upon it, the land is filled with sorrow, and the fields of the desert have dried up. Their way is sinful, and they use their power in a wrong way.


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"For both the men of God and the religious leaders are sinful. I have found their sin even in My house," says the Lord.


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"So their way will be a danger to them. They will be driven away into the darkness and fall down in it. For I will bring much trouble upon them in the year of their punishment," says the Lord.


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"In Samaria I have seen a very bad thing among the men of Samaria who tell what is going to happen in the future. They speak for the false god Baal, and have led My people into sin.


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In Jerusalem I have seen a very sinful thing among the men of Jerusalem who tell what is going to happen in the future. They do sex sins and tell lies, and give help to those who do sinful things, so that no one turns from his sin. All of them have become like Sodom to Me. The people of Jerusalem have become like Gomorrah."


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So the Lord of All says about the men who tell what is going to happen in the future, "See, I will make them eat bitter food and drink water with poison. For from these men of Jerusalem sin has gone out into all the land."


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The Lord of All says, "Do not listen to the words of those who are telling you what will happen in the future. They are filling you with empty hopes. They tell of dreams from their own thoughts, not from the mouth of the Lord.


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They keep saying to those who hate Me, 'The Lord has said, "You will have peace." ' To every one who walks in the strong-will of his own heart, they say, 'Trouble will not come to you.'


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But who among them has listened to the Lord, that he should see and hear His Word? Who has given thought to His Word and listened?


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See, the strong wind storm of the Lord has gone out in anger. It will come down upon the head of the sinful.


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The anger of the Lord will not turn back until He has done all that He has planned in His heart. In the last days you will understand.


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I did not send these men who say they speak for God, yet they ran to tell their news. I did not speak to them, yet they spoke in My name.


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But if they had listened to Me, then they would have made My words known to My people. And they would have turned them back from their sinful way and from the sinful things they did."


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Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him?" says the Lord. "Do I not fill heaven and earth?" says the Lord.


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"I have heard what the men say who speak false words in My name. They say, 'I had a dream, I had a dream!'


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How long will there be lies in the hearts of those who speak false words in My name, who speak the lies of their own heart?


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They plan to make My people forget My name by their dreams which they tell one another, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal.


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The one who has a dream may tell about his dream, but let him who has My Word speak My Word in truth. How can straw be compared with grain?" says the Lord.


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So I am against those who tell what is going to happen in the future," says the Lord, "who steal My words from each other.


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See, I am against these men," says the Lord, "who use their tongues and say, 'This is what the Lord says.'


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I am against those who have told false dreams," says the Lord, "and have led My people the wrong way by their lies and foolish words of pride. I did not send them or tell them what to say, so they do not help these people at all," says the Lord.


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"When these people, or the one who speaks in My name, or a religious leader asks you, 'What heavy load has the Lord placed on us?' then you say to them, 'You are the heavy load. And I will throw you off, says the Lord.'


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As for the man who speaks in My name, or the religious leader, or anyone of the people, who say, 'The heavy load of the Lord,' I will punish that man and those of his house.


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Each of you say to his neighbor and to his brother, 'What has the Lord answered?' or, 'What has the Lord said?'


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But you must not say, 'The heavy load of the Lord,' any more. For every man's own word will be the weight upon himself. And you have made sinful the words of the living God, the Lord of All, our God.


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This is what you should say to the man who speaks in My name: 'What answer has the Lord given you?' and, 'What has the Lord said?'


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But if you say, 'The heavy load of the Lord,' then the Lord says, 'You have said, "The heavy load of the Lord," when I told you not to say it.'


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So I will pick you up and throw you away from Me, together with the city which I gave to you and your fathers.


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After King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took away Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the leaders of Judah, together with the able workmen from Jerusalem, and brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me two baskets of figs set in front of the house of the Lord.


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One basket had very good figs, like figs just ready to eat. And the other basket had very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten.


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Then the Lord said to me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" And I said, "Figs, the good figs very good, and the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten."


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"This is what the Lord God of Israel says: 'Like these good figs, so will I think of the people of Judah as being good, whom I have sent away from this place into the land of the Babylonians.


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For I will keep My eyes on them for their good, and I will return them to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down. I will plant them and not pull them up by the roots.


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And I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the Lord. They will be My people and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.'


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"But the Lord says, 'Like the bad figs which are so bad they cannot be eaten, so I will give up Zedekiah king of Judah and his captains. And I will give up those left of Jerusalem who stay in this land, and those who live in the land of Egypt.


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I will make them a cause of fear and trouble for all the nations of the earth. They will be a shame and a curse and spoken against in all the places where I will make them go.


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And I will send the sword and hunger and disease upon them until they are destroyed from the land which I gave to them and their fathers.' "


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This is the word that came to Jeremiah about all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah. <n>(That was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.)</n>


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"These twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, until this day, the Word of the Lord has come to me. And I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.


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The Lord has sent to you all his servants who have spoken for Him again and again, but you have not listened or turned your ear to hear.


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They have said, 'Every one of you turn now from your sinful way and the sinful things you do, and live on the land which the Lord has given to you and your fathers forever and ever.


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Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them. Do not make Me angry with the work you do, and I will not hurt you.'


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Yet you have not listened to Me," says the Lord. "You have made Me angry with the work of your hands to your own hurt.


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I will send for all the families of the north. And I will send for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its people, and against all these nations around you. I will make a complete end of them. I will destroy them all and make them an object of fear and hate, and a waste place forever.


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I will also take from them the voice of joy, the voice of happiness, the voice of the man to be married and the voice of the bride. I will take from them the sound of the grinding stones and the light of the lamp.


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This whole land will be a waste and a cause of fear. And these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.


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'Then when seventy years have past, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, and the land of the Babylonians, for their sin,' says the Lord. 'And I will make that land a waste forever.


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I will bring upon that land all My words which I have spoken against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has spoken against all the nations.


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They themselves will be made to serve many nations and great kings. I will pay them for what they have done, and for the work of their hands.' "


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For the Lord, the God of Israel, says to me, "Take this cup of the wine of anger from My hand. And make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.


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They will drink and have trouble walking and become crazy because of the sword that I will send among them."


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I was sent to Jerusalem and to the cities of Judah, to its kings and its leaders, to make them a waste, an object of fear and hate, and a curse, as it is this day.


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I was sent to all the people from different countries, all the kings of the land of Uz, and to all the kings of the land of the Philistines <n>(Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and those left of Ashdod)</n>.


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and to all the kings of the north, near and far, one after another. I was sent to all the nations on the earth. And after them the king of Sheshach will drink.


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"Then you will say to them, 'The Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, "Drink, be drunk, throw up, fall, and get up no more, because of the sword which I will send among you." '


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And if they will not take the cup from your hand to drink, then say to them, 'The Lord of All says, "You must drink!


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See, I am beginning to make trouble in this city which is called by My name. And will you not be punished? You will not be free from punishment, for I am bringing a sword against all the people of the earth," says the Lord of All.'


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"So you should speak all these words against them. Tell them, 'The Lord will sound from on high. His voice will be heard from His holy place. He will call out in a loud voice against his flock. He will call out like those who crush the grapes, against all the people of the earth.


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The noise will go to the ends of the earth, because the Lord has something against the nations. He is deciding what should be done with all flesh. As for the sinful, He has given them to the sword,' '' says the Lord.


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The Lord of All says, "See, sinful ways are spreading from nation to nation. A powerful storm is moving from the farthest parts of the earth.


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Those killed by the Lord on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other. No one will cry for them or gather up the bodies and bury them. They will be like animal waste on the ground.


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Cry in a loud voice, you shepherds. And roll in ashes, you leaders of the flock. For the days for you to be killed and sent everywhere have come, and you will fall and be broken like a fine pot.


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The shepherds will have no place to run. And the leaders of the flock will have no place to get away.


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Listen to the cry of the shepherds and the loud cry of the leaders of the flock! For the Lord is destroying their field.


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He has left His hiding place like a lion. For their land has become a cause of much fear because of the sword of the one who makes it hard for them, and because of the Lord's burning anger."


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In the beginning of the rule of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord, saying,


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"This is what the Lord says: 'Stand in the open space of the Lord's house, and speak to all the cities of Judah who have come to worship in the Lord's house. Tell them all the words that I have told you to say to them. Do not leave out one word!


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It may be they will listen and everyone will turn from his sinful way. Then I may change My mind about the trouble I plan to put on them because of the sinful things they have done.'


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And tell them, 'This is what the Lord says: "If you will not listen to Me and follow My Law which I have set before you,


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and if you do not listen to the words of My servants who speak for Me, whom I have been sending to you again and again, but you have not listened,


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then I will make this House of God like Shiloh. And I will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth." ' ''


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The religious leaders and the men of God and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord.


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And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had told him to speak to all the people, the religious leaders and men of God and all the people took hold of him, saying, "You must die!


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Why have you spoken in the name of the Lord saying, 'This house will be like Shiloh, and this city will be laid waste with no one living in it'?" And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.


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When the leaders of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house to the house of the Lord and sat beside the New Gate of the Lord's house.


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Then the religious leaders and men of God said to the leaders and to all the people, "This man must die! For he has spoken against this city, as you have heard with your own ears."


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Then Jeremiah said to all the leaders and to all the people, "The Lord sent me to speak against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard.


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So now change your ways and your works, and obey the voice of the Lord your God. Then the Lord will change His mind about the trouble He has said would come to you.


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Only know for sure that if you put me to death, you will bring the sin of killing a man who is not guilty on yourselves, on this city, and on its people. For it is true that the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words for you to hear."


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Then the leaders and all the people said to the religious leaders and men of God, "No, this man should not be put to death! For he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God."


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"Micah of Moresheth spoke in God's name in the days of King Hezekiah of Judah. He said to all the people of Judah, 'This is what the Lord of All has said: Zion will be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem will be destroyed. And trees will cover the mountain where the Lord's house is.'


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Did King Hezekiah of Judah and all the people of Judah put him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and pray for the Lord's favor? And the Lord changed His mind about the trouble He had said would come to them. But we are about to bring a very bad thing on ourselves."


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There was another man who spoke in the name of the Lord. He was Uriah the son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim. He spoke against this city and against this land in words like those of Jeremiah.


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When King Jehoiakim and all his powerful men and all his leaders heard his words, the king wanted to put Uriah to death. But Uriah heard about it, and he was afraid and ran away to Egypt.


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And they took Uriah from Egypt and brought him to King Jehoiakim, who killed him with a sword. Then he threw his dead body where most people are buried.


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But Ahikam the son of Shaphan helped Jeremiah, so that he was not given over to the people to be put to death.


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In the beginning of the rule of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord.


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Then send word to the king of Edom, to the king of Moab, to the king of the sons of Ammon, to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon. Send them with the men who bring news to Jerusalem to King Zedekiah of Judah.


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Tell them to go to their leaders, saying, 'This is what the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, and this is what you should say to your leaders:


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"I have made the earth, and the men and the animals that are on it by My great power and by My long arm. And I will give it to the one who is right in My eyes.


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Now I have given all these lands to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant. And I have given him the wild animals of the field to serve him.


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All the nations will serve him and his son and his grandson, until the time for his land comes. Then many nations and great kings will make him their servant.


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But if any nation will not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and will not put its neck under the load of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, hunger, and disease," says the Lord, "until I have destroyed it by his hand.


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So do not listen to your men who tell of their special dreams, your men who tell what is going to happen in the future, or your wonder workers who use their secret ways. They say to you, 'You must not serve the king of Babylon.'


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But they are lying to you, and will cause you to be taken far from your land. I will drive you out, and you will die.


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But the nation that brings its neck under the cross-bar of the king of Babylon and serves him, I will let stay on its own land," says the Lord. "And its people will take care of the fields and live there." ' ''


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I spoke to King Zedekiah of Judah in the same way, saying, "Bring your necks under the cross-bar of the king of Babylon. Serve him and his people, and live!


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Why will you and your people die by the sword, hunger, and disease, as the Lord has said would happen to that nation which will not serve the king of Babylon?


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Do not listen to the men who tell of their dreams and say to you, 'You will not serve the king of Babylon.' For they are telling you a lie.


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I have not sent them," says the Lord. "They speak false words in My name, so that I may drive you out, and that you may die, both you and the men who tell these things to you."


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Then I said to the religious leaders and to all these people, "The Lord says: Do not listen to the men who speak in God's name saying, 'See, the objects of the Lord's house will soon be returned from Babylon,' for they are telling you a lie.


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But if they are true men of God, and if the Word of the Lord is with them, let them now pray to the Lord of All. Let them ask that the objects which are left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem, may not go to Babylon.


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For this is what the Lord of All says about the pillars, the brass pool, the stands, and the rest of the objects that are left in this city.


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Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take these things from Jerusalem to Babylon when he took Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem.


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So this is what the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says about the objects that are left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem. He says,


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'They will be carried to Babylon, and they will be there until the day I visit them,' says the Lord. 'Then I will bring them back to this place.' "


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In that same year, in the beginning of the rule of King Zedekiah of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, Hananiah the son of Azzur, the man from Gibeon who told what would happen in the future, spoke to me in the house of the Lord. He said to me in front of the religious leaders and all the people,


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"This is what the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says: 'I have broken the crossbar across the shoulders of the king of Babylon.


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Within two years I will bring back to this place all the objects of the Lord's house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from here and carried to Babylon.


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I will also bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the people of Judah who were taken to Babylon,' says the Lord. 'For I will break the cross-bar of the king of Babylon.' "


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Then Jeremiah, the man of God, spoke to Hananiah, the man who told what would happen, in front of the religious leaders and all the people who were standing in the house of the Lord.


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And Jeremiah, the man who spoke for God, said, "Let it be so! May the Lord do so. May the Lord make the words you have spoken come true, and bring back to this place from Babylon the objects of the Lord's house and all the people of Judah.


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The men who spoke for God before us from long ago spoke of war and trouble and disease coming to many lands and great nations.


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As for the man who told that peace would come, when his word comes to pass, then that man will be known as the one that the Lord has sent."


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Then Hananiah, the man who told what would happen, took the cross-bar from the neck of Jeremiah the man of God and broke it.


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And Hananiah said in front of all the people, "The Lord says, 'In this way I will break the cross-bar of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations within two years.' " Then Jeremiah the man of God went his way.


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Some time after Hananiah had broken the cross-bar from off the neck of Jeremiah, the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,


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"Go and tell Hananiah, 'The Lord says, "You have broken the cross-bars of wood, but you have made bars of iron in their place."


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For the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, "I have put the cross-bar of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. And they will serve him. I have given him the animals of the field also." ' ''


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Then Jeremiah who spoke for God said to Hananiah who told what would happen, "Listen, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you. And you have made these people trust in a lie.


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So the Lord says, 'See, I am about to take you from the earth. This year you are going to die, because you have spoken against the right and power of the Lord.' "


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These are the words of the letter which Jeremiah the man of God sent from Jerusalem to the leaders, the religious leaders, the men of God, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken away from Jerusalem to Babylon.


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<n>(This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the king's servants, the rulers of Judah and Jerusalem, and the able workmen had left Jerusalem.)</n>


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The letter was sent with Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. It said,


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"This is what the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says to all of His people who have been sent from Jerusalem to Babylon:


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Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters. And take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, that they may give birth to sons and daughters. Become many there, and do not let your number become less.


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Work for the well-being of the city where I have sent you to and pray to the Lord for this. For if it is well with the city you live in, it will be well with you.'


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For the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, 'Do not let the people among you who tell what is going to happen in the future and those who use their secret ways fool you. Do not listen to their dreams.


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"For the Lord says, 'When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and keep My promise to you. I will bring you back to this place.


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For I know the plans I have for you,' says the Lord, 'plans for well-being and not for trouble, to give you a future and a hope.


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I will be found by you,' says the Lord. 'And I will bring you back and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have made you go,' says the Lord. 'I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you away.'


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This is what the Lord says about the king who sits on the throne of David, and about all the people who live in this city, your brothers who were not taken with you to Babylon.


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The Lord of All says, 'I am sending the sword, hunger, and disease upon them. I will make them like bad figs which are so bad they cannot be eaten.


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I will go after them with the sword, hunger, and disease, and will make them a cause of trouble to all the nations of the earth. They will be a curse, an object of much shame and hate among all the nations where I have made them go.


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This is because they have not listened to My words,' says the Lord, 'which I sent to them again and again by My servants who spoke for Me. And you did not listen,' says the Lord.


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"This is what the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says about Ahab the son of Kolaiah and about Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are speaking false words to you in My name: 'See, I will give them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. And he will kill them in front of your eyes.


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Because of them a curse will be used by all the people who are from Judah but are in Babylon: "May the Lord make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned in the fire."


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This is because they have done what is foolish in Israel. They have done sex sins with their neighbors' wives. And they have spoken false words in My name, which I did not tell them to speak. I am He Who knows, and I see what they have done,' says the Lord."


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"This is what the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says: 'You have sent letters in your own name to all the people in Jerusalem and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the religious leader, and to all the religious leaders. You said to Zephaniah,


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"The Lord has made you the religious leader over the house of the Lord instead of Jehoiada. You are to take every crazy man who says he speaks in God's name and put him in chains with iron around his neck.


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So why have you not spoken sharp words to Jeremiah of Anathoth who is speaking to you in God's name?


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For he has sent word to us in Babylon, saying, 'You will be held there for a long time. So build houses and live in them. And plant gardens and eat their fruit.' " ' "


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"Send word to all My people held in Babylon, saying, 'This is what the Lord says about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Shemaiah has spoken to you in My name, but I did not send him. He has made you trust in a lie.'


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So the Lord says, 'I am about to punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his children after him. He will not have anyone living among these people. And he will not see the good that I am about to do to My people,' says the Lord, 'because he has spoken against Me.' "


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"This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'Write in a book all the words which I have spoken to you.


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For the days are coming,' says the Lord, 'when I will bring back My people Israel and Judah from where they are held.' The Lord says, 'I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers before them, and it will be theirs.' "


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Ask now and see, can a man give birth to a child? Why do I see every man with his hands on his body like a woman giving birth? Why have all faces turned white?


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That day will be very bad! There is none like it. It is the time of Jacob's trouble, but he will be saved out of it.


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On that day,' says the Lord of All, 'I will break the cross-bar off from their neck, and will tear off their chains. Strangers will no longer make them their servants.


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So do not be afraid, O Jacob My servant,' says the Lord, 'and do not be troubled, O Israel, for see, from far away I will save you and your children from the land where they are being held. Jacob will return and have quiet rest, and no one will make him afraid.


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For I am with you to save you,' says the Lord. 'I will make a complete end of all the nations where I have sent you. I will not make a complete end of you, but I will give you the right punishment. I will not let you go without being punished.'


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All your lovers have forgotten you. They do not care about you. For I have hurt you as if you were hurt by one who hates you. You have been punished without pity, because you have much guilt. You have done many sins.


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Why do you cry out because of your hurt? Your pain cannot be healed. Because you have much guilt and have done many sins, I have done these things to you.


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But all who destroy you will be destroyed. Every one of those who hate you will be taken away against their will. Those who rob you will be robbed, and all who hurt you will be hurt.


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For I will heal you. I will heal you where you have been hurt,' says the Lord, 'because they have said that you are not wanted. They have said, "It is Zion. No one cares for her." '


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"The Lord says, 'I will bring the tents of Jacob back from Babylon, and will have pity on his houses. The city will be built up again on its broken walls. And the king's house will stand where it used to be.


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The people who live there will give much thanks and happy voices will be heard. And I will add to their numbers. They will not be made less. I will honor them, and they will be important.


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Their children will be as they were before. They will be a strong people before Me. And I will punish all those who make it hard for them.


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Their leader will be one of them. Their ruler will come from among them. I will bring him near, and he will come close to Me. For who would have the strength of heart to come near Me on his own?' says the Lord.


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See the storm of the Lord! Anger has gone out, a very bad storm. It will break upon the heads of the sinful.


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The burning anger of the Lord will not turn back until He has done what He has planned in His heart to do. In days to come you will understand this.


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"At that time," says the Lord, "I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be My people."


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The Lord says, "The people who were not killed by the sword found loving-favor in the desert, when Israel looked for rest."


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The Lord came to us from far away, saying, "I have loved you with a love that lasts forever. So I have helped you come to Me with loving-kindness.


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Again I will build you, and you will be built, O pure Israel! Again you will take up your brass noise-makers and go to the dances of the happy people.


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Again you will plant grape-fields on the hills of Samaria. The planters will plant and find joy in the fruit.


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For there will be a day when watchmen on the hills of Ephraim will call out, 'Get up, and let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God.' "


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For the Lord says, "Sing loud with joy for Jacob, and call out among the heads of the nations. Make it known, give praise, and say, 'O Lord, save Your people. Save those who are left of Israel.'


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See, I am bringing them from the north country. And I will gather them from the farthest parts of the earth. Among them will be the blind and those who cannot walk, the woman with child and she who is giving birth, together. Many people will return here.


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They will come crying, and in answer to their prayers, I will lead them. I will make them walk by rivers of waters on a straight path where they will not fall. For I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is My first-born."


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Hear the Word of the Lord, O nations, and make it known in the lands far across the sea. Say, "He Who sent Israel everywhere will gather them, and will watch over His flock like a shepherd."


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For the Lord has paid the price to make Jacob free. He has made him free from the one who was stronger than he.


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And they will come and call out for joy on the height of Zion. They will shine with joy over the goodness of the Lord, over the grain, the new wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the cattle. Their life will be like a well-watered garden. They will never have sorrow again.


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Then the young women who have never had a man will dance for joy, and the young men and old as well. For I will change their sorrow to joy, and will comfort them. I will give them joy for their sorrow.


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I will fill the soul of the religious leaders with more than they need. My people will be filled with My goodness," says the Lord.


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The Lord says, "The sound of crying and much sorrow is heard in Ramah. Rachel is crying for her children. She will not be comforted because they are dead."


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The Lord says, "Keep your voice from crying and your eyes from tears. For you will receive pay for your work," says the Lord. "They will return from the land of those who hate them.


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I have heard Ephraim crying in sorrow, 'You have punished me, and I was punished, like a calf that has not learned. Bring me back that I may return to my place, for You are the Lord my God.


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For after I turned back, I was sorry for my sins. And after I was taught, I hit my upper leg in sorrow. I was ashamed and troubled, because I suffered the shame from what I did when I was young.'


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Is Ephraim My loved son? Is he the child of My joy? Yes, as many times as I have spoken against him, I still remember him. So My heart has a desire for him. For sure I will have loving-pity on him," says the Lord.


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"Set up marks on the road for yourself. Set up marks to lead you the right way. Remember the way you went, and return, O pure Israel. Return to your cities.


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How long will you go here and there, O daughter without faith? For the Lord has made a new thing on the earth: A woman will keep a man safe."


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The Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, "When I bring them back to their own land, once again the people in the land of Judah and in its cities will speak these words: 'May the Lord bring good to you, O place that is right with God, O holy hill!'


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The people of Judah and all its cities will live there together, the farmer and they who go about with flocks.


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"See, the days are coming," says the Lord, "when I will plant the people of Israel and the people of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of animal.


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And as I have watched over them to pull up, to break down, to take power away, to destroy, and to bring trouble, so I will watch over them to build and to plant," says the Lord.


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"In those days they will no longer say, 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children got the sour taste.'


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The days are coming," says the Lord, "when I will make a New Way of Worship for the Jews and those of the family group of Judah.


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The New Way of Worship will not be like the Old Way of Worship I gave to their early fathers. That was when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt. But they did not follow the Old Way of Worship, even when I was a husband to them," says the Lord.


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"This is the New Way of Worship that I will give to the Jews. When that day comes," says the Lord, "I will put My Law into their minds. And I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people.


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No one will need to teach his neighbor or his brother to know the Lord. All of them will already know Me from the least to the greatest," says the Lord. "I will forgive their sins. I will remember their sins no more."


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The Lord, the Lord of All is His name, Who gives the sun for light during the day, and put the moon and the stars in place to give light during the night, Who causes the waves of the sea to make a loud noise, says,


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"If these laws change before Me, then the children of Israel will stop being a nation before Me forever."


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The Lord says, "If one can find out how wide the heavens are, and look through the deepest places of the earth, then I will send all the children of Israel away from Me for all that they have done," says the Lord.


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"See, the days are coming," says the Lord, "when the city will be built again for the Lord from the tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.


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The whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the river Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, will be holy to the Lord. It will never again be pulled up by the roots or destroyed."


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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 around Jerusalem. And Jeremiah the man of God was shut up in the open space of the prison, in the house of the king of Judah.


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For King Zedekiah of Judah had shut him up, saying, "Why do you speak these things in the Lord's name? You have said, 'This is what the Lord says: "I am giving this city to the king of Babylon, and he will take it.


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King Zedekiah of Judah will not get away from the Babylonians. For sure he will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon. He will speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye.


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He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and he will be there until I visit him," says the Lord. "If you fight against the Babylonians, you will not win." ' ''


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'Hanamel, the son of your father's brother Shallum, will come to you and say, "Buy my field at Anathoth. For because of your place in the family you have the right to buy it." '


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Then Hanamel, the son of my father's brother, came to me in the open space of the prison, as the Word of the Lord had said. And he said to me, 'Buy my field at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. For you have the right to own it. Because of your place in the family you have the right, so buy it for yourself.' Then I knew that this was the Word of the Lord.


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So I bought the field at Anathoth from Hanamel, the son of my father's brother. And I weighed out seventeen pieces of silver for him.


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I wrote my name and put my mark on the agreement, and called in people to watch. And I weighed the silver.


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Then I took the agreement which showed that I had bought the field, both the agreement which was not to be opened, and the open one.


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And I gave the written agreement to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah. This was seen by Hanamel, the son of my father's brother, and by those who watched me write my name on the agreement, and by all the Jews who were sitting in the open space of the prison.


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'This is what the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says: "Take these agreements, both the closed and open one, and put them in a clay jar so they may last a long time."


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For the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, "Houses and fields and grape-fields will again be bought in this land." '


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"After I had given the agreement showing I had bought the field to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying,


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'O Lord God! See, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your long arm! Nothing is too hard for You!


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You show loving-kindness to thousands, but put punishment for the sins of fathers on their children after them. O great and powerful God, the Lord of All is Your name.


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You are great in wisdom and powerful in Your works. Your eyes are open to all the ways of men. You pay every one for what he does and for the fruit of what he does.


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You have made special things to see and have done wonders in the land of Egypt, and are still doing them even to this day both in Israel and among all men. You have made a name for Yourself as it is today.


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You brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with special things to see and with wonders, and with a strong hand and a long arm, and with much trouble.


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And You gave them this land which You promised their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.


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They came in and took it for their own. But they did not obey Your voice or walk in Your Law. They did not do anything that You told them to do. So You have made all this trouble come upon them.


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See, a battle-wall has been built up against the city to take it. And the city is given to the Babylonians who fight against it, because of the sword, hunger, and disease. What You have said would happen has now happened, as You see.


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O Lord God, You have said to me, "Buy the field with money, and call in people to see you buy it," even though the city will be given over to the Babylonians." ' ''


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So this is what the Lord says: 'See, I am giving this city to the Babylonians and to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will take it.


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The Babylonians who are fighting against this city will come into it and set this city on fire and burn it. And the houses will burn where people have given special perfume to Baal on their roofs and poured out drink gifts to other gods to make Me angry.


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For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have been doing only what is sinful in My eyes since they were young. The sons of Israel have been only making Me angry by the work of their hands," says the Lord.


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'This city has made Me very angry since the day they built it until now. So I will put it away from before My face


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because of all the sin of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah, which they have done to make Me angry. They have sinned together with their kings, their leaders, their religious leaders, their men who speak in My name, the men of Judah, and the people of Jerusalem.


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They have turned their back to Me, and not their face. I taught them again and again, but they would not listen and learn.


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They built the high places of the false god Baal in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, to give their sons and daughters as burnt gifts to Molech. I did not tell them to do this hated thing that made Judah sin. It did not even come into My mind.


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"So now this is what the Lord God of Israel says about this city of which you say, 'It is given over to the king of Babylon because of the sword, hunger, and disease.'


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I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My strong anger. And I will bring them back to this place to live where they will be safe.


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I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them.


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I will make an agreement with them that I will not turn away from them. I will do good to them, an agreement that will last forever. And I will help them fear Me in their hearts so they will not turn away from Me.


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I will have joy in doing good to them. And I will be faithful to plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul.


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For the Lord says, 'Just as I brought all this trouble on these people, so I am going to bring all the good on them that I have promised them.


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Fields will be bought in this land of which you say, "It is a waste, without man or animal. It is given over to the Babylonians."


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Men will buy fields for money, write their names and put their marks on agreements while people watch them do this in the land of Benjamin and in the places around Jerusalem. Also they will do this in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the Negev. For I will bring them back to their own land,' says the Lord."


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While Jeremiah was still shut up in the open space of the prison, the Word of the Lord came to him a second time, saying,


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'Call to Me, and I will answer you. And I will show you great and wonderful things which you do not know.'


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For this is what the Lord God of Israel says about the houses of this city and about the houses of the kings of Judah which have been torn down to make a strong wall to help in the battle against the Babylonians.


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Some will come to fight with the Babylonians, and they will fill the houses with the dead bodies of men whom I have killed in My anger. I will hide My face from this city because of all their sin.


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I will make them clean from all the sins they have done against Me. I will forgive all their sins against Me.


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This city will make My name known. It will be to Me joy, praise and shining-greatness before all the nations of the earth that hear of all the good that I do for them. And they will fear and shake because of all the good and all the peace that I give it.'


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"This is what the Lord says: 'You say of this place, "It is a waste, without man or animal." Yet in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are laid waste, with no man or animal living in them, there will again be heard


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the voice of joy and the voice of happiness. In this place will be heard the voice of the man to be married and the voice of the bride, and the voice of those who say, "Give thanks to the Lord of All, for the Lord is good. His loving-kindness lasts forever." And here will be heard the voice of those who bring a gift of thanks into the house of the Lord. For I will bring them back to the land as they were before,' says the Lord.


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"The Lord of All says, 'This place is now a waste, without man or animal. Yet there will again be shepherds living in this place and in all its cities who can care for their sheep.


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In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the valley, in the cities of the Negev, in the land of Benjamin, in the land around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who numbers them,' says the Lord.


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'See, the days are coming,' says the Lord, 'when I will do what I promised to the people of Israel and the people of Judah.


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In those days and at that time I will cause a right and good Branch of David to rise up. And He will do what is fair and right and good on the earth.


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In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will be safe. And this is the name it will be called: The Lord makes us right and good.'


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And the Levite religious leaders will never be without a man before Me to give burnt gifts, to burn grain gifts, and to make gifts ready on the altar all the time.' "


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"This is what the Lord says: 'If you can break My agreement with the day and night, so that day and night will not come at their set time,


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then My agreement may also be broken with David My servant, that he will not have a son to rule on his throne. And then My agreement may be broken with My servants, the Levite religious leaders.


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The stars of heaven cannot be numbered, and the sand of the sea cannot be weighed. In the same way I will make the children of David My servant many, as well as the Levites who serve Me.' "


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"Have you not heard what these people are saying? They say, 'The Lord has turned away from the two families He had chosen.' So they hate My people. They are no longer a nation in their eyes.


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This is what the Lord says: 'If I do not keep My agreement with day and night and the laws of heaven and earth,


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then I will turn away from the children of Jacob and David My servant. Then I will not choose one of his children to rule over the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will bring them back to their land and will have loving-pity on them.' "


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This is the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the nations of the earth that were under his rule, and all the people, were fighting against Jerusalem and all its cities:


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"The Lord God of Israel says, 'Go and say to Zedekiah king of Judah, "This is what the Lord says: 'See, I am giving this city to the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.


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And you will not get away from him. You will be taken and given into his hand. You will see the king of Babylon eye to eye, and he will speak with you face to face. And you will go to Babylon.' " '


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Yet hear the Word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah! The Lord says this about you: 'You will not die by the sword.


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You will die in peace. And as spices were burned for your fathers, the kings who were before you, so they will burn spices for you and cry in sorrow for you, "It is bad, lord!" ' I Myself have said this," says the Lord.


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when the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and all the cities that were left of Judah. These cities were Lachish and Azekah. They were the only strong cities left in Judah that were ready for war.


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This is the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after King Zedekiah had made an agreement to set free


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And all the leaders and all the people obeyed, who had joined in the agreement that every man should set his male and female servants free. No one was to keep them working any longer for him. So they obeyed and set them free.


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But after this they turned around and took back the male and female servants whom they had set free. They brought them back and made them work for them again as male and female servants.


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"This is what the Lord God of Israel says: 'I made an agreement with your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the house where they were made to work. I said to them,


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"At the end of seven years each of you must set free his Hebrew brother, who has been sold to you and has served you for six years. You must send him away from you as a free man." But your fathers did not obey Me, or listen to Me.


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Not long ago you had turned and done what is right in My eyes. Each man told his neighbor that he was free. And you had made an agreement before Me in the house which is called by My name.


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Yet you turned and sinned against My name. Each man took back his male and female servant whom you had set free to go where they wished. And you brought them under your power again to be your male and female servants.'


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"So the Lord says, 'You have not obeyed Me. Each man has not set his brother or his neighbor free. So I am letting you free,' says the Lord, 'free to fall by the sword, by disease, and by hunger. I will cause you to be hated and feared by all the nations of the earth.


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I will take the men who have sinned against My agreement, who have not kept the words of the agreement they made before Me when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts.


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I will take these leaders of Judah, and leaders of Jerusalem, the king's servants, the religious leaders, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf.


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And I will give them over to those who hate them and to those who want to kill them. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth.


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I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his captains over to those who hate them and to those who want to kill them. I will give them to the army of the king of Babylon which has left from you.


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See,' says the Lord, 'I will tell them to come back to this city. And they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire. I will make the cities of Judah a waste place where no people live.' "


text:
This is the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:


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"Go to the house of the Rechabites and speak to them. Then bring them to one of the rooms of the house of the Lord, and give them wine to drink."


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So I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons, and all those of the Rechabite family.


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And I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the room of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, the man of God. This room was near the room of the leaders and above the room of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the doorkeeper.


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Then I set jars full of wine and some cups in front of the men of the Rechabite family. And I said to them, "Drink wine."


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But they said, "We will not drink wine. For Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, told us, 'You and your sons must never drink wine.


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You must never build a house. You must never plant seeds. And you must never plant a grape-field or own one. But you must always live in tents. Then you will live many days in the land where you have come to.'


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We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he told us. We, our wives, our sons, and our daughters, never drink wine.


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But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, 'Come and let us go to Jerusalem to get away from the armies of the Chaldeans and the Syrians.' So we are living in Jerusalem."


text:
"This is what the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says: 'Go and say to the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem, "Will you not learn by listening to My words?" says the Lord.


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"The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, telling his sons not to drink wine, are obeyed. They do not drink wine to this day, for they have obeyed their father. But I have spoken to you again and again, yet you have not listened to Me.


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And again and again I have sent you all My servants who spoke for Me, saying, 'Everyone turn now from your sinful way, and do what I tell you to do. Do not go after other gods to worship them. Then you will live in the land I have given to you and to your fathers before you. But you have not turned your ear to listen to Me.


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The sons of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, have obeyed what their father told them, but these people have not listened to Me.' " '


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So the Lord, the God of All, the God of Israel, says, 'I am bringing on Judah and on all the people of Jerusalem all the trouble I have said would come upon them. For I spoke to them but they did not listen. I have called them but they did not answer.' "


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Then Jeremiah said to those of the Rechabite family, "This is what the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says: 'You have obeyed everything that Jonadab your father told you to do.


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And so the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, "Jonadab the son of Rechab will never be without a man to stand before Me." ' ''


text:
In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,


text:
"Take a book and write in it all the words which I have said to you about Israel, Judah, and all the nations. Write all I have said since the day I first spoke to you, from the days of Josiah until today.


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It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the trouble I am planning to bring on them, so that everyone will turn from his sinful way. Then I will forgive their wrong-doing and their sin."


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So Jeremiah called Baruch, the son of Neriah. And Baruch wrote in the book all the words which Jeremiah told him that the Lord had said to him.


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So you go to the Lord's house on the special day of no food, and read to the people the words of the Lord which you have written down as I told them to you. And also read them to all the people of Judah who come from their cities.


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It may be that their prayer will come before the Lord, and everyone will turn from his sinful way. For the punishment that the Lord said would come to these people because of His anger is very bad."


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Baruch the son of Neriah did all that Jeremiah the man of God told him. He read from the book the words of the Lord in the Lord's house.


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In the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, all the people in Jerusalem and all those from the cities of Judah set apart to the Lord a day when they would not eat.


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Then Baruch read from the book the words of Jeremiah to all the people in the house of the Lord, in the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the writer, in the upper place by the New Gate of the Lord's house.


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When Micaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard all the words of the Lord from the book,


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he went down to the king's house, into the writer's room. And he saw that all the leaders were sitting there. There was Elishama the writer, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the other leaders.


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Then all the leaders sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, "Take the book you have read to the people, and come." So Baruch the son of Neriah took the book in his hand and went to them.


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When they had heard all the words, they turned in fear to one another and said to Baruch, "For sure we will tell all these words to the king."


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Then the leaders said to Baruch, "Go and hide, both you and Jeremiah. And do not let anyone know where you are."


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So they went to the king in the open space, but they had put the book in the room of Elishama the writer. And they told all the words to the king.


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Then the king sent Jehudi to get the book, and he took it out of the room of Elishama the writer. And Jehudi read it to the king and to all the leaders who stood beside him.


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It was the ninth month, and the king was sitting in the winter house with a fire burning in the fireplace in front of him.


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When Jehudi had read three or four parts, the king cut them with a small knife and threw them into the fire in the fireplace. He did this until the book was destroyed in the fire.


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The king and all his servants who heard all these words were not afraid, and they did not tear their clothes.


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Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah begged the king not to burn the book, but he would not listen to them.


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And the king told Jerahmeel the king's son, Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel to take hold of Baruch the writer and Jeremiah the man of God. But the Lord had hidden them.


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Now the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah after the king had burned the book with the words Jeremiah had told Baruch to write down. The Lord said,


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"Take another book and write in it all the words that were in the first book which Jehoiakim the king of Judah burned.


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And about Jehoiakim the king of Judah you will say, 'This is what the Lord says: "You have burned this book, saying, 'Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will be sure to come and destroy this land and put an end to every man and animal in it?' ''


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So this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: "He will have no one to sit on the throne of David. And his dead body will be thrown out to the heat of the day and the cold of the night.


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I will punish him and his children and his servants for their sin. And I will bring on them and the people of Jerusalem and the men of Judah all the trouble that I have said would come to them, because they would not listen." ' ''


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Then Jeremiah took another book and gave it to Baruch the son of Neraiah, the writer. And as Jeremiah told them to him, he wrote down all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many words of the same kind were added to them.


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Zedekiah the son of Josiah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had made king in the land of Judah, ruled in place of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim.


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But he and his servants and the people of the land would not listen to what the Lord said through Jeremiah the man of God.


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King Zedekiah sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the religious leader, to Jeremiah the man of God, saying, "Pray to the Lord our God for us."


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Now Jeremiah was still free to come and go among the people, for they had not yet put him in prison.


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The army of Pharaoh had come out of Egypt. And when the Babylonian army which had been around Jerusalem heard the news about them, they left Jerusalem.


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"This is what the Lord God of Israel says: 'Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to ask Me what will happen, "See, Pharaoh's army which has come to help you is going to return to its own land of Egypt.


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Then the Babylonians will return and fight against this city. They will take it and burn it with fire." '


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The Lord says, 'Do not fool yourselves, saying, "For sure the Babylonians will go away from us." For they will not go.


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Even if you had won the battle against the whole Babylonian army fighting with you, and only men who were hurt were left in their tents, they would rise up and burn this city with fire.' "


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And so Jeremiah left Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to take his land there among the people.


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While he was at the Gate of Benjamin, a soldier was there watching. His name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah. He took hold of Jeremiah the man of God, saying, "You are going over to the Babylonians!"


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But Jeremiah said, "It is a lie! I am not going over to the Babylonians." But Irijah would not listen to him. He took hold of Jeremiah and brought him to the leaders.


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The leaders were angry with Jeremiah and beat him. They put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the writer, which they had made into a prison.


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King Zedekiah sent for him and had him brought to his house. The king asked him in secret, "Is there any word from the Lord?" And Jeremiah said, "There is!" Then he said, "You will be given over to the king of Babylon!"


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Jeremiah also said to King Zedekiah, "In what way have I sinned against you or your servants, or against these people? Why have you put me in prison?


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Where are your men who spoke to you in God's name, saying, 'The king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land'?


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But now I ask you to listen, O my lord the king. Hear what I ask, and do not make me return to the house of Jonathan the writer, or I will die there."


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So King Zedekiah had them put Jeremiah in the open space of the prison. And a loaf of bread was given to him every day from the bread makers' street, until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah stayed in the open space of the prison.


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Now Shaphatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchijah heard Jeremiah telling all the people,


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"The Lord says, 'He who stays in this city will die by the sword and by hunger and by disease. But he who goes over to the Babylonians will live. He will get away with his life and live.'


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The Lord says, 'For sure this city will be given to the army of the king of Babylon, and he will take it.' "


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Then the leaders said to the king, "Now let this man be put to death. For he is making the hearts of the men of war weak who are left in this city, and of all the people, by saying such words to them. This man does not care about the well-being of these people, but instead wants them hurt."


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So they took Jeremiah and put him into the well of Malchijah the king's son, in the open space of the prison, letting him down with ropes. There was no water in the well, but only mud. And Jeremiah went down into the mud.


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But Ebedmelech, an Ethiopian servant of the king who had been made so he could not have children, heard in the king's house that they had put Jeremiah into the well. Now the king was sitting in the Gate of Benjamin.


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"My lord the king, these men have been very sinful in all they have done to Jeremiah the man of God. They have put him in the well. And he will die there of hunger, for there is no more bread in the city."


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Then the king told Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, "I am giving you the power to take thirty men with you, and bring Jeremiah the man of God up from the well before he dies."


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So Ebed-melech as the leader took the men with him and went into the king's house to a place under the store-room. He took from there old pieces of cloth and worn-out clothes and let them down by ropes to Jeremiah in the well.


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Then Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, "Put the clothes and pieces of cloth between your arms and the ropes," and Jeremiah did so.


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Then they pulled Jeremiah up with the ropes and lifted him out of the well. And Jeremiah stayed in the open space of the prison.


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King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the man of God and had him brought to him at the third door of the house of the Lord. And the king said to him, "I am going to ask you something. Do not hide anything from me."


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Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "If I tell you, will you not kill me? Even if I speak wise words to you, you will not listen to me."


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But King Zedekiah promised Jeremiah in secret, "As the Lord lives, Who gave us life, for sure I will not kill you or give you over to these men who want to kill you."


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Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "This is what the Lord God of All, the God of Israel, says: 'If you will go out to the captains of the king of Babylon, then you will live. This city will not be burned with fire, and you and those of your house will live.


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But if you will not go out to the captains of the king of Babylon, then this city will be given to the Babylonians. They will burn it with fire, and you will not get away from them.' "


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King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "I am afraid of the Jews who have gone over to the Babylonians. I am afraid I will be given over to them, and that they will make it hard for me."


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But Jeremiah said, "They will not give you to them. Obey the Lord by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you and you will live.


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'All of the women left in the house of the king of Judah are going to be brought out to the captains of the king of Babylon. And these women will say, "Your trusted friends have lied to you and have become stronger than you. Now when your feet have gone down into the mud, they turn away from you."


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All your wives and your sons will be led out to the Babylonians. And you yourself will not get away from them. The king of Babylon will take hold of you, and this city will be burned with fire.' "


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The leaders might hear that I have talked with you, and come and say to you, 'Tell us what you said to the king, and what the king said to you. Do not hide it from us, and we will not kill you.'


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Then you must tell them, 'I was asking the king not to make me return to the house of Jonathan to die there.' "


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All the leaders did come to Jeremiah to ask him questions. So he said to them everything the king had told him to say. And they stopped speaking with him, because the words he and the king had spoken together had not been heard by anyone else.


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In the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came and gathered around Jerusalem.


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And on the ninth day of the fourth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the city wall was broken open.


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Then all the captains of the king of Babylon came in and sat down at the Middle Gate: Nergal-sar-ezer, Samgar-nebu, Sarsekim, the Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag, and all the rest of the captains of the king of Babylon.


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When King Zedekiah of Judah and all his men of war saw them, they ran out of the city at night by way of the king's garden through the gate between the two walls. They went out toward the Jordan Valley.


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But the Babylonian army went after them and came to Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. They took hold of him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath. And Nebuchadnezzar decided how he should be punished.


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The king of Babylon killed Zedekiah's sons in front of his eyes at Riblah. He killed all the leaders of Judah also.


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The Babylonians burned the king's house and the houses of the people with fire. And they broke down the walls of Jerusalem.


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Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the soldiers, carried the rest of the people who were left in the city away to Babylon, those who went over with him, and the people who stayed.


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But Nebuzaradan, the captain of the prison soldiers, left behind in the land of Judah some of the poorest people who had nothing. He gave them grape-fields and fields at the same time.


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Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon said what must be done about Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan the captain of the prison soldiers. He said,


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So Nebuzaradan the captain of the prison soldiers, Nebushazban the Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag, and all the leading captains of the king of Babylon


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sent for Jeremiah and took him out of the open space of the prison. And they put him in the care of Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him home. So Jeremiah stayed among the people.


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The Word of the Lord had come to Jeremiah while he was being kept in the open space of the prison, saying,


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"Go and tell Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, 'This is what the Lord of All, the God of Israel says: "I will bring My words on this city for bad and not for good. And they will happen in front of you at that time.


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I will save you on that day," says the Lord. "You will not be given over to the men you are afraid of.


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For I will be sure to take you away, and you will not be killed by the sword. You will have your life because you have trusted in Me," ' '' says the Lord.


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This is the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord after Nebuzaradan, captain of the prison soldiers, had let him go from Ramah. He had taken him there in chains with all the other people of Jerusalem and Judah who were being taken to Babylon.


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The captain of the prison soldiers took Jeremiah and said to him, "The Lord your God promised this trouble against this place.


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The Lord has brought it about, and has done just as He promised. This thing has happened to you because you people sinned against the Lord and did not listen to Him.


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But now I am setting you free today from the chains on your hands. If you would like to come with me to Babylon, then come, and I will see that it goes well with you. But if you do not want to come with me to Babylon, do not come. See, the whole land is before you. Go where you think it is good and right for you to go.


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If you stay, then go back to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has set over the cities of Judah. Stay with him among the people. Or go where you think it is right to go." Then the captain of the prison soldiers gave him a share of food and a gift, and let him go.


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So Jeremiah went to Mizpah, to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. And he stayed with him among the people who were left in the land.


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Now all the captains of the armies that were in the field and their men heard that the king of Babylon had chosen Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to rule over the land. The king had put him over the men, women and children who were the poorest of the land and had not been taken to Babylon.


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So they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. With them were Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of the Maacathite, together with their men.


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Then Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, made a promise to them and their men, saying, "Do not be afraid of serving the Babylonians. Stay in the land and serve the king of Babylon. Then it will go well with you.


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As for me, I will stay at Mizpah to stand for you in front of the Babylonians who come to us. But as for you, gather wine and summer fruit and oil, and store them in your jars. And live in your cities that you have taken."


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All the Jews in Moab and Ammon and Edom, and in all the other countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left some of the people in Judah. They heard that he had chosen Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to rule over them.


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Then all the Jews returned from all the places where they had been driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah. And they gathered much wine and summer fruit.


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Now Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the armies that were in the field came to Gedaliah at Mizpah.


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They said to him, "Do you know that Baalis, the king of the sons of Ammon, has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to kill you?" But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe them.


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Then Johanan the son of Kareah said in secret to Gedaliah in Mizpah, "Let me go and kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no one will know about it. Why should he kill you? Then all the Jews who are gathered to you would go everywhere. And those of Judah who are left here would die."


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But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, "Do not do this. For you are telling a lie about Ishmael."


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In the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the king's family, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam at Mizpah. He came with one of the head captains of the king, and ten other men. While they were eating bread together there in Mizpah,


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Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him rose up and killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword. They killed the one whom the king of Babylon had chosen to rule the land.


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Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Babylonian soldiers who were found there.


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eighty men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria. Their hair was cut from their faces, their clothes were torn, and their bodies were cut. They came with grain gifts and special perfume in their hands to bring to the house of the Lord.


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Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, crying as he went. As he met them he said, "Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam."


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When they came inside the city, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the men who were with him killed them, and threw them into the well.


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But there were ten men among them who said to Ishmael, "Do not kill us! For we have stores of grain, barley, oil and honey hidden in the field." So he did not kill them with their friends.


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The well where Ishmael had thrown all the bodies of the men he had killed because of Gedaliah was the one that King Asa had made because of his fear of Baasha, king of Israel. Ishmael the son the Nethaniah filled it with the dead.


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Then he put all the rest of the Jews in chains who were in Mizpah, the king's daughters and all the people left in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the prison soldiers, had put under the rule of Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took them and started to cross over to the sons of Ammon.


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But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the armies that were with him, heard about all the bad things that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done.


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So they took all the men and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah. They found him by the large pool in Gibeon.


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When all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and the captains of the armies with him, they were glad.


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So all the people Ishmael had taken from Mizpah turned around and came back, and went to Johanan the son of Kareah.


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But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah got away from Johanan with eight men and went to the sons of Ammon.


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Then Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the armies that were with him took all the rest of the people whom Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had taken away from Mizpah after he had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. They took the soldiers, the women, the children, and the servants, whom Johanan had brought back from Gibeon,


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because of the Babylonians. For they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had chosen to rule the land.


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Then all the captains of the armies, Johanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people both small and great, came near


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and said to Jeremiah the man of God, "Hear what we ask of you. Pray to the Lord your God for us, for all these people who are left. As you see, only a few of us are left out of many.


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Then Jeremiah the man of God said to them, "I have heard you. I will pray to the Lord your God as you ask. And I will tell you the whole answer that the Lord gives. I will not keep anything from you."


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Then they said to Jeremiah, "May the Lord be true and faithful to speak against us if we do not do all that the Lord your God tells you we must do.


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If it is good or bad, we will listen to the voice of the Lord our God to Whom we are sending you. It will go well with us if we listen to the voice of the Lord our God."


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Then he called for Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the armies that were with him, and for all the people both small and great.


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And he said to them, "This is what the Lord the God of Israel says, to Whom you sent me to bring Him what you asked for:


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'If you will stay in this land, then I will build you up and not tear you down. I will plant you and not pull you up by the roots. For I will change My mind about the trouble that I have given you.


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Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, who now fills you with fear. Do not be afraid of him,' says the Lord. 'For I am with you to save you and take you from his hands.


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But if you say, "We will not stay in this land," and will not listen to the voice of the Lord your God,


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and if you say, "No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war or hear the sound of a horn or be hungry for bread, and we will stay there,"


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then listen to the Word of the Lord, O you who are left of Judah. This is what the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says: "If you set your mind to go into Egypt, and go to live there,


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then the sword which you are afraid of will come to you there in the land of Egypt. The hunger you are worried about will follow after you there in Egypt. And there you will die.


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So all the men who set their mind to go and live in Egypt will die by the sword and hunger and disease. They will have no one left alive and no one who will get away from the trouble that I will bring to them.' "


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"For the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, 'As My anger has been poured out on the people of Jerusalem, so My anger will be poured out on you when you go into Egypt. You will become a curse, and object of hate. People will say bad things against you. You will be put to shame. And you will never see this place again.'


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O people who are left of Judah, the Lord has said to you, 'Do not go into Egypt!' Know for sure that I have told you of the danger today.


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You have fooled yourselves. You sent me to the Lord your God, saying, 'Pray to the Lord our God for us. Whatever the Lord our God says, tell us and we will do it.'


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So I have told you today, but you have not obeyed the Lord your God in anything that He told me to tell you.


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So now be sure and know that you will die by the sword and hunger and disease, in the place where you want to go to live."


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Jeremiah, whom the Lord their God had sent, finished telling all the people all these words of the Lord their God.


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Then Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men said to Jeremiah, "You are lying! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, 'You must not go into Egypt to live.'


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But Baruch the son of Neriah is leading you against us to give us over to the Babylonians, so they may kill us or take us away to Babylon."


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So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the armies, and all the people, did not obey the voice of the Lord to stay in the land of Judah.


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Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the armies took all the people left of Judah, who had returned to live in the land of Judah from all the nations where they had been driven.


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They took the men, women, children, the king's daughters, and every person that Nebuzaradan the captain of the prison soldiers had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan. They also took Jeremiah the man of God and Baruch the son of Neriah.


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And they went into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the Lord. They went in as far as Tahpanhes.


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"Take some large stones in your hands. And hide them among the stone blocks by the door of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes. Let some of the Jews see you do this.


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Tell them, 'The Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, "See, I will send for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant. And I will set his throne over these stones that I have hidden. He will spread his covering over them.


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He will come and fight against the land of Egypt. Those who are meant to die will die. Those who are to be taken away will be taken away. And those who are to be killed by the sword will be killed by the sword.


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I will set fire to the houses of worship where the gods of Egypt are worshiped. He will burn them and take them away. So he will dress himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd puts on his coat. And he will go away from there in peace.


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He will break to pieces the objects of worship in the house of the Sun god in Egypt. And he will burn the houses of the gods of Egypt with fire." ' ''


text:
This word came to Jeremiah for the Jews living in the land of Egypt, at Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and in the land of Pathros, saying,


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"This is what the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says: 'You have seen all the trouble I have brought to Jerusalem and to all the cities of Judah. See, today they are a waste. No one lives in them.


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This is because of the sins they did that made Me angry. They kept burning special perfume and worshiping other gods whom they, you, and your fathers had not known.


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Yet I sent you all My servants who spoke for Me again and again, saying, "O, do not do this very sinful thing which I hate!"


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But they did not listen and would not turn from their sinful ways. They would not stop burning special perfume to other gods.


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So My anger was poured out and burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. And they have been destroyed and laid waste, as they are today.


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Now this is what the Lord God of All, the God of Israel, says: "Why are you hurting yourselves so much? Why are you cutting off from Judah man and woman, child and baby, and leaving yourselves without anyone?


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You are making Me angry with the works of your hands. You burn special perfume to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you have gone to live. And so you will be cut off and become a curse and a shame among all the nations of the earth.


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Have you forgotten the sins of your fathers, the sins of the kings of Judah, the sins of their wives, your own sins, and the sins of your wives? They sinned in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem.


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They have not been sorry for their sins even to this day. They have not feared Me or walked in My Laws which I have given you and your fathers." '


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I will take away those left of Judah who have set their mind on going into the land of Egypt to live. They will come to an end in the land of Egypt. They will fall by the sword or die from hunger. Both the small and the great will die by the sword or hunger. They will be a curse and a cause of fear. They will be spoken against and put to shame.


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I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword and hunger and disease.


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So none of those left of Judah who have come to live in the land of Egypt will be able to leave and go to the land of Judah, where they want to return and live. None will return except a few who run for their lives.' "


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Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning special perfume to other gods, and all the many women who stood by, and all the people who were living in Pathros in the land of Egypt, said to Jeremiah,


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But we will do everything that we have said we would do. We will burn special perfume to the queen of heaven and pour out drink gifts to her. We will do just as we ourselves, our fathers, our kings and our leaders did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had much food, and got along well, and had no trouble.


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But since we stopped burning special perfume to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink gifts to her, we have been without everything. We have been destroyed by the sword and by hunger."


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And the women said, "When we baked cakes which looked like the queen of heaven, burned special perfume, and poured out our drink gifts, did not our husbands know about it?"


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"As for the special perfume that you and your fathers, your kings and your leaders, and the people of the land burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, did not the Lord remember it? Did it not come into His mind?


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The Lord could no longer stand by while you did such sinful things. You have done very sinful acts. So your land has been laid waste. It has become a hated and cursed land, a place without people, as it is today.


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Because you have burned special perfume and have sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord or walked in His Laws or done what He said to do, this trouble has come upon you, as it has this day."


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Then Jeremiah said to all the people and all the women, "Hear the Word of the Lord, all you of Judah who are in the land of Egypt.


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This is what the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says: 'You and your wives have said with your mouths and have done it with your hands, saying, "For sure we will keep our promises to burn special perfume to the queen of heaven and pour out drink gifts to her." Then keep your promises! Do what you have promised!'


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But hear the Word of the Lord, all you of Judah who are living in the land of Egypt: 'I have sworn by My great name,' says the Lord, 'that My name will no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, "The Lord God lives."


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For I am watching over them for trouble and not for good. All the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will be destroyed by the sword and hunger until there is an end of them.


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And those who get away from the sword and return from Egypt to the land of Judah will be few. Then all those left of Judah who have gone to the land of Egypt to live will know whose word will stand, Mine or theirs.


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This will be the special thing for you to see,' says the Lord. 'I am going to punish you in this place, so that you may know that My words will be sure to stand against you for your hurt.'


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The Lord says, 'I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt over to those who hate him and want to kill him. It will be just as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who hated him and wanted to kill him.' "


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This is the word which Jeremiah the man of God said to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written down in a book what Jeremiah told him. This was in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah.


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'You said, "O, it is bad for me! For the Lord has added sorrow to my pain. I am tired from crying inside myself, and have found no rest." ' ''


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"So you are to tell him, 'The Lord says, "I am breaking down what I have built. And I am pulling up by the roots what I have planted, that is, the whole land."


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Are you looking for great things for yourself? Do not look for them. For I am bringing trouble to all flesh,' says the Lord. 'But I will give you life in all the places you go.' "


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This is what He said about Egypt, and about the army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt, which was by the Euphrates River at Carchemish. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had won the battle against Pharaoh's army in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah.


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Get the horses ready and get on them! Take your places with your head-coverings on! Make your spears shine, and put on your heavy battleclothes!


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What do I see? They are filled with fear and are turning back. Their strong men are beaten and are running away without looking back. Much fear is on every side," says the Lord.


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Do not let the fast man run away. Do not let the strong man get away. In the north by the River Euphrates they have lost their step and fallen.


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Egypt rises like the Nile, like the rivers of rising waters. He has said, "I will rise and cover that land. I will destroy the city and its people."


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Go up, you horses! Drive hard, you war-wagons! Let the men of war go up, Ethiopia and Put who use the battle-covering, and the Lydians who are able men with the bow.


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That day is the day of the Lord God of All, a day of punishment, when He will punish those who hate Him. The sword will destroy until it is filled. It will drink its fill of their blood. For there will be many killed for the Lord, the God of All, in the land of the north by the River Euphrates.


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Go up to Gilead and get healing oil, O young daughter of Egypt! You have used many medicines for nothing. There is no healing for you.


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The nations have heard of your shame, and the earth is full of your cry. For one soldier has fallen over another. They have both fallen together.


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This is the word which the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the man of God about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to punish the land of Egypt:


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"Make it known in Egypt. Make it known in Migdol, in Memphis, and in Tahpanhes. Say, 'Take your places and get ready, for the sword has destroyed those around you.'


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The Lord made many fall. They have fallen on each other. And they said, 'Get up! Let us return to our own people and our own land, away from the sword of the one who makes it hard for us.'


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"As I live," says the King, Whose name is the Lord of All, "one will come who is like Tabor among the mountains, or like Carmel by the sea.


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Get your things ready for when you are taken away, you who are living in Egypt. For Memphis will become a waste. It will be burned down and will have no people.


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Her hired soldiers among her are like calves, ready to eat. For they also have turned back and have run away together. They did not stay in their places. For the day of their trouble has come upon them, the time of their punishment.


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Egypt will sound like a snake moving away. For an army will come against her with axes, like those who cut down trees.


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They will cut down all her trees," says the Lord, "even though there are so many. There are more trees than locusts, too many to number.


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The Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, "I am going to punish Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh, and Egypt and her gods and her kings. I will punish Pharaoh and those who trust in him.


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I will give them over to those who want to kill them, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his captains. After that, Egypt will be filled with people as it was long ago," says the Lord.


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"But do not be afraid, O Jacob My servant. Do not be troubled, O Israel. For I am going to save you from far away. I will bring your children back from the land where they are held. Jacob will return and have quiet and rest. And no one will make him afraid.


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O Jacob My servant, do not be afraid," says the Lord, "for I am with you. I will make a complete end of all the nations where I have driven you. But I will not make a complete end of you. I will punish you so you will go the right way. I will not leave you without punishment."


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This is the Word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the man of God about the Philistines, before Pharaoh won the war against Gaza.


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The Lord says, "Waters are going to rise from the north and become a flood. They will flow over the land and everything in it, the cities and all who live in them. The men will cry out. Every person living in the land will cry in a loud voice.


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Because of the noise of the feet of horses running, the noise of war-wagons and the sound of wheels, fathers have not turned back for their children. Their hands have become too weak,


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because of the day that is coming to destroy all the Philistines. And all those who helped Tyre and Sidon will be destroyed. For the Lord is going to destroy the Philistines, those who are left of the land of Caphtor by the sea.


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All the hair is gone from the head of Gaza. Ashkelon has been destroyed. O you who are left of their valley, how long will you cut yourselves?


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O, sword of the Lord, how long will it be before you are quiet? Return to your holder. Be at rest and do not move.


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How can it be quiet, when the Lord has given it work to do? He has sent it against Ashkelon and against the land by the sea."


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About Moab, the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, "It is bad for Nebo, for it has been destroyed. Kiriathaim has been put to shame and taken. The high, strong-place has been put to shame and crushed.


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The praise for Moab has come to an end. In Heshbon they have planned trouble against her, saying, 'Come, let us destroy her from being a nation!' You, O Madmen, will be made quiet also. The sword will follow you.


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They go up the hill of Luhith crying all the time. For at the hill of Horonaim they have heard the troubled cry of those who are being destroyed.


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Because you have trusted in your own works and riches, you also will be taken. And Chemosh will go away to a strange land together with his religious leaders and important men.


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The destroyer will come to every city. No city will be free from him. The valley and the plain will be destroyed also, as the Lord has said.


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Give wings to Moab, for she will fly away. Her cities will become a waste, with no people living in them.


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The one who does the Lord's work without care is cursed. Cursed is the one who keeps his sword from blood.


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"Moab has been at rest since he was young. He has been like wine which sits a long time, not being poured from jar to jar. He has not gone away to a strange land. So he keeps his taste, and his smell is not changed.


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The days are coming," says the Lord, "when I will send to him those who turn over jars, and they will turn him over. They will empty his jars and break them in pieces.


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Then Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel that they trusted.


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Moab has been destroyed, and men have gone up to his cities. His best young men have gone down to be killed," says the King, Whose name is the Lord of All.


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Have sorrow for him, all you who live around him, and all who know his name. Say, 'How his power has been broken, the greatness of his power!'


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Come down from your greatness and sit on the hot ground, O you who live in Dibon. For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you. He has destroyed your strong-places built for battle.


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Stand by the road and keep watch, O you who live in Aroer. Ask the man or woman who runs away, 'What has happened?'


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Moab has been put to shame, for it is broken down. Cry out. Let it be known by the Arnon that Moab has been destroyed.


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"Make him drunk, for he has become proud before the Lord. So Moab will roll in the food he has thrown up, and be laughed at.


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Did you not laugh at Israel? Or was he found among robbers? For each time you speak about him you laugh and shake your head.


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Leave the cities and live among the rocks, O people of Moab. Be like a dove that has its nest in a hole in the side of the rock.


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We have heard of the pride of Moab. He is very proud. We have heard of all his pride and how he honors himself.


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So I will cry in a loud voice for Moab. I will cry out for all Moab. I will have sorrow for the men of Kir-heres.


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I will cry for you more than for Jazer, O vine of Sibmah! Your branches have gone over the sea, even to the sea of Jazer. The destroyer has fallen upon your summer fruits and your grapes.


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Happiness and joy have been taken away from the land of Moab with all its fruit. I have stopped the crushing of the grapes to make wine. No one crushes them under foot. The noise they make is not the sound of joy.


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They cry out from Heshbon even to Elealeh, even to Jahaz, and from Zoar even to Horonaim and to Eglath-shelishiyah. Even the waters of Nimrim have become a waste.


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And I will make an end of Moab," says the Lord. "I will destroy the one who gives gifts of worship on the high place and burns special perfume to his gods.


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"So My heart cries out for Moab like a horn. My heart cries like a horn also for the men of Kir-heres. The riches they had for themselves have been lost.


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The hair has been cut from every head, and the hair has been cut short on every face. There are cuts on all the hands, and they wear clothes made from hair.


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On all the roofs of Moab and in its streets there are cries of sorrow everywhere. For I have broken Moab like a pot that is not wanted," says the Lord.


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"How broken it is! How they cry! How Moab has turned his back in shame! So Moab has become something to laugh at and hate to all those around him."


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Kerieth has been taken, and the strong-places built for battle have been taken. In that day the hearts of the strong men of Moab will be like the heart of a woman giving birth.


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"The one who runs from trouble will fall into the trap. And the one who comes up out of the trap will be caught in the net. For I will bring these things upon Moab in the year of their punishment," says the Lord.


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"In the shadow of Heshbon, those who have run for their lives stand without strength. For a fire has gone out from Heshbon and from Sihon. It has destroyed the forehead of Moab and the top of the heads of the trouble-makers.


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It is bad for you, Moab! The people of Chemosh have been destroyed. Your sons and daughters have been taken away in chains.


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Yet I will return the people of Moab to their land in the last days," says the Lord. This is the punishment of Moab.


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About the sons of Ammon, the Lord says, "Does Israel have no sons? Does she have no one to receive what she leaves? Why then has Malcam taken Gad as his own? Why do his people live in its cities?


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But the days are coming," says the Lord, "when I will blow a horn giving the sound of war against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon. And it will become a waste. Its towns will be set on fire. Then Israel will take the land from those who had taken it from her," says the Lord.


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"Cry out, O Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed! Cry out, O people of Rabbah. Put on clothes made from hair and cry in sorrow. And run this way and that way inside the walls. For Malcam will go to a strange land, together with his religious leaders and his important men.


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How you speak in pride about the valleys! Your valley is flowing away, O daughter without faith who trusts in her riches, saying, 'Who will come against me?'


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I will bring much trouble upon you," says the Lord God of All. "It will come from all around you, and each of you will be driven away. There will be no one to gather together those who run for their lives.


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About Edom, the Lord of All says, "Is there no longer any wisdom in Teman? Have wise words been lost from the wise? Is their wisdom all gone?


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Run away! Turn back and live in the deep places, O people of Dedan. For I will bring the trouble of Esau upon him when I punish him.


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If those who gather grapes came to you, would they not leave some grapes behind? If robbers came during the night, would they not take only what was enough for them?


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But I have taken all that Esau has. I have taken the covering from his hiding places so that he will not be able to hide himself. His children, his brothers, and his neighbors are destroyed. And he is no more.


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Leave your children behind, who have lost their parents, and I will keep them alive. And let your women whose husbands have died trust in Me."


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For the Lord says, "If those who were not to drink the cup must drink it, will you go without being punished? You will not go without being punished, but you must drink it.


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For I have promised by Myself," says the Lord, "that Bozrah will become an object of trouble, a shame, a waste, and a curse. All its cities will be destroyed forever."


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I have heard word from the Lord. A man with news is sent among the nations, saying, "Gather together and come against her! Rise up for battle!


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As for the fear you have caused, the pride of your heart has fooled you, O you who live in the holes of rocks, who live on the top of the hill. Even if you make your nest as high as an eagle's, I will bring you down from there," says the Lord.


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'Edom will become an object of trouble. Everyone who passes by will be surprised and will make fun of all its suffering.


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As when Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors were destroyed, no one will live there," says the Lord. "No man will live there.


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One will come up like a lion from the trees by the Jordan to rich grass fields. All at once I will make him run away from Edom. And I will make whoever I choose rule over it. For who is like Me? Who will call Me into court? What shepherd can stand against Me?"


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So hear the plan the Lord has made against Edom. Listen to His plans which He has made against the people of Teman. Even the little ones of the flock will be pulled away. For sure He will make their fields an empty waste because of them.


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The earth will shake at the sound of their fall. The sound of their cry will be heard at the Red Sea.


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See, one will come and fly down in a hurry like an eagle. He will spread out his wings against Bozrah. In that day the hearts of the strong men of Edom will be like the heart of a woman giving birth.


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About Damascus, He says, "Hamath and Arpad are troubled, for they have heard bad news. Their hearts have become weak. They are troubled like the sea which cannot be quiet.


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Damascus has become weak. She has turned to run away. Fear has taken hold of her. Pain and sorrows have taken hold of her like a woman giving birth.


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For sure her young men will fall in her streets. And all the men of war will be destroyed in that day," says the Lord of All.


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About Kedar and the nations of Hazor, which were beaten in battle by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Lord says, "Get up and go to Kedar, and destroy the men of the east.


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Their tents and their flocks will be taken. Their tent curtains, and all their good things, and their camels will be carried away for themselves. And men will call out to them, 'Trouble is on every side!'


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Run! Run far away! Live in the deep places, O people of Hazor," says the Lord. "For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has made a plan against you. He has thought of a way to hurt you.


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Get up and go to fight against a nation which is at rest and lives without fear," says the Lord. "It has no gates with pieces of iron. And its people live alone.


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Their camels and their many cattle will become a prize of war. I will send everywhere to the winds those who are in the farthest places. I will bring trouble to them from every side," says the Lord.


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"Hazor will become a place where wild dogs live, a waste place forever. No man will live there, and no man will stay there."


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This is the Word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the man of God about Elam, at the beginning of the rule of King Zedekiah of Judah, saying,


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I will bring the four winds to Elam from the four ends of heaven. And I will have these winds send them everywhere. There will not be a nation to which the people sent out of Elam will not go.


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I will fill Elam with fear in front of those who hate them and want to kill them. I will bring much trouble upon them, even My burning anger,' says the Lord. 'I will send the sword after them until I have destroyed them.


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The word which the Lord spoke about Babylon, the land of the Babylonians, through Jeremiah the man of God:


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"Make it known among the nations. Lift up a flag and make it known. Do not hide it, but say, 'Babylon has been taken. Bel has been put to shame. Marduk has been broken down. Her objects of worship have been put to shame. Her false gods have been broken down.'


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For a nation has come up against her from the north. It will make her land an empty waste, and no one will live in it. Both man and animal will run away.


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"In those days and at that time," says the Lord, "the sons of Israel will come, together with the sons of Judah. They will cry as they come, and will be looking for the Lord their God.


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They will ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, saying, 'Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in an agreement that lasts forever, one that will never be forgotten.'


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"My people have become lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them the wrong way. They have made them turn away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill and have forgotten their resting place.


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All who found them have destroyed them. Those who hate them have said, 'We are not guilty, for they have sinned against the Lord, their true resting place Who is right and good, the hope of their fathers.'


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Run out of Babylon. Go from the land of the Babylonians. Be like male goats that go before the flock.


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For I am going to raise up and bring against Babylon a group of great nations from the land of the north. They will come ready for battle against her, and she will be taken. Their arrows will be like an able soldier who does not return with empty hands.


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"You are glad and full of joy, O you who take what belongs to My people. You play around like a young cow in grain, and sound like strong horses. Because of this,


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your mother will be very ashamed. She who gave birth to you will be put to shame. She will be the least of the nations, a place where no people live, a waste, and a desert.


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Because of the Lord's anger no people will live there. She will be left with no people. Everyone who passes by Babylon will be surprised, and will make fun of her because of her sores.


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Come up for battle against Babylon on every side, all you who use the bow. Shoot at her. Do not save any of your arrows, for she has sinned against the Lord.


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Raise your battle cry against her on every side. She has given herself up. Her strong pillars have fallen. Her walls have been torn down. Since this is the punishment of the Lord, punish her. Do to her as she has done to others.


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Cut off from Babylon the one who plants seeds and the one who cuts the grain at gathering time. Because of the sword of the one who makes it hard for them, everyone will return to his own people. Each one will run to his own land.


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"Israel is like sheep sent everywhere, driven away by lions. The first one who destroyed Israel was the king of Assyria. And the last one who has broken his bones is Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.


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So the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says: 'I am going 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 field, and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan. And his desire will be filled in the hill country of Ephraim and Gilead.


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In those days and at that time,' says the Lord, 'sin will be looked for in Israel, but there will be none. And sin will be looked for in Judah, but it will not be found. For I will forgive those whom I allow to return.'


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"Go up against the land of Merathaim, and against the people of Pekod. Kill and destroy all of them," says the Lord, "and do all that I have told you.


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How the strong one of the whole earth has been cut off and broken! Babylon has become a complete waste among the nations!


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I set a trap for you, and you were caught, O Babylon, and you did not know it. You have been found and caught, because you have fought against the Lord."


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The Lord has opened His store-house and has brought out the swords of His anger. For the Lord, the God of All, has work to do in the land of the Babylonians.


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Come to her from the farthest land. Open her store-houses. Gather her up like grain, and destroy all of her. Let nothing be left of her.


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Kill all her young bulls. Let them go down to be killed. It is bad for them, for their day has come, the time of their punishment.


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Listen! They are running from the land of Babylon to tell in Zion about the punishment of the Lord our God. They are telling how the Lord punishes those who destroyed His house of worship.


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"Call all those who use the bow to fight against Babylon. Gather around her on every side. Let no one get away. Pay her back for what she did. Do to her all that she has done. For she has been proud against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel.


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So her young men will fall in her streets. And all her men of war will be made quiet in that day," says the Lord.


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"See, I am against you, O proud one," says the Lord God of All. "For your day has come, the time when I will punish you.


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The proud one will trip and fall with no one to help him up. I will set fire to his cities, and it will burn up all that is around him."


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The Lord of All says, "The sons of Israel and the sons of Judah are troubled and are held under a bad power. All who took them away in chains have held on to them. They have not been willing to let them go.


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The One Who saves and makes them free is strong. The Lord of All is His name. He will work hard for their cause, so that He may give rest to the land. But He will not give rest to the people of Babylon.


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A sword is against the Babylonians," says the Lord, "and against the people of Babylon, and against her leaders and her wise men!


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A sword is against her religious leaders who are false and lie. They will become fools! A sword is against her strong men, and they will be filled with fear!


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A sword is against her horses and warwagons, and against all the soldiers from other lands who are with her! They will become like women! A sword is against her riches, and they will be taken!


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A time of no rain and her waters will be dried up! For it is a land of false gods. They are wild over false gods.


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So the desert animals will live there together with the wild dogs. And ostriches also will live in it. Never again will people live there.


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As when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities," says the Lord, "no man will live there. And no man will stay there.


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"See, a nation is coming from the north. A great nation and many kings are moving from the farthest parts of the earth.


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They take hold of their bow and spear. They fight without pity. Their voice sounds like the sea. And they ride on horses, dressed ready for battle against you, O people of Babylon.


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The king of Babylon has heard the news about them, and his hands hang without strength. Suffering has taken hold of him, like the pain of a woman giving birth.


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"One will come up like a lion from the trees by the Jordan to rich grass fields. All at once I will make the people run away from Babylon. And I will make whoever I choose to rule over it. For who is like Me? Who will call Me into court? What shepherd can stand before Me?"


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So hear the plan which the Lord has made against Babylon. Listen to His plans which He has made against the land of the Babylonians. Even the little ones of the flock will be taken away. He will make their fields an empty waste because of them.


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At the cry, "Babylon has been taken!" the earth will shake, and the cry will be heard among the nations.


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The Lord says, "See, I will raise up the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon and against the people of Chaldea.


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I will send strangers to destroy Babylon like a wind that blows straw away. For they will be against her on every side and leave her land empty in the day of her trouble.


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Do not let the bow-man use his bow. Do not let him stand up in his heavy battle-clothes. Do not leave her young men alive, but destroy all of her army.


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For Israel and Judah have not been left alone by their God, the Lord of All, even though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.


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Run away from Babylon! Let every man save his life! Do not be destroyed in her punishment, for it is time for the Lord to punish her. He will make her pay for her sins.


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Babylon has been a gold cup in the Lord's hand, making all the earth drunk. The nations have drunk her wine, and so the nations have gone wild.


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All at once Babylon has fallen and been broken. Cry over her with a loud voice. Bring healing oil for her pain. It may be that she will be healed.


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We would have healed Babylon, but she was not healed. Leave her alone, and let each of us go to his own country. For she is being judged from as far as heaven and lifted even to the skies.


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Make the arrows sharp! Take the body-coverings! The Lord has moved the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because He is planning to destroy Babylon. It is the punishment of the Lord, the punishment for what was done to His house of worship.


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Lift up a flag on the walls of Babylon. Have many keep watch. Put the watchmen in their places. And get men ready to fight against her by surprise. For the Lord has both planned and done what He said about the people of Babylon.


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The Lord of All has promised by Himself, saying, "For sure I will fill you with men, as with many locusts. And they will call out that they have won the war against you."


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He made the earth by His power. He made the world by His wisdom. And by His understanding He spread out the heavens.


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When He speaks, there is a storm of waters in the heavens. He makes the clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and brings the wind from His store-houses.


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No man thinks well, and he is without learning. Every man who works with gold is put to shame by his false gods. For the objects of worship that he makes are false, and there is no breath in them.


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He Who is the Share of Jacob is not like these. For He is the Maker of All. And Israel is the family who receives His gifts. The Lord of All is His name.


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He says, "You are My battle-ax which I use in war. With you I destroy countries. With you I destroy nations.


text:
With you I destroy the war-wagon and its driver. With you I destroy man and woman. With you I destroy old man and boy. With you I destroy young man and young woman.


text:
With you I destroy the shepherd and his flock. With you I destroy the farmer and his oxen. And with you I destroy rulers and captains.


text:
"I will punish Babylon and all the people of Chaldea for all their sins that they have done in Zion in front of your eyes," says the Lord.


text:
"See, I am against you, O destroying mountain, who destroys the whole earth," says the Lord. "I will put out My hand against you and roll you down from the high rocks. I will make you a burned-out mountain.


text:
Not even a stone will be taken from you for a corner stone, or a stone to be used to build upon. But you will be a waste forever," says the Lord.


text:
Lift up a flag in the land! Sound the horn among the nations! Make the nations ready to fight against Babylon. Call against her the nations of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Choose a captain to go against her. Bring up the horses like many locusts.


text:
Make the nations ready to fight against her. Make ready the kings of the Medes, their rulers and captains, and every land under their rule.


text:
The land shakes and moves in its pain. For the Lord's plans against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a waste land without people.


text:
The powerful soldiers of Babylon have stopped fighting. They stay in their strong-places. Their strength is gone. They have become like women. Their houses are set on fire, and the iron parts of her gates are broken.


text:
One man with news runs to meet another, and he runs to meet another. They run to tell the king of Babylon that his city has been taken from end to end.


text:
The ways to cross the river have been stopped. The water grass has been burned with fire. And the soldiers are filled with fear.


text:
The Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, "The daughter of Babylon is like the grain floor when it is being stepped on and made hard. In a little while her gathering time will come."


text:
"Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has destroyed me, and has crushed me. He has made me like an empty pot. He has eaten me up like a large, angry animal. He has filled his stomach with my good food, and he has washed me away.


text:
May the hurt done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon," the person living in Zion will say. "May my blood be upon the people of Babylon," Jerusalem will say.


text:
So the Lord says, "See, I will help you in your cause and punish Babylon for you. I will dry up her sea, and make her well dry.


text:
Babylon will become a waste place, a place where wild dogs live. She will be an object of trouble and hate, where no people live.


text:
But when they are hot, I will give them a special supper and make them drunk. Then they will be happy and fall asleep, and will never wake up," says the Lord.


text:
"How Babylon has been taken, the praise of the whole earth taken! How Babylon has become an object of trouble among the nations!


text:
Her cities have become an object of trouble, a dry land and a desert. It is a land where no man lives, and where no man passes through.


text:
And I will punish the false god of Bel in Babylon. I will make what he has eaten come out of his mouth. The nations will no longer come to him. The wall of Babylon will fall.


text:
Do not let your heart become weak. Do not be afraid at the news that will be heard in the land. For news will come this year, and other news will come the next. There will be fighting in the land, with ruler against ruler.


text:
So the days are coming when I will punish the false gods of Babylon. Her whole land will be put to shame, and all her dead will fall within her.


text:
Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will call out for joy over Babylon. For the destroyers will come to her from the north," says the Lord.


text:
Babylon must fall because of the dead of Israel, just as the dead of all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.


text:
You who have not been killed by the sword, go! Do not stay! Remember the Lord from far away, and think of Jerusalem.


text:
We are ashamed because much has been said against us. Our faces are covered with shame, for strangers have gone into the holy places of the Lord's house.


text:
"But the days are coming," says the Lord, "when I will punish her false gods. And those who are hurt will cry in pain through all her land.


text:
Even if Babylon rises to the heavens and makes her high place strong, I will send destroyers against her," says the Lord.


text:
The sound of a cry comes from Babylon! A noise comes from the land of the Babylonians because much is being destroyed!


text:
For the Lord will destroy Babylon. He will quiet her loud voice. Their waves will sound like many waters, and the noise of their voices is loud.


text:
For the destroyer is coming against Babylon, and her strong men will be taken. Their bows are broken. For the Lord is a God Who makes the sinner pay for his sin, and He will be sure to punish.


text:
"I will make her leaders and her wise men, her rulers, her captains, and her strong men of war drunk. Then they will fall asleep and never wake up," says the King, Whose name is the Lord of All.


text:
The Lord of All says, "The wide wall of Babylon will be broken to the ground. Her high gates will be set on fire. So the people will work hard for nothing, and because of the fire nations become tired."


text:
This is the word which Jeremiah the man of God told Seraiah the son of Neriah, the grandson of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his rule. Seraiah was the head captain of the house.


text:
Jeremiah wrote in a book all the trouble that would come upon Babylon. He wrote down all these words which have been written about Babylon.


text:
Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, "As soon as you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words out loud.


text:
And say, 'O Lord, You have said that this place will be destroyed, so that there will be nothing living in it, not man or animal. It is to be a waste place forever.'


text:
And say, 'In this way Babylon will go down and not rise again, because of the trouble I am going to bring upon her. And her people will fall.' " The words of Jeremiah end here.


text:
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled for eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.


text:
The Lord became so angry with Jerusalem and Judah that He had them sent away from Him. And Zedekiah turned against the king of Babylon.


text:
On the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year of his rule, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came with all his army to fight against Jerusalem. His soldiers gathered outside the city and built a battle-wall all around it.


text:
On the ninth day of the fourth month, the hunger became very bad in the city. There was no food for the people of the land.


text:
Then the city was broken into, and all the men of war ran away. They left the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls, by the king's garden, while the Babylonians were all around the city. They went by way of the Arabah.


text:
But the Babylonian army went after King Zedekiah and came to him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was divided and ran away from him.


text:
They took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath. And he decided what Zedekiah's punishment would be.


text:
The king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah in front of his eyes. He killed all the leaders of Judah in Riblah.


text:
Then he put out Zedekiah's eyes, put him in chains of brass, and took him to Babylon. There he was put in prison until the day of his death.


text:
On the tenth day of the fifth month in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan came to Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan was the captain of the prison soldiers and served the king of Babylon.


text:
And he burned the house of the Lord, the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He burned down every great house.


text:
The whole Babylonian army that was with the captain of the prison soldiers broke down all the walls around Jerusalem.


text:
Then Nebuzaradan, captain of the prison soldiers, carried away to Babylon some of the poorest of the people, the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had joined the king of Babylon, and the rest of the able workmen.


text:
The Babylonians broke in pieces the brass pillars which belonged to the house of the Lord, and the stands and the brass pool which were in the Lord's house. And they carried all the brass to Babylon.


text:
They also took away the pots, the tools, the objects for putting out the lamps, the washing pots, the dishes for special perfume, and all the brass objects used in the work of the Lord's house.


text:
The captain of the prison soldiers also took away the deep dishes, the fire holders, the washing pots, the other pots, the lamp-stands, the dishes for special perfume, and the dishes for drink gifts, that were made of fine gold and fine silver.


text:
He took the two pillars, the brass pool, the twelve brass bulls that were under the pool, and the stands, which King Solomon had made for the house of the Lord. The brass of all these objects was too heavy to weigh.


text:
Each pillar was five times taller than a man, as long around as six long steps, as wide as four fingers, and empty inside.


text:
Its top part was brass and as tall as a man can raise his hand, with a network and pomegranates all around the top part, all made of brass. The second pillar with its pomegranates was the same.


text:
There were ninetysix pomegranates on the sides. There were one hundred pomegranates on the network all around.


text:
Then the captain of the prison soldiers took Seraiah, the head religious leader, and Zephaniah, the second religious leader, and the three door keepers of the Lord's house.


text:
He also took from the city one captain who had been over the men of war, and seven of the king's wise men who were found in the city. He took the writer who worked for the captain of the army, who called together the people of the land. And he took sixty men of the land who were found in the city.


text:
Nebuzaradan the captain of the prison soldiers took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah,


text:
and the king of Babylon killed them. He put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was led out of its land in chains.


text:
These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away to Babylon: In the seventh year he took 3,023 Jews.


text:
In the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the prison soldiers took away 745 Jews. There were 4,600 people taken away in all.


text:
On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month in the thirty-seventh year since King Jehoiachin of Judah was taken away to Babylon, Evilmerodach king of Babylon showed favor to Jehoiachin king of Judah. It was the first year of his rule, and he brought Jehoiachin out of prison.


text:
He spoke to him with kindness, and gave him a seat of honor higher than the other kings who were with him in Babylon.


text:
So Jehoiachin changed from his prison clothes, and ate with the king every day for the rest of his life.


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And a share of money was given to him by the king of Babylon every day as long as he lived, until the day of his death.


text:
How empty is the city that was once full of people! She was once great among the nations. But now she has become like a woman whose husband has died. She who was once a queen among the cities has become a servant made to work.


text:
She cries hard in the night, with tears on her face. She has no one to comfort her among all her lovers. All her friends have not been faithful to her. They have turned against her.


text:
Judah has been taken away to a strange land where she suffers much and is made to work hard as a servant. She lives among the nations, but has no rest. All those who went after her have taken her in her trou-ble.


text:
The roads of Zion are filled with sorrow, because no one comes to the special suppers. All her gates are laid waste. Her religious leaders are crying in sorrow. Her pure young women are troubled, and she herself is in bitter suffering.


text:
Those who hate her have power over her, and all goes well for them. For the Lord has made her suffer for her many sins. Her children have been taken away in front of those who hate her.


text:
The people of Zion have lost all her great power. Her princes are like deer that find no field where they can eat. They are weak as they run away from those who are after them.


text:
In the days of her trouble and when she had no home, Jerusalem remembers all the things of much worth that were hers in days long ago, when her people fell into the hands of those who hated her. No one helped her. Those who hated her saw her and made fun of her when she was destroyed.


text:
Jerusalem sinned very much, so she is unclean. All who honored her hate her, because they have seen her put to shame. Even she herself cries in sorrow and turns away.


text:
She was unclean in her clothing. She did not think about her future. She came to nothing. She had no one to comfort her. "O Lord, see my suffering, for those who hate me have won!"


text:
Those who hate her have laid their hands on all her things of much worth. For she has seen the nations go into her holy place, those whom You said must not gather with Your people.


text:
All her people cry inside themselves as they look for bread. They have traded their things of much worth for food to have strength. "Look and see, O Lord, for I am hated.


text:
Is it nothing to all you who pass this way? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow given me, which the Lord put on me in the day of His burning anger.


text:
He sent fire from on high into my bones. He has spread a net for my feet and has turned me back. He has left me destroyed, and weak all day long.


text:
The weight of my sins is put upon me. He tied them together and put them upon my neck. He has taken away my strength. The Lord has given me over to those I cannot stand against.


text:
The Lord has turned away from all my strong soldiers. He has sent an army against me to crush my young men. The Lord has crushed the pure daughters of Judah like grapes are crushed to make wine.


text:
This is why I cry. Tears flow from my eyes, because a comforter is far from me who would give strength to my soul. My children are destroyed, because those who hate me have won."


text:
Zion has put out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her. The Lord has spoken against Jacob, that his neighbors should fight against him. Jerusalem has become unclean to them.


text:
"The Lord is right and good, yet I have not wanted to obey His Word. Listen now, all you people, and see my suffering. My pure young women and young men have been taken away to a strange land.


text:
I called to my lovers, but they were not faithful to me. My religious leaders and leaders of the people died in the city, while they looked for food to get their strength back.


text:
See how I suffer, O Lord. My spirit is very troubled. My heart has no rest within me, for I have not obeyed. The sword kills in the street. In the house there is only death.


text:
They have heard how I cry in sorrow. There is no one to comfort me. All those who hate me have heard of my trouble. They are glad for what You did. Bring the day that You have told us about, and let them become like me.


text:
Let their sin come before You, and do to them what You have done to me because of all my sin. My cries are many, and my heart is weak."


text:
How the Lord has covered Zion with a cloud in His anger! He has thrown the shining-greatness of Israel from heaven to earth. In the day of His anger He has not remembered the place where He rests His feet.


text:
The Lord has destroyed all the places of Jacob. In His anger He has broken down the strong-places of Judah. He has brought the nation and its leaders down to the ground in shame.


text:
In burning anger He has cut off all the strength of Israel. He would not help us fight against those who hate us. He has burned like a hot fire in Jacob, destroying everything around it.


text:
He has pulled back His bow string like one who fights against us. He has set His right hand like one who hates us, and has killed all that we liked to see. He has poured out His anger like fire on the tent of Zion.


text:
The Lord has become like one who hates us. He has destroyed Israel. He has destroyed all its beautiful houses. He has destroyed its strong-places, and has caused much sorrow and crying for the people of Judah.


text:
He has broken down His house like a garden tent. He has destroyed His chosen meeting place. The Lord has caused the special suppers and Day of Rest to be forgotten in Zion. And He has hated the king and the religious leader in His anger.


text:
The Lord has had nothing to do with His altar. He has left His holy place. He has given the walls of her beautiful houses over to those who hate us. They have made a noise in the house of the Lord as on the day of a special supper.


text:
The Lord plans to destroy the wall of the people of Zion. He marked how long it was, and has not kept His hand from destroying. He has caused tower and wall to cry in sorrow. They suffer together.


text:
Her gates have gone down into the ground. He has destroyed and broken her iron pieces. Her king and leaders have been sent among the nations. The Law is no more. And her men who spoke for God have no more special dreams from the Lord.


text:
The leaders of the people of Zion sit quietly on the ground. They have thrown dust on their heads, and have dressed themselves in cloth made from hair. The pure young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.


text:
My eyes become weak from crying. My spirit is very troubled. My heart is poured out in sorrow, because my people have been destroyed, and because children and babies fall down weak in the city streets.


text:
They cry to their mothers, "Where is bread and wine?" as they fall down weak in the city streets like a man hurt in battle, and as they die in their mothers' arms.


text:
What can I say for you? What can I compare you with, O people of Jerusalem? What can I compare you with, that I may comfort you, O pure daughter of Zion? For you have been destroyed as much as the sea is large. And who can heal you?


text:
Your men who speak in God's name have given you false and foolish dreams. They have not made your sin known, so you could return from where you are held. But they have told you false dreams that have led you the wrong way.


text:
All who pass by clap their hands at you. They make fun of you and shake their heads at the people of Jerusalem, saying, "Is this the city which was called perfect in beauty, the joy of all the earth?"


text:
All who hate you have opened their mouths wide against you. They make fun of you and grind their teeth and say, "We have destroyed her! For sure this is the day we have waited for! We have lived to see it!"


text:
The Lord has done what He planned. He has done what He had said He would do long ago. He has destroyed without pity. He has caused those who hate you to have joy over you. He has given strength to those who fight against you.


text:
Let your heart cry out to the Lord. O wall of the people of Zion, let your tears flow down like a river day and night. Give yourself no rest. Do not let your eyes stop crying.


text:
Get up and cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night hours. Pour out your heart like water before the Lord. Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your children who are weak with hunger on every street."


text:
See, O Lord, and look! To whom have You done this? Should women eat their children, the little ones they have cared for? Should religious leaders and men of God be killed in the Lord's holy place?


text:
The young and the old lie in the dust of the streets. My pure young women and young men have been killed by the sword. You have killed them in the day of Your anger. You have killed without pity.


text:
As people are asked to come to a special supper, You have sent trouble on every side. And no one got away or stayed alive in the day of the Lord's anger. Those I have cared for and brought up have been destroyed by those who hate me.


text:
It is because of the Lord's loving-kindness that we are not destroyed for His loving-pity never ends.


text:
Who has said that something would happen and then it did happen, unless the Lord has said that it should be?


text:
How dark the gold has become! How the pure gold has changed! The stones from the house of God are poured out at the corner of every street.


text:
The sons of Zion are worth their weight in fine gold. But they are thought of as clay pots, the work of a pot-maker's hands!


text:
Even wild dogs give their breast to feed their young, but my people show no pity. They are like ostriches in the desert.


text:
The baby's tongue sticks to the roof of its mouth because of thirst. The children beg for bread, but no one gives it to them.


text:
Those who ate fine foods are dying in the streets. Those who were brought up dressed in purple now lie in ashes.


text:
For the sin of the daughter of my people is worse than the sin of Sodom, which was destroyed all at once without a hand turned to help her.


text:
Her religious leaders were more pure than snow. They were more white than milk. Their bodies were more red than coral. They were more beautiful than sapphire.


text:
Now they look more black than dark ashes. No one knows who they are in the streets. Their skin has dried up on their bones. It has become as dry as wood.


text:
Those who are killed with the sword are better off than those killed with hunger. For they waste away, suffering because they have no fruits of the field.


text:
Women who had shown loving-kindness have boiled their own children for food, because my people are destroyed.


text:
The Lord has acted in His anger. He has poured out His burning anger, and has set a fire in Zion which has burned it to the ground.


text:
The kings of the earth and all the people of the world did not believe that those who hated them could come into the gates of Jerusalem.


text:
This was because of the sins of her men who spoke in God's name, and the sins of her religious leaders, who killed those within her who were right and good.


text:
They walked as blind men through the streets. They were made unclean with blood so that no one could touch their clothing.


text:
People cried to them, "Go away! You are unclean! Leave! Go away! Do not touch!" So they ran away and traveled from place to place. Men among the nations said, "They must not stay with us any longer."


text:
The Lord Himself has sent them everywhere. He will not care about them any more. They did not honor the religious leaders or favor the leaders of the people.


text:
Our eyes have become weak in looking for help that did not come. In our watching we have waited for a nation that was not able to save us.


text:
They kept following after our steps so that we could not walk in our streets. Our end came near. Our days were finished, for our end had come.


text:
Those who came after us were faster than the eagles of the sky. They came after us on the mountains. They hid and waited for us in the desert.


text:
The Lord's chosen one, our very breath, was caught in their traps. We had said about him, "Under his shadow we will live among the nations."


text:
Be filled with joy and be glad, O people of Edom, who live in the land of Uz. But the cup will be passed to you also. You will become drunk and your shame will be seen.


text:
The punishment of your sin is completed, O people of Zion. The Lord will not keep you away any longer. But He will punish your sin, Edom. He will let your sins be seen!


text:
The land we received from You has been given over to strangers. Our homes have been given to people from other lands.


text:
They have taken and sinned against the women in Zion, and the young women who have never had a man in the cities of Judah.


text:
On the fifth day of the fourth month in the thirtieth year, while I was by the Chebar River with the Jews who had been taken away from their land, the heavens were opened and I saw God in a special way.


text:
<n>(On the fifth day of the month in the fifth year that King Jehoiachin had been living in a strange land,


text:
the Word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the religious leader, son of Buzi, in the land of the Babylonians by the Chebar River. There the hand of the Lord came upon him.)</n>


text:
I looked and saw a wind storm coming from the north. There was a big cloud with lightning coming from it and with a bright light around it. Inside the fire was something like shining brass,


text:
Under their wings on their four sides were hands like a man's. As for the faces and wings of the four of them,


text:
their wings touched one another. Their faces did not turn when they moved. Each one moved straight ahead.


text:
As for what their faces looked like, each of the four had the face of a man, the face of a lion on the right side, the face of a bull on the left side, and the face of an eagle.


text:
Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above. Each had two wings touching the wings of another, and two covering their bodies.


text:
And each one went straight ahead. Every place where the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went.


text:
Between the living beings there was something that looked like burning coals of fire, like fire lamps moving from side to side among the living beings. The fire was bright, and lightning was coming out of the fire.


text:
As I looked at the living beings, I saw one wheel on the earth beside each of the living beings with its four faces.


text:
The way the wheels were made, they looked like shining chrysolite stone. All four of them looked the same. They were made to look as if one wheel were within another.


text:
When the living beings moved, the wheels moved with them. And when the living beings rose from the earth, the wheels rose also.


text:
Whatever way the spirit would go, they would go that way. And the wheels rose close beside them, for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.


text:
When the living beings moved, they moved. When the beings stood still, they stood still. And when the beings rose up from the earth, the wheels rose close beside them. For the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.


text:
Over the heads of the living beings there was something that look-ed like the sky. It shined like crystal and spread over their heads.


text:
Under this covering their wings were spread out straight, one toward the other. Each one also had two wings covering their bodies on one side and on the other.


text:
When they went, I heard the sound of their wings. They sounded like many waters, like the voice of the All-powerful. They sounded like the noise of an army camp. Whenever they stood still, they let down their wings.


text:
A voice came from above the large covering over their heads. Whenever they stood still, they let down their wings.


text:
Above the large covering that was over their heads there was something that looked like a throne, and looked like it was made of sapphire. Sitting on the throne was what looked like a man.


text:
Then I saw that there was something like shining brass from the center of his body and up to his head. It looked like fire all around within it. And from the center of his body and down to his feet I saw something like fire. There was a bright light shining all around Him.


text:
This light shining around Him looked like the rainbow in the clouds on a day of rain. This was what the shining-greatness of the Lord looked like. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking.


text:
He said, "Son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to sinful people who have turned against Me. They and their fathers have sinned against Me to this very day.


text:
I am sending you to these strong-willed children who show no respect. And you must say to them, 'This is what the Lord God says.'


text:
If they listen or not <n>(for they are sinful people)</n> they will know that a man of God has been among them.


text:
And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or of what they say, even if thistles and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or lose strength of heart by their looks, for they will not obey Me.


text:
"As for you, son of man, listen to what I am telling you. Do not be sinful like these sinful people. Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you."


text:
He held it out in front of me, and it had writing on the front and back. Words of trouble and sorrow were written on it.


text:
Then He said to me, "Son of man, eat what is in front of you. Eat this book, then go and speak to the people of Israel."


text:
And He said to me, "Son of man, eat this book that I give you and fill your stomach with it." So I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.


text:
For you are not being sent to people of strange speech and a hard language, but to the people of Israel.


text:
You are not being sent to many people of strange speech and a hard language whom you cannot understand. If I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you.


text:
But the people of Israel will not listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to Me. All the people of Israel are strong-willed and show no respect.


text:
I have made your forehead harder than the hardest stone. Do not be afraid of them. Do not be afraid of how they look, even if they do not obey Me."


text:
He said to me, "Son of man, take all My words that I say to you into your heart, and hear with your ears.


text:
Then go to the Jews who have been taken away from their land. Go to the sons of your people. And if they listen or not, tell them, 'This is what the Lord God says.' "


text:
Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard a loud sounding voice behind me say, "Great is the shining-greatness of the Lord from His place."


text:
I heard the sound of the wings of the living beings touching one another, and the sound of the wheels beside them. It was a loud rushing sound.


text:
The Spirit lifted me up and took me away. And I went with a bitter and angry spirit. The hand of the Lord was strong upon me.


text:
Then I came to the Jews who had been taken from their land and who lived by the Chebar River at Tel-abib. I sat among them seven days where they were living, and I was filled with fear.


text:
"Son of man, I have chosen you to be a watchman over the people of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from My mouth, tell them of the danger.


text:
If I say to the sinful man, 'You will die for sure,' and you do not tell him of the danger, and try to turn him from his sinful way so that he may live, that sinful man will die in his sin. But you will be guilty for his blood.


text:
But if you tell a sinful man of the danger he is in, and he does not turn from his sins or from his sinful way, then he will die in his sin. But you will have saved yourself.


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Again, if a right and good man turns away from his right and good way and sins, and I put a cause of falling in his way, he will die. Because you have not told him of the danger, he will die in his sin, and the right and good things he has done will not be remembered. But you will be guilty for his blood.


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Yet if you have told the right and good man of the danger of his sinning, and he does not sin, he will live for sure because he listened to you. And you will have saved yourself."


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The hand of the Lord was upon me there, and He said to me, "Get up, go out to the plain, and I will speak to you there."


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So I got up and went out to the plain, and saw the shining-greatness of the Lord standing there. It was like the shining-greatness which I saw by the Chebar River, and I fell on my face.


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Then the Spirit came into me and made me stand on my feet. And He spoke and said to me, "Go, shut yourself up in your house.


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As for you, son of man, they will put ropes on you and tie you up with them, so that you cannot go out among the people.


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And I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you cannot speak. You will not be able to speak sharp words to them, for they will not obey Me.


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But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth, and you will tell them, 'This is what the Lord God says.' He who hears, let him hear. And he who is not willing to hear, let him not be willing. For they are a sinful people.


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"Now, son of man, get a hard clay block. Set it down in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it.


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Then build a battle-wall around it to shut it in, and build a hill of dirt against the wall. Cut down trees and lay them on wheels all around the city, to use for breaking down the walls.


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Then get an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city, and turn your face toward it. It will be shut in, and you will fight a battle against it. This will be something special for the people of Israel to see.


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"Then lie on your left side, and I will lay the sin of the people of Israel upon you. You will be under the weight of their sin for the number of days that you lie on your side.


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I have set a number of days for you which is the same as the number of years of their sin, 390 days. This is how long you must be under the weight of the sin of the people of Israel.


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When you have completed these, you must lie down a second time, but on your right side. And you must be under the weight of the sin of the people of Judah. I have set a time of forty days for you to do this, one day for each year.


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Then you must turn your face toward the battle against Jerusalem with no covering on your arm, and tell what will happen against the city.


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I will tie you up with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, until you have completed the days of your battle.


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"Take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and spelt and put them in one pot, and make them into bread for yourself. Eat it during the 390 days that you lie on your side.


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The food you eat each day will weigh as much as twenty pieces of silver, and will have to last until the next day.


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And the water you drink each day will be enough to fill a bottle. You will drink it from time to time.


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Eat your food as you would barley cakes, making it ready in front of their eyes over a fire burning human waste."


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The Lord said, "In this way the people of Israel will eat unclean food among the nations where I will drive them."


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But I said, "O Lord God! See, I have never been unclean. Since I was young until now, I have never eaten what died of itself or what was torn by wild animals. No unclean meat has ever come into my mouth."


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And He said to me, "Son of man, I am going to take away the bread that is needed in Jerusalem. They will weigh the bread they eat and they will drink water from small cups, and be afraid


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because there will not be enough bread and water. They will look at one another in fear, and waste away in their sin.


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"As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword. Use it to cut the hair from your head and face. Then weigh and divide the hair.


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A third part you must burn in the fire in the center of the city, when the days of the battle are completed. Then take a third part and cut it up with your sword as you move around the city. And a third part you must throw to the wind. For I will pull out a sword behind them.


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Take some more of them and throw them into the fire, and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to all the people of Israel.


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The Lord God says, 'This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the center of the nations, with lands around her.


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But she has turned against My Laws worse than the nations and the lands around her. The people of Jerusalem have turned away from My Laws and have not obeyed them.'


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So the Lord God says, 'You have been more sinful than the nations around you. You have not walked in My Laws or kept them. You have not even kept Laws like the nations around you have. Because you have acted this way,'


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Because of all the things you have done which I hate, I will do with you what I have never done before, and what I will never do again.


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Fathers will eat their sons among you, and sons will eat their fathers. I will punish you and divide you, and spread to every wind those of you who are left.


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You have made My holy place unclean with all your hated objects of worship and sinful ways. So as I live,' says the Lord, 'for sure I will turn away from you. My eye will have no pity and I will punish all of you.


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One third of you will die by disease or be destroyed by hunger among you. A third will be killed by the sword around you. And a third I will spread to every wind, and go after them with a sword.


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'This is how My anger will stop. I will cause My anger to be upon them, and I will be comforted. Then they will know that I, the Lord, have spoken in My jealousy when I have sent My anger upon them.


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You will be a shame, and people will speak against you. You will show people the danger of sinning and fill the nations around you with fear, when I punish you in anger and with angry words. I, the Lord, have spoken.


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I will send hunger and wild animals against you, and they will take away your children. Disease and death will pass through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I, the Lord, have spoken.' "


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"Son of man, turn your face toward the mountains of Israel, and tell what is going to happen against them.


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Say, 'Mountains of Israel, listen to the Word of the Lord God! This is what the Lord God says to the mountains, the hills, the deep and wide valleys: "I Myself am going to bring a sword against you. And I will destroy your high places.


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So your altars will be laid waste. Your altars for special perfume will be broken. And I will kill your people in front of your false gods.


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I will lay the dead bodies of the sons of Israel in front of their false gods, and spread your bones around your altars.


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In every place you live, cities will be laid waste and the high places will be destroyed. Your altars will be laid waste and destroyed. Your false gods will be broken and destroyed. Your altars for special perfume will come to an end.


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"But I will leave some of you alive. For some of you will get away from the sword when you are spread among the lands and nations.


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Then those who get away will remember Me in the nations where they have been taken. They will remember how I have been hurt by their sinful hearts which turned away from Me, and by their sinful eyes which followed after their false gods. And they will hate themselves in their own eyes for the sins they have done, for all their sinful ways.


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Then they will know that I am the Lord. I have not spoken with empty words that I would bring this trouble upon them." '


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"The Lord God says, 'Clap your hands, and step hard with your feet, and say, "It is bad because of all the hated sins of the people of Israel! They will fall by the sword, hunger, and disease.


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He who is far away will die by disease. And he who is near will be killed by the sword. He who stays and is shut in by armies will die by hunger. This is how I will send My anger upon them.


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Then you will know that I am the Lord, when their dead lie among their false gods around their altars. They will lie on every high hill, on all the mountain tops, under every green tree, and under every oak tree with many leaves. Their dead will be in all the places where they burned special perfume to all their false gods.


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I will put out My hand against them in every place they live. I will make the land more of a waste than the desert toward Diblah. Then they will know that I am the Lord." ' "


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"Son of man, this is what the Lord God says to the land of Israel: 'The end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land.


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Now the end is upon you. I will send My anger against you and punish you because of your ways. I will make you pay for all your sinful actions.


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My eye will have no pity on you. And I will not let you go without punishment. I will punish you for your ways, and for the hated sins that are among you. Then you will know that I am the Lord!'


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Your punishment has come upon you, O you who live in the land. The time has come. The day is near. The sound of trouble and not of joy is upon the mountains.


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Now I will soon pour out My anger upon you. I will send My anger against you. I will punish you for your ways and for the hated sins that are among you.


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My eye will show no pity, and I will not let you go without punishment. I will make you pay for your ways, and for the hated sins that are among you. Then you will know that it is I, the Lord, Who punishes you.


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'See, the day! See, it is coming! The time for your punishment has come. The power against you has started to grow. Pride has begun to grow.


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Angry action has grown into a power of sin. None of them will be left. None of their people, none of their riches, or anything of honor, will be left among them.


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The time has come. The day has come. Let not the one who buys have joy, or the one who sells have sorrow. For anger is against all their people.


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For the one who sells will not get back what he has sold as long as both of them live. For the punishment of all their people will not be turned back. Because of their sins, not one of them will keep his life.


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'They have sounded the horn and made everything ready, but no one is going to the battle. For My anger is against all their people.


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The sword is outside, and disease and hunger are inside. He who is in the field will die by the sword. And he who is in the city will be destroyed by disease and hunger.


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Whoever gets away alive will be on the mountains like doves of the valleys. Each of them will be crying in sorrow because of his sin.


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They will dress themselves in cloth made from hair. Much fear will cover them. Shame will be upon all faces, and the hair will be cut from all their heads.


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They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will become an unclean thing. Their silver and gold will not be able to help them in the day of the Lord's anger. They cannot stop their hunger or fill their stomachs with it. For riches have been the cause of their falling into sin.


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They turned the beauty of gold into objects of pride, and made their hated objects of worship with it. So I will make it an unclean thing to them.


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I will give it to the strangers and to the sinful people of the earth as a prize of war, and they will make it sinful.


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I will turn My face from them, and they will make My secret place sinful. Robbers will go into it and make it sinful.


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So I will bring the worst of the nations to take their houses for their own. I will put an end to the pride of the strong ones, and their holy places will become unclean.


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Trouble will come upon trouble, and one story will come after another. They will look for a special dream from a man of God, but the Law will be lost from the religious leader. And wisdom will be lost from the leaders.


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The king will be full of sorrow. The king's son will be covered with fear. And the hands of the people of the land will shake in fear. I will punish them for their ways. I will give them the punishment they have earned. And they will know that I am the Lord.' "


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On the fifth day of the sixth month in the sixth year, I was sitting in my house with the leaders of Judah sitting in front of me. And the hand of the Lord God came upon me there.


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Then I saw what looked like a man. From the center of His body and down to his feet, there was what looked like fire. And from the center of His body and up to his head, there was a bright light which looked like shining brass.


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He put out what looked like a hand and caught me by the hair on my head. Then the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me to see Jerusalem in a special way. He brought me to the north gate of the open space within its walls, and there was the seat of the false god which causes jealousy.


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And I saw that the shining-greatness of the God of Israel was there, like what I had seen in the plain.


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He said to me, "Son of man, look toward the north." So I looked toward the north, and saw that to the north of the altar gate was this false god of jealousy in the doorway.


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And the Spirit said to me, "Son of man, do you see what the people of Israel are doing? Do you see the hated sins that they are doing here to drive Me far from My holy place? But you will see even worse sins."


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And He said to me, "Son of man, now dig through the wall." So I dug through the wall and saw a door.


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So I went in and looked. And I saw that on the wall all around were pictures of every kind of thing which moves along the ground, and wild animals, and hated things, and all the false gods of the people of Israel.


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Standing in front of these pictures were seventy leaders of the people of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them. Each man held a dish in his hand from which the smell of special perfume rose up in a cloud.


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Then He said to me, "Son of man, do you see what the leaders of the people of Israel are doing without anyone seeing them? They are worshiping in a room full of false gods. For they say, 'The Lord does not see us. The Lord has left the land.' "


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Then He brought me to the north gate of the Lord's house. And I saw women sitting there crying for the false god Tammuz.


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He brought me into the open space of the Lord's house. And I saw about twenty-five men at the gate to the house of the Lord, between the porch and the altar. Their backs were toward the Lord's house, and their faces were toward the east. They were bowing toward the east worshiping the sun.


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And He said to me, "Do you see this, son of man? Is it a little thing for the people of Judah to do the hated sins which they have done here? They have filled the land with sinful actions and have made Me angry again and again. See, they are doing what I hate.


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So I will act in My anger. My eye will have no pity, and I will not let any go without punishment. Even if they cry in My ears with a loud voice, I will not listen to them."


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Then I heard Him call out in a loud voice, "Come near, you who punish the city, each with a destroying ax in his hand."


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And I saw six men coming from the upper gate on the north side. Each man had his battle-ax in his hand. Among them was a certain man dressed in linen, with things for writing at his side. And the men went in and stood by the brass altar.


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Then the shining-greatness of the God of Israel went up from the cherub where it had been, to the door of the Lord's house. And He called to the man dressed in linen with the things for writing at his side.


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The Lord said to him, "Go through the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who cry inside themselves over all the hated sins which are being done among them."


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But to the others I heard Him say, "Go through the city after him, and destroy. Do not let your eye have pity. And do not let any sinner go without punishment.


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Kill and destroy old men, young men, young women, little children, and women. But do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at My holy house." So they started with the leaders who were in front of the Lord's house.


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He said to them, "Make the house of worship unclean and fill the open spaces with the dead. Go out!" So they went out and killed the people in the city.


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As they were killing, I alone was left, and I fell on my face and cried out, "It is bad, O Lord God! Are You destroying all the people of Israel who are left, by pouring out Your anger on Jerusalem?"


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Then He said to me, "The sin of the people of Israel and Judah is very, very bad. The land is filled with blood, and the city is full of wrongdoing. For they say, 'The Lord has left the land, and the Lord does not see.'


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But as for Me, My eye will have no pity, and I will not leave any sinner without punishment. I will bring their wrong-doing upon their own heads."


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Then I saw the man dressed in linen, who had the things for writing at his side, come and say, "I have done just as You have told me."


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Then I looked and saw something like a sapphire stone in the open space that was over the cherubim's heads. It looked like a throne above them.


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And the Lord said to the man dressed in linen, "Go in between the wheels under the cherubim. Fill your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim and throw them over the city." And as I watched, he went in.


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Now the cherubim were standing on the right side of the house of the Lord when the man went in. And the cloud filled the open space inside.


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Then the shining-greatness of the Lord went up from above the cherubim to the door of the Lord's house. The house of the Lord was filled with the cloud. And the open space was filled with the bright and shining-greatness of the Lord.


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The sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outside open space. It was like the voice of God All-powerful when He speaks.


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When He told the man dressed in linen, "Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubim," the man went in and stood beside a wheel.


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Then one of the cherubim put out his hand to the fire which was among them. He took some and put it into the hands of the one dressed in linen, who took it and went out.


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Then I looked and saw four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub. The wheels looked like they were made of shining chrysolite stone.


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When they moved, they went in any of their four ways without turning as they went, but followed the way the head was facing without turning as they went.


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And their whole body, their backs, their hands, their wings, and the wheels were full of eyes all around, the wheels belonging to all four of them.


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Each one of the cherubim had four faces. The first face was the face of a cherub. The second face was the face of a man. The third was the face of a lion. And the fourth was the face of an eagle.


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Now when the cherubim moved, the wheels went beside them. And when the cherubim lifted up their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels did not leave their side.


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When the cherubim stood still, the wheels stood still. When they rose up, the wheels rose with them. For the spirit of the living beings was in them.


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Then the shining-greatness of the Lord left the door of the Lord's house and stood over the cherubim.


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When the cherubim left, they lifted their wings and rose up from the earth in front of my eyes, with the wheels beside them. And they stood still at the door of the east gate of the Lord's house. The shining-greatness of the God of Israel was over them.


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These are the living beings that I saw under the God of Israel by the Chebar River, so I knew that they were cherubim.


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The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord's house which faces eastward. There I saw twenty-five men at the door of the gate. Among them I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, leaders of the people.


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Then He said to me, "Son of man, these are the men who make sinful plans and tell others in this city to do what is wrong.


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Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon me, and He said to me, "Tell them, 'This is what the Lord says: "This is what you thought, O people of Israel. For I know the things that come into your mind.


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So the Lord God says, "Your dead whom you have laid in the city are the meat, and this city is the pot. But I will bring you out of it.


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You will be killed by the sword all the way to the land of Israel, so you will know that I am the Lord.


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This city will not be a pot for you, and you will not be the meat inside it. But I will punish you all the way to the land of Israel.


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And you will know that I am the Lord. For you have not walked in my Laws or obeyed them, but have followed the ways of the nations around you." ' "


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While I was saying what was going to happen, Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then I fell on my face and cried out with a loud voice, "It is bad, Lord God! Will You bring a complete end to those of Israel who are left?"


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"Son of man, your brothers, your family, those who were driven out of the land, and all the people of Israel are those of whom the people of Jerusalem have said, 'They have gone far away from the Lord. This land has been given to us for our own.'


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So tell them, 'This is what the Lord God says: "I sent them far away among the nations. I divided them among the countries. But still I was a holy place for them a little while in the countries where they had gone." '


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So tell them, 'This is what the Lord God says: "I will gather you from the nations. I will gather you together out of the countries where you have been divided. And I will give you the land of Israel." '


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I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh.


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Then they will walk in My Laws and keep them, and obey them. They will be My people, and I will be their God.


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But as for those whose hearts go after their hated and sinful things, I will bring their actions upon their own heads," says the Lord God.


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Then the cherubim lifted up their wings with the wheels beside them. And the shining-greatness of the God of Israel was over them.


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The Spirit lifted me up and brought me in a special dream by the Spirit of God to the Jews who had been taken to Babylon. Then the special dream that I had seen left me.


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"Son of man, you live among sinful people. They have eyes to see but do not see, and ears to hear but do not hear. For they are sinful people.


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So, son of man, get your things ready to take with you to another land, and let them see you leave during the day. Let them see you leave to go to another place. It may be that they will understand even if they are sinful people.


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Take your things with you during the day, with them watching you. Take the things you will need for going to another land. Then let them see you go out at evening, like those who go to another land.


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Load your things on your shoulder while they watch, and carry the load out in the dark. Cover your face so that you cannot see the land. For I have made you as something special for the people of Israel to see."


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I did as I was told. During the day I brought out my things that I would need to go to another land. Then in the evening I dug through the wall with my hands. I went out in the dark and carried the load on my shoulder while they watched.


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Tell them, 'This is what the Lord God says: "This word is about the leader in Jerusalem, as well as all the people of Israel who are in it." '


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Tell them, 'I am something special for you to see. As I have done, so it will be done to them. They will be taken to another land and held there.'


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The leader among them will load his things on his shoulder in the dark and go out. A hole will be dug through the wall for him to go through. He will cover his face so that he cannot see the land with his eyes.


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I will spread My net over him, and he will be caught in My trap. I will bring him to Babylon in the land of the Babylonians, yet he will not see it. And he will die there.


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I will divide all his helpers and all his army who are around him to the four winds and have the sword follow them.


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Then they will know that I am the Lord when I divide them among the nations, and spread them among the countries.


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But I will let a few of them get away from the sword, hunger and disease. They will tell about all their sinful ways to the nations where they go. And they will know that I am the Lord."


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Then tell the people of the land, 'This is what the Lord God says about the people of Jerusalem in the land of Israel: "They will be afraid as they eat their bread, and drink their water in fear. For their land will lay waste because of the fighting of all who live in it.


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The cities where people live will be laid waste, and the land will be destroyed. Then you will know that I am the Lord." ' "


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"Son of man, what is this saying you people have about the land of Israel, which says, 'The days are long and every special dream comes to nothing'?


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Tell them, 'The Lord God says, "I will make this saying come to an end, so that they will no longer use it as a saying in Israel.' " But tell them, 'The days are near when all the special dreams from God will come true.


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For I the Lord will speak, and whatever I say will be done. It will no longer be held back. For in your days, O sinful people, I will speak the word and do it,' says the Lord God."


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"Son of man, the people of Israel are saying, 'The special dream he sees will not come to pass for many years. He is speaking of times far in the future.'


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So tell them, 'The Lord God says, "None of My words will be held back any longer. Whatever I say will be done,' " says the Lord God."


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"Son of man, speak against those of Israel who speak false words in My name. Say to those who tell what is going to happen in the future out of their own minds, 'Listen to the Word of the Lord!


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The Lord God says, "It is bad for the foolish people who tell what is going to happen by following their own spirit and have seen nothing.


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You have not gone up to the broken places to build the wall around the people of Israel so that it will stand in the battle on the day of the Lord.


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They have lied and have spoken false words using their secret ways, saying, 'This is what the Lord says,' when the Lord has not sent them. Yet they hope that what they say will come true.


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Did you not see a false dream and tell a lie using your secret ways when you said, 'This is what the Lord says,' when I have not spoken?" ' "


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So the Lord God says: "Because you have spoken false words and seen a lie, I am against you," says the Lord God.


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"My hand will be against those who see false dreams and speak false words. They will have no place in the gathering of My wise people. Their names will not be written down with the people of Israel. And they will not go into the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord God.


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Because they have led My people the wrong way by saying, 'Peace,' when there is no peace, and because, when anyone builds a bad wall, they cover it with whitewash,


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tell those who cover it with whitewash that it will fall! A flood of rain will come, and large hailstones will fall. And a strong wind will break out.


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When the wall has fallen, will you not be asked, 'Where is the covering you used to cover the wall?' "


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So the Lord God says, "I will make a strong wind break out in My anger. There will also be a flood of rain in My anger, and large hailstones to destroy that wall.


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I will break down the wall that you covered with whitewash. I will bring it down to the ground so that its base will be showing. And when it falls, you will be destroyed with it. Then you will know that I am the Lord.


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I will send My anger upon the wall and upon those who have covered it with whitewash. And I will say to you, 'The wall is gone and the ones who covered it are gone.


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There are no more people of Israel who speak false words to Jerusalem in My name, and who see dreams of peace for her when there is no peace,' says the Lord God.


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"Now, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people who are telling what will happen from their own minds. Speak against them,


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and tell them, 'This is what the Lord God says: "It is bad for the women who sew objects with secret powers to wear on their arms, and make coverings for the heads to trap people. Will you go after the lives of My people, but save the lives of others for yourselves?


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You have used Me in a sinful way among My people for hands full of barley and for pieces of bread. You have killed people who should not die, and have kept others alive who should not live, by your lying to My people who listen to lies." ' "


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So the Lord God says, "I am against your objects with secret powers that you wear on your arms with which you trap people like birds. I will tear them from your arms. And I will let the people go that you trap like birds.


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I will also tear off your head-coverings and save My people from you. They will no longer be trapped by your hands. Then you will know that I am the Lord.


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You have made My good people sad because of your lies whom I did not want to hurt. But you have helped the sinful man, so that he does not turn from his sinful way and save his life.


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So you women will no longer see false dreams or use your secret ways to learn the future. I will save My people from your hands. And then you will know that I am the Lord."


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"Son of man, these men have taken false gods into their hearts. They have put in front of their faces the sin which is the cause of their fall. Should I let Myself be asked questions by them at all?


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So speak to them and tell them, 'The Lord God says, "Every man of Israel who has given his heart to false gods and lets them lead him into sin and then comes to the man of God, I the Lord will answer him, the answer that his many false gods should get,


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"So tell the people of Israel, 'The Lord God says, "Be sorry for your sins and turn away from your false gods. Turn your faces away from all your sinful ways.


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If a man of Israel or a stranger living in Israel who turns away from Me and gives his heart to false gods, and worships them, and if he then comes to the man of God to get answers from Me, I the Lord will answer him Myself.


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I will set My face against that man and make him something special to see and to speak against. I will cut him off from among My people. And you will know that I am the Lord.


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But if the man who speaks in My name is given a false answer, it is I, the Lord, Who has caused him to speak. And I will put out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel.


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They will suffer the punishment of their sin. The man who asks the question and the man who speaks to him in My name will both be punished in the same way.


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This is so that the people of Israel may no longer turn away from Me, and no longer make themselves sinful with all their wrong-doing. They will be My people and I will be their God," ' says the Lord God."


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"Son of man, if a country sins against Me by not being faithful, I will put out My hand against it. I will destroy its store of bread, and send hunger against it, and take away both man and animal from it.


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For even if these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job, were in this country, they would save only their own lives by being right and good," says the Lord God.


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"If I sent wild animals to pass through the land to kill its people and destroy it so that no one would go through it because of the wild animals,


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even if these three men were in the land, as I live," says the Lord God, "they could not save their sons or their daughters. They alone would be saved, but the country would be laid waste.


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If I bring a sword against that country and say, 'Let the sword pass through the country and cut off man and animal from it,'


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even if these three men were in the land, as I live," says the Lord God, "they could not save their sons or their daughters. They alone would be saved.


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Or if I send a disease against that country and show My anger by killing, to take away man and animal from it,


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even if Noah, Daniel and Job were in the land, as I live," says the Lord God, "they could not save their son or daughter. They would save only themselves by being right and good.


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"For the Lord God says, 'How much worse will it be when I send my four worst punishments against Jerusalem! I will send the sword, hunger, wild animals, and disease, to take away man and animal from it!


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Yet there will be some people and their children left alive in it who will be brought out. When they come to you, see how sinful they are. Then you will know that all the trouble I brought upon Jerusalem was right.


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It will help you when you see how they act. Then you will know that there was a good reason for everything I did,' says the Lord God."


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Can wood be taken from it to make anything? Or can men take a piece of wood from it on which to hang a pot?


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If it has been put into the fire to burn, and the fire has burned up both of its ends, and the center of it is black from the fire, can it then be used for anything?


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See, if it is not used for anything while it is whole, how much less can it ever be used for anything when the fire has burned it up and it has turned black!


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So the Lord God says, 'Like the wood of the vine among the trees, which I have given to be burned in the fire, so will I give up the people of Jerusalem.


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I will set My face against them. Even if they get away from the fire, the fire will yet destroy them. Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I set My face against them.


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Tell them, 'This is what the Lord God says to Jerusalem: "Your beginning and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite. Your father was an Amorite and your mother was a Hittite.


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On the day you were born the cord between you and your mother was not cut. You were not washed with water to make you clean. You were not rubbed with salt or even covered with cloth.


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No one looked with pity on you or did any of these things for you out of loving-kindness. Instead you were thrown out into the open field, for you were hated on the day you were born.


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"When I passed by you and saw you rolling about in your blood, I said to you in your blood, 'Live!' Yes, I said to you while you were in your blood, 'Live!'


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I made you become many, like plants of the field. Then you grew up and became tall. You grew into a beautiful woman. You had breasts and your hair had grown. Yet you were not covered and your body could be seen.


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Then I passed by you and saw that you were old enough for love. So I spread my clothing over you and covered your body. I gave you my promise and made an agreement with you so that you became Mine," says the Lord God.


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I dressed you with beautiful cloth, and put leather shoes on your feet. I dressed you with fine linen and covered you with silk.


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So you were dressed with gold and silver. Your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and beautiful cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. So you were very beautiful, and you became a queen.


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Your name became known among the nations because of your beauty. For it was perfect because of My shining-greatness which I had given to you," says the Lord God.


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"But you trusted in your beauty. Because your name was well-known, you acted like a woman who sells the use of her body. And you did sex sins with anyone who passed by.


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You took some of your clothes of many colors and made for yourself places of worship. There you acted like a woman who sells the use of her body. Such things should never happen or come to pass.


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You also took your objects of beauty made of My gold and silver, which I had given you. And you used them to make things that looked like men, that you might play with them as a woman who sells the use of her body.


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Then you took your beautiful cloth and covered them, and set My oil and My special perfume in front of them.


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You also set in front of them My bread which I gave you, the fine flour, oil and honey I gave you to eat. You gave it all to them as a special perfume. So it was," says the Lord God.


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"You even took your sons and daughters whom you had given birth for Me, and gave them to the false gods to be destroyed. Were your sex sins too little?


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And in all your hated acts and sex sins you did not remember the days when you were young. You did not remember when you were without clothing or covering, and when you rolled about in your blood.


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You built yourself a high place at the beginning of every street and made your beauty a hated thing. You gave yourself to anyone who passed by, to make your sex sins many.


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You also gave the use of your body to the Egyptians, your neighbors who have much desire for sex sins. And you sinned many times to make Me angry.


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So I have raised My hand to punish you and have made your share smaller. I have given you over to the desire of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your sinful actions.


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You also gave the use of your body to the Assyrians because you had not had enough. Yes, you even gave the use of your body to them and still thought you had not had enough.


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You did many sex sins with Babylon, the land of those who trade. Yet even this was not enough for you.


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"How sinful your heart is," says the Lord God, "that you do all these things, the actions of a sinful woman, and show no shame.


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You built your places of worship at the beginning of every street and made your high place at every crossing. But you were not like a woman who sells the use of her body, because you did not want pay.


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Men give gifts to all women who sell the use of their body. But you give your gifts to all your lovers. You pay them to come to you from everywhere for your sex sins.


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You are different from other women in your sex sins. You go after men; they do not come to you. You pay men instead of them giving pay to you. Yes, you are different."


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The Lord God says, "Your shame was poured out and your clothing was taken off because of your sex sins with your lovers and with all your hated false gods. And you killed your children and gave them to false gods. Because of these things,


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I will gather all your lovers who pleased you. I will gather all those whom you loved and all those whom you hated. I will gather them against you from every side, and take off your covering so that they may see all your shame.


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I will punish you as I punish women who are not faithful in marriage, or women who kill. I will do it in My anger and jealousy.


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And I will give you over to your lovers. They will tear down your places of worship and destroy your high places. They will take all of your clothes and your beautiful objects, and will leave you without any covering.


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They will bring up a group of people against you, and they will kill you with stones and cut you to pieces with their swords.


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They will burn your houses with fire and punish you as many women watch. Then I will stop you from acting like a woman who sells the use of her body, and you will no longer pay your lovers.


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Then I will take away My anger from you, and My jealousy will leave you. I will be at peace, and will not be angry any more.


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You have not remembered the days when you were young, but have made Me angry with all these things. So I will punish you for what you have done," says the Lord God. "Did you not add these sex sins to all your other hated sins?


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You are the daughter of your mother, who hated her husband and her children. You are also a sister of your sisters who hated their husbands and children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father was an Amorite.


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Your older sister is Samaria, who lives north of you with her daughters. And your younger sister is Sodom, who lives south of you with her daughters.


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Yet you have walked in their ways and done their hated acts. As if that were too little, you acted worse in all your ways than they.


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As I live," says the Lord God, "your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done.


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Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had pride, much food, and too much rest, but she did not help those who were poor and in need.


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Samaria has not done half of your sins. You have done more sins than they. So you have made your sisters look right and good by all the hated sins which you have done.


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Take your shame upon you, for you have made Me show favor to them in their punishment. Because of your sins in which you acted worse than they, they are more in the right than you. So then be ashamed and take your shame upon you, for you have made your sisters look right and good.


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"I will return them to their land, both Sodom and her daughters, and Samaria and her daughters. With them I will return you to your land.


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This is so you will take your shame upon you, and feel ashamed for all that you have done in becoming a comfort to them.


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Your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will return to the land they had before. And you with your daughters will return to your land also.


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before your sinful acts were seen. Now you have become like her, an object of shame for the daughters of Edom and all her neighbors, and for the daughters of the Philistines. All those around you who hate you now look on you with shame.


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For the Lord God says, "I will do with you as you have done, because you have hated your promise by breaking the agreement.


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"But I will remember My agreement which I made with you when you were young. And I will make an agreement with you that lasts forever.


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Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, both your older one and younger one. I will give them to you as daughters, but not because of your agreement with Me.


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Then you will remember and be ashamed. You will never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I have forgiven you for all that you have done," says the Lord God.


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Tell them, 'The Lord God says, "A large eagle with big wings and long feathers of many colors came to Lebanon and took away the top of the cedar tree.


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He broke off the very top of its young branches and brought it to a land of traders. He placed it in a city of people who buy and sell.


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Then he took some of the seed of the land and planted it in good ground for growing. He planted it like a willow tree where there was much water to make it grow.


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And it grew and became a low spreading vine. Its branches grew toward him, but its roots stayed under it. So it became a vine, and branches and leaves grew out from it.


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"But there was another large eagle with big wings and many feathers. And the vine turned its roots and branches toward him from where it was planted, that he might water it.


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It had been planted in good ground beside much water, that it might grow branches and give fruit and become a beautiful vine." '


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Tell them, 'The Lord God says, "Will it live and grow? Will not its roots be pulled up and its fruit be cut off so that its leaves that started to grow dry up? It will not take a strong arm or many people to pull it up by the roots.


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Even if it is planted again, will it live and grow? Will it not dry up when the east wind hits it? Will it not dry up in the place where it grew?" ' "


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"Now tell these sinful people, 'Do you not know what these things mean?' Tell them, 'See, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem. He took its king and the king's sons, and brought them back with him to Babylon.


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He took one of the king's family and made an agreement with him. And he made him promise to keep it. He also took away the strong leaders of the land,


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so that the nation would be under his power and not become strong again. It could only last by keeping his agreement.


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But the king of Judah turned against him by sending his men to Egypt to get horses and a large army for him. Will it go well for him? Can he get away with that? Can he break the agreement and not be punished?


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As I live,' says the Lord God, 'he will die in the land of the king who put him on the throne, whose promise he hated, and whose agreement he broke. He will die in Babylon.


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Pharaoh with his powerful army of many men will not help him in the war, when battle-walls are put up so that many people are killed.


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He hated the promise and broke the agreement. Because he had given his promise and then did all these things, he will not get away from being punished.' "


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So the Lord God says, "As I live, I will punish him for hating My promise and for breaking My agreement.


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I will spread My net over him and he will be caught in My trap. Then I will bring him to Babylon and punish him there for not being faithful to Me.


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And all the best of his soldiers will be killed by the sword, and those left alive will be thrown to the wind. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken."


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The Lord God says, "I will also take a young branch from the very top of the cedar tree and plant it. I will break a soft new one from the very top of its young branches, and plant it on a high mountain.


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I will plant it on the high mountain of Israel. It will grow branches and give fruit and become a beautiful cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it. They will nest in the shadow of its branches.


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Then all the trees of the field will know that I am the Lord. I bring down the high tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree become green. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do what I say."


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"What do you mean by using this saying about the land of Israel: 'The fathers eat the sour grapes, but the children get the sour taste'?


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For all souls belong to Me. Both the soul of the father and the soul of the son are Mine. The soul who sins will die.


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he does not eat at the altars on the mountains or look up to the false gods of Israel. He does not sin with his neighbor's wife or go near a woman during the time she is unclean.


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He does not make it hard for anyone. He keeps his promise to pay back what he owes. He does not steal, but gives his bread to the hungry, and gives clothing to those who have none.


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He does not make others pay back more than they owe him. He keeps away from sin, and is an honest judge when men argue.


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He walks in My Laws and is careful to obey them. This man is right and good, and will live for sure," says the Lord God.


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that the father never did. He eats at the altars on the mountains, and sins with his neighbor's wife.


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He makes it hard for the poor and those in need, and he steals. He does not keep his promise to pay back what he owes. He looks up to false gods, and does sinful acts.


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And he makes people pay back more than they owe him. Will this man live? He will not live! He has done all these sinful acts, and for sure he will die. He will be guilty for his own death.


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"Now this man may have a son who has seen all the sins his father has done, but does not do the same.


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He does not eat at the altars on the mountains or look to the false gods of Israel. He does not sin with his neighbor's wife,


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or make it hard for anyone. He does not keep what another man has given him in trust for a promise. He does not steal, but he gives his bread to the hungry and clothing to those who have none.


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He keeps away from sin. He does not make a person pay back more than he owes him. But he walks in My Laws and obeys them. This man will not die for his father's sin. He will live for sure.


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As for his father, because he used his power to rob his brother, and did what was wrong among his people, he will die for his sin.


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"Yet you say, 'Why should the son not suffer for the father's sin?' Since the son has done what is right and good, and has kept and obeyed all My Laws, he will live for sure.


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The person who sins will die. The son will not be punished for the father's sin. And the father will not be punished for the son's sin. The right and good man will receive good, and the sinful man will suffer for his sin.


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"But if the sinful man turns from all the sins he has done and obeys all My Laws and does what is right and good, he will live for sure. He will not die.


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None of the sins he has done will be remembered against him. Because of the right and good things he has done, he will live.


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Am I pleased with the death of a sinful man?" says the Lord God. "No, instead I would like him to turn from his sinful ways and live.


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"But when a right and good man turns away from doing what is right and good, and sins, doing all the bad things that a sinful man does, will he live? None of the right and good things he has done will be remembered. Because he has not been faithful and has sinned, he will die.


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Yet you say, 'The Lord is not doing what is right.' Listen, O people of Israel! Is My way not right? Is it not your ways that are not right?


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When a right and good man turns away from doing what is right and good, and sins, and dies because of it, he dies because of the sin he has done.


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But when a sinful man turns away from his sin and does what is right and good, he will save his life.


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Because he thought about it and turned away from all the sins he had done, he will live for sure. He will not die.


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But the people of Israel say, 'The Lord is not doing what is right.' Are My ways not right, O people of Israel? Is it not your ways that are not right?


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"So I will judge you, O people of Israel, each of you by what he has done," says the Lord God. "Be sorry for all your sins and turn away from them, so sin will not destroy you.


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Turn away from all the sins you have done, and get a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O people of Israel?


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For I am not pleased with the death of anyone who dies," says the Lord God. "So be sorry for your sins and turn away from them, and live."


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and say: 'What was your mother? A female lion among lions! She lay down with young lions. She raised her young ones.


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She brought up one of her little ones, and he became a lion. He learned to catch his food. He ate men.


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The nations heard about him, and he was caught in their trap. And they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt.


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Your mother waited until she saw that her hope was lost. Then she took another of her little ones and made him a young lion.


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He walked up and down among the lions. He became a young lion and learned to catch his food. He ate men.


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He wrecked their strong towers and destroyed their cities. The land and all who were in it were filled with fear because of the loud noise he made.


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Then the nations came against him from their lands all around. They spread their net over him, and he was caught in their trap.


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They put him in a prison with chains and brought him to the king of Babylon. They put him in prison so that his voice would never be heard again on the mountains of Israel.


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Your mother was like a vine in your grape-field, planted by the water. It gave much fruit and was full of branches because there was much water.


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Its branches were strong enough to be made into sticks held by rulers to show their power. It grew as high as the clouds. Everyone saw how high it was and that it had many branches.


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But it was pulled up by the roots in anger and thrown down to the ground. The east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong branch was torn off so that it dried up. And fire destroyed it.


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Fire has spread from its largest branch and has destroyed its young branches and its fruit. No strong branch is left on it to be made into a stick for a ruler.' This is a song of sorrow, and is to be used as a death song."


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On the tenth day of the fifth month in the seventh year, some of the leaders of Israel came to ask the Lord's will, and they sat down in front of me.


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"Son of man, speak to the leaders of Israel. Tell them, 'The Lord God says, "Have you come to ask My will? As I live," says the Lord God, "I will not let you ask me anything." '


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Will you judge them, son of man? Will you judge them? Make known to them the sinful things their fathers did.


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Tell them, 'The Lord God says, "On the day I chose Israel, I raised My hand and made a promise to the children of the family of Jacob and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt. I made a promise to them, saying, 'I am the Lord your God.'


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On that day I promised to bring them out of the land of Egypt to a land I had chosen for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands.


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I said to them, 'Each of you get rid of the sinful things you have looked upon. Do not make yourselves sinful with the false gods of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.'


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But they turned against Me and would not listen to Me. They did not get rid of the sinful things they had looked upon. And they did not turn away from the false gods of Egypt. "Then I said that I would be angry with them. I would send My anger against them in the land of Egypt.


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But I acted for the good of My name. I did what would keep My name clean in the eyes of the nations they lived among, in whose eyes I made Myself known to them by bringing My people out of Egypt.


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I gave them My Days of Rest to be something special to see between Me and them, so they would know that I am the Lord Who makes them holy.


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But the people of Israel turned against Me in the desert. They did not obey My Laws, and they turned away from My Words which bring life to anyone who obeys them. They made My Days of Rest very sinful. Then I said that I would be angry with them in the desert and destroy them.


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But I acted for the good of My name. I did what would keep My name clean in the eyes of the nations who saw Me bring them out of Egypt.


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So I promised them in the desert that I would not bring them into the land I had given them, the land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands.


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This was because they turned away from My Laws and did not obey My Words. They did not keep My Days of Rest holy, for they followed after their false gods with all their heart.


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Yet I looked on them with pity and did not destroy them. I did not make an end of them in the desert.


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"And I said to their children in the desert, 'Do not keep the laws of your fathers, or follow their ways, or make yourselves sinful with their false gods.


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Keep My Days of Rest holy, and they will be something special to see between Me and you. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.'


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But the children turned against Me. They did not keep My Laws or obey My Words which bring life to anyone who obeys them. They did not keep My Days of Rest holy. So I said I would be angry with them. I would send My anger against them in the desert.


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But I held My hand back, and acted for the good of My name, to keep it clean in the eyes of the nations who saw Me bring them out of Egypt.


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And I promised them in the desert that I would send them everywhere among the nations and spread them out among the lands.


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This is because they had not obeyed My Words. They had turned away from My Laws and did not keep My Days of Rest holy. And they worshiped the false gods of their fathers.


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And I let them become sinful because of their gifts. I let them give all their first-born sons as burnt gifts. This was to punish them and show them that I am the Lord." '


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"So, son of man, speak to the people of Israel. Tell them, 'The Lord God says, "This is another way that your fathers have brought shame to My name by not being faithful to Me.


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I brought them into the land I promised to give them. And when they saw all the high hills and trees with many leaves, they gave their gifts on all of them and made Me angry. They also burned special perfume there, and poured out their drink gifts.


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So tell the people of Israel, 'The Lord God says, "Will you make yourselves sinful in the same way your fathers did, and go after their sinful things?


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When you give your gifts and make your sons go through the fire, you are making yourselves sinful with all your false gods to this day. Am I to let you question Me, O people of Israel? As I live," says the Lord God, "I will not let you ask Me anything.


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You say, 'We will be like the nations, like the people of the lands, who serve wood and stone.' But what you have in mind will never happen.


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"As I live," says the Lord God, "I will be King over you, and will rule with a powerful hand, a strong arm, and with anger.


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I will bring you out of the nations and countries where you have been divided. I will gather you together with a powerful hand, a strong arm, and with anger.


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I will take away from among you all those who sin or who turn against Me. I will bring them out of the land where they are living, but they will not go into the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord.


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As for you, O people of Israel," the Lord God says, "Go and serve your false gods, every one of you, now and later if you will not listen to Me. Do not ever again bring shame to My holy name with your gifts and your false gods.


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For on My holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel," says the Lord God, "all the people of Israel will serve Me in the land. There I will receive them. And there I will ask for the best of your gifts, with all your holy things.


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I will receive you as the pleasing smell of special perfume, when I bring you out of the nations and gather you from the different lands where you have been sent. And I will prove Myself holy among you in the eyes of the nations.


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Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I bring you into the land of Israel, the land I promised to give to your fathers.


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There you will remember your ways and all the bad things you did to make yourselves sinful. And you will hate yourselves in your own eyes for all the sinful things you have done.


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You will know that I am the Lord when I honor My name by being good to you even though your ways have been sinful and you have done many sinful things, O people of Israel," says the Lord God.' "


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"Son of man, look toward the south. And speak out against the south and against the land of many trees in the Negev.


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Say to the land of trees in the Negev, 'Hear the Word of the Lord. The Lord God says, "See, I am about to start a fire that will destroy all of your green trees and all of your dry trees. The hot fire will not be put out, and every face from south to north will be burned by it.


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"Son of man, look toward Jerusalem and speak against the holy places. Speak against the land of Israel.


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Tell the land of Israel, 'The Lord says, "See, I am against you. I will take My sword out of its holder and destroy from you both the good and the sinful.


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Because I will destroy from you both the good and the sinful, My sword will go out against everyone from south to north.


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Then all people will know that I, the Lord, have taken out My sword. It will not be put back into its holder again." '


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And when they ask you, 'Why are you crying?' tell them, 'Because of the news that is coming, every heart will melt and all hands will be weak. Every spirit will lose its strength, and all knees will be as weak as water. It is coming, and it will happen,' says the Lord God."


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It is made sharp to kill, and shined to look like lightning! Shall we have joy? It hates the special stick of My son, as it does all wood.


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The sword is being shined to make it ready to use. It is made sharp and shiny, to be put into the hand of the killer.


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Cry out in a loud voice, son of man, for the sword is against My people. It is against all the leaders of Israel. They are going to be killed with My people, so beat your upper leg in sorrow.


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They will be put to the test. If they do not turn from their sinful ways, these things will happen," says the Lord God.'


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"So speak in My name, son of man, and clap your hands together. Let the sword that kills hit two, even three times. It is the sword that kills and is all around them,


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so that they will lose their strength of heart, and many will be killed at all their gates. I have sent the shining sword. It is made to shine like lightning, and is ready to kill.


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"Son of man, make two ways for the king of Babylon to come with his sword. Both of them will come from the same land. Mark the way where the road divides and goes to the city.


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Mark a way for the sword to go to Rabbah of the Ammonites, and to Judah into the strong city of Jerusalem.


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For the king of Babylon stands where the road divides in two to use strange secret powers. He shakes the arrows and speaks with false gods, and looks at the liver.


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In his right hand is the arrow marked for Jerusalem. It tells him to set up objects to knock down the city walls, to call out the battle cry, to set up objects to break down the gates, and to build a wall of dirt and battle towers.


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The people who promised to obey him will not believe this. But he will make them remember their guilt so that they may be taken.


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So the Lord God says, 'You have made your guilt to be remembered. Your sins are no longer covered, and everyone has seen the bad things you have done and remembers them. So you will be taken in battle.


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And you, O bad and sinful one, the leader of Israel, the day of your punishment has come. Your sin will end.'


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The Lord God says, 'Take off the head-covering. Take off the crown. Things will not stay as they are. Honor that which is low. And bring down that which is honored.


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A waste, a waste. I will lay the city waste. It will be no more, until He comes whose right it is, and I will give it to Him.'


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"And you, son of man, speak in My name and tell them, 'This is what the Lord God says about the sons of Ammon and about their shame.' Tell them, 'A sword is pulled out ready to kill! It is made to shine like lightning!


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Even with the false dreams about you, and the lies spoken about you by using secret ways, you will be laid on the necks of the sinful who are killed, whose day has come for their last punishment.


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Put your sword back into its holder. I will punish you in the place where you were made, in the land of your birth.


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I will be angry with you. I will blow on you with the fire of My anger. And I will give you over to men who show no pity, who have been taught to destroy.


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You will be destroyed by fire. You will be killed in your land, and you will not be remembered. For I, the Lord, have spoken.' "


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"Son of man, will you judge? Will you judge this city of blood? Then tell the people about all their sinful acts.


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Tell them, 'The Lord God says, "O city, because you have killed your own people and have made yourselves false gods to add to your sins, your time will come!


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You have become guilty by killing your people, and sinful by the false gods you have made. You have brought the day of your punishment near. The end of your years has come. So I have made you a shame to the nations. All the countries laugh at you.


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They have not honored father and mother within you. They have made it hard for the stranger living among you. They have done wrong to those in you who have lost their father or husband.


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There are men in you who have lied about others to cause them to be put to death. Some have eaten at the altars on the mountains, and have done sex sins there.


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Men have done sex sins with their fathers' wives. Men have put women to shame during their time of the month when they are unclean.


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One has done sex sins with his neighbor's wife. Another has done sex sins with his daughter-in-law. And another has put his own sister to shame, his father's daughter.


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In you they have taken pay to kill people. You have made others pay back more than they owe you. You have hurt your neighbors by making it hard for them to pay you. And you have forgotten Me," says the Lord God.


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"I will bring My hand down hard upon the money you have made by your sinful ways, and for the blood of those you have killed among you.


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Can your strength of heart last? Or can your hands be strong, in the days that I punish you? I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do what I say.


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I will divide you among the nations and spread you out through the lands. I will take away from you all that is unclean.


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"Son of man, the people of Israel have become waste to Me. They are like brass, tin, iron, and lead in the fire and have become waste that is left after silver has gone through the fire.


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So the Lord God says, 'Because you have all become waste, I am going to gather you together in Jerusalem.


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As men gather silver and brass and iron and lead and tin into the stove to blow fire on it and melt it, so I will gather you in My anger. I will put you in the city and melt you.


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As silver is melted in the hot stove, so you will be melted in Jerusalem. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out My anger upon you.' "


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Israel's false religious leaders are making plans within her. They are like a lion making noise over the food it has killed. They have taken human lives and also riches and things of much worth. They have made many women in Israel lose their husbands.


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Her religious leaders have broken My Law, and have made My holy things unclean. It makes no difference to them if something is holy or unclean. They have not taught the difference between what is clean and unclean. They hide their eyes from My Days of Rest, and I am not honored among them.


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Her leaders are like wolves tearing apart the animals they have killed. They kill and destroy lives to get things by doing wrong.


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Her men who speak in My name have covered these sins with whitewash for the people. They see false dreams and lie to them using their secret ways, saying, 'This is what the Lord God says,' when the Lord has not spoken.


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The people of the land have made it hard for others and have stolen. They have done wrong to the poor and those in need. And they have made it hard for the stranger who lives among them, taking away his rights.


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I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before Me in the place where it is broken, to stop Me from destroying the land, but I found no one.


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So I have become angry with them. I have destroyed them with the fire of My anger. I am punishing them for what they have done," says the Lord God.


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They sold the use of their bodies in Egypt, and did so when they were young. Their breasts were lain upon in that land. Their breasts, which had never before been held by a man, were held.


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The name of the older sister was Oholah, and her younger sister was Oholibah. They became Mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.


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"Oholah sold the use of her body while she was Mine. She was full of desire for her lovers, the Assyrians who lived near her


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who were dressed in purple. They were rulers and leaders, all of them good-looking young men who rode on horses.


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She gave her body to them for sex. They were all the best men of Assyria. And she also sinned by worshiping the false gods of all the men she desired.


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She did not turn away from her sex sins she had begun in Egypt. Men had lain with her since she was young. They had held her young breasts and used her to fill their desire.


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They took off her clothes. They took her sons and daughters. But they killed her with the sword. So she became a saying among women, because she was punished.


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"Her sister Oholibah saw this, but she was more sinful in her desire for sex than Oholah. Her sex sins were worse than those of her sister.


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She wanted to have the Assyrians, rulers and leaders, men who were well dressed, those who rode on horses, all those good looking young men.


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But she did even more sex sins. She saw pictures of men on the wall, pictures of Babylonians drawn in bright red.


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They had belts around them, and flowing head-coverings. All of them looked like Babylonian captains who were born in Chaldea.


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The Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love. They made her sinful with their desire. And after she had had sex with them, she became sick of them.


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When she let her sins and her body be seen, I turned away from her in anger, as I had turned from her sister.


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Yet she did even more sex sins. She remembered when she was young, when she sold the use of her body in the land of Egypt.


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She was full of desire for lovers whose flesh was like those of donkeys, and whose flow was like that of horses.


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Oholibah, you were filled with desire for the sex sins you did when you were young, when the Egyptians held your breasts.


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"So, Oholibah, the Lord God says, 'I will bring your lovers against you, those you turned away from. I will bring them against you from every side:


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Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, Shoa, Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, good looking young men, all of them rulers, leaders, captains, and men who are well-known, all of them riding on horses.


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They will come against you from the north, with war-wagons and an army of people. They will come against you on every side with battlecoverings and head-coverings. And I will let them punish you. They will punish you in their own way.


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Because of My jealous anger, I will let them act toward you in anger. They will cut off your nose and ears, and any people who are left will be killed by the sword. They will take your sons and daughters, and any yet left will be burned in the fire.


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So I will put an end to the sex sins you brought from the land of Egypt. You will never again look at these things with desire or remember Egypt.'


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And because they hate you, they will take away everything you own and leave you without clothing. Then your body without clothes will be seen as a sinful woman.


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These things will be done to you because you have sold the use of your body to the nations, and because you have made yourself sinful with their false gods.


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The Lord God says, 'You will drink your sister's cup, which is deep and wide. You will be laughed at and made fun of, for it holds much.


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You will become drunk and filled with sorrow, with the cup of fear and waste, with the cup of your sister Samaria.


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You will drink it until it is empty. Then you will chew its pieces and tear your breasts, for I have spoken,' says the Lord God.


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So the Lord God says, 'Because you have forgotten Me and put Me behind your back, now suffer the punishment of your sex sins.' "


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The Lord said to me, "Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Make them know their sinful acts.


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For they have not been faithful to Me, and blood is on their hands. They have left Me for their false gods. And they gave their sons to these false gods as burnt gifts, the sons they had given to Me at birth.


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That is not all they did. At that same time they have not kept My holy place and My Days of Rest holy.


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When they had killed their children for their false gods, they went into My holy place on the same day to make it unclean. This is what they did within My house.


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They even sent for men who came from far away. And when they came, you washed yourselves, colored your eyes, and put on beautiful objects for them.


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You sat on a beautiful seat with a table made ready in front of it on which you had set My special perfume and My oil.


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The sound of a group free of care was around you. Men who drank too much were brought from the desert with men who were not important. They put beautiful objects on the women's hands and beautiful crowns on their heads.


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Then I said about the one who was worn out by sex sins, 'Will they now lie with her when she is this way?'


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But they went in to her as they would go in to a woman who sells the use of her body. So they went in to Oholah and Oholibah, the sinful women.


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But men who are right and good will punish them as women are punished who do sex sins and kill, because they are sinful women and blood is on their hands.


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The group will kill them with stones and with swords. They will kill their sons and daughters and burn down their houses.


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So I will put an end to sex sins in the land, that all women will learn of the danger and not sin as you have done.


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You will suffer the penalty for your sex sins and for worshiping your false gods. Then you will know that I am the Lord God.' "


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"Son of man, put down in writing this day, this very day. The king of Babylon has shut Jerusalem in with his army this very day.


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And tell a picture-story to these sinful people of Israel. Tell them, 'The Lord God says, "Put the pot on the fire. Put it on, and pour water in it.


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Take the best of the flock. Put more and more wood under the pot to make it boil, and boil the bones in it."


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'For the Lord God says, "It is bad for the city of blood, for the rusted pot whose rust has not been cleaned out of it! Take the pieces of meat out of it without choosing them.


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For the blood of the city has been poured on the rock. It was not poured on the ground where the dust would cover it.


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I have put the blood on the rock where it could not be covered, so that it would cause anger and punishment."


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Put on more and more wood, and make the fire burn. Boil the meat well. Mix in the spices, and let the bones be burned up.


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Now set the empty pot on the coals until it becomes hot and its brass becomes bright with the heat. Then what is not clean in it will melt away. Its rust will be destroyed.


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It is sin that makes you unclean. I have tried to make you clean, but you would not be made clean from your sins. So you will not be clean again until My anger against you is finished.


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I, the Lord, have spoken. The time has come for Me to act. I will not hold back, I will not pity, and I will not be sorry. I will punish you for your ways and for what you have done," says the Lord God.' "


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"Son of man, with one blow I am about to take away from you the desire of your eyes. But do not have sorrow or loud crying or any tears.


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Cry inside yourself. Do not show sorrow for the dead. Put your head-covering on. Put your shoes on your feet. Do not cover your face or eat the bread of those in sorrow."


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So I spoke to the people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died. The next morning I did as I was told.


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'Tell the people of Israel, "The Lord God says, 'I am about to let sin fill My holy place, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and the happiness of your soul. And your sons and daughters you have left behind will be killed by the sword.


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Your heads will be covered and your shoes will be on your feet. You will not have sorrow or cry. But you will waste away in your sins and cry in pain to one another.


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So Ezekiel will be something special for you to see. You will do just as he has done. When this happens, you will know that I am the Lord God.' "


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'Son of man, I will take away their strong-place that was their joy and pride, the desire of their eyes and the things their hearts wanted most. And I will take away their sons and their daughters.


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That same day your mouth will be opened. You will speak with him and no longer be quiet. So you will be something special for them to see, and they will know that I am the Lord.' "


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Tell them, 'Hear the Word of the Lord God! The Lord God says, "Because you were happy when My holy place was made unclean, and when the land of Israel was made waste, and when the people of Judah were taken away,


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I am going to give you to the people of the east. They will put up their tents among you and live among you. They will eat your fruit and drink your milk.


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I will turn the city of Rabbah into a field for camels, and Ammon into a resting place for flocks. Then you will know that I am the Lord."


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For the Lord God says, "Because you have clapped your hands and crushed under your feet and showed your joy because of your hate for Israel,


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I have put out My hand against you. I will give you away to the nations. And I will destroy you from the nations and from the lands. Then you will know that I am the Lord."


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I will lay waste the side of Moab, beginning with these cities there, Beth-jeshimoth, Baalmeon, and Kiriathaim, the best of the country.


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I will give it to the people of the east, as I did with Ammon, so that the Ammonites will not be remembered among the nations.


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'The Lord God says, "Because Edom has fought against Judah in its anger, and has become very guilty by doing so,"


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the Lord God says, "I will put out My hand against Edom and kill its men and their animals. I will destroy it and they will fall by the sword from Teman to Dedan.


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I will punish Edom by the hand of My people Israel. They will act in My anger against Edom, and Edom will know My anger," says the Lord God.


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'The Lord God says, "Because the Philistines have fought to destroy Judah with the lasting anger that is in their hearts,"


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the Lord God says, "I will put out My hand against the Philistines. And I will destroy the Cherethites and those left beside the sea.


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"Son of man, Tyre has said this about Jerusalem, 'O, the gate to the nations is broken. It has opened to me. I will do well, now that she is laid waste.'


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So the Lord God says, 'I am against you, O Tyre. And I will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves.


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They will destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers. Then I will clean away what is left from her and make her nothing but rock.


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She will be a place to spread fish nets out in the sea, for I have spoken,' says the Lord God. 'The nations will take her riches.


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And her villages on the land across the sea from her will be destroyed by the sword. Then they will know that I am the Lord.' "


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For the Lord God says, "I will bring Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, against Tyre from the north. He will come with horses, war-wagons, horsemen, and a large army.


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And he will kill with the sword those in your villages. He will build battle-walls around you. He will build up earth so they can go over your walls. He will build walls and make battle-coverings around you.


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He will roll down large objects to knock down your walls, and will break down your towers with axes.


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There will be so many horses that you will be covered by their dust. Your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen and wheels and warwagons, when he comes through your gates as men come into a city that has been broken open.


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The feet of his horses will run all over your streets. He will kill your people with the sword, and your strong pillars will fall to the ground.


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They will take your riches and good things as prizes of war. They will break down your walls and destroy your beautiful houses. And they will throw your stones and wood into the sea.


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I will make you nothing but rock. You will be a place for nets to be spread. You will never be built again, for I the Lord have spoken," says the Lord God.


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The Lord God says to Tyre, "Will not the lands beside the sea shake at the sound of your fall, when those who have been hurt cry in pain, when your people are killed?


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Then all the leaders of the sea will step down from their thrones and take off their beautiful clothing. They will clothe themselves with fear. They will sit on the ground and not be able to stop shaking, full of fear and wonder because of you.


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They will cry in sorrow for you and say, 'How you have been destroyed from the seas, O well-known city where many people once lived! You were powerful on the sea. You and all your people who lived here were filled with fear.


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Now the islands shake in fear on the day of your fall. Yes, the lands which are by the sea are afraid because of how you are destroyed.' "


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The Lord God says, "I will lay waste your city and make you like a destroyed city where no one lives. I will bring up the deep sea over you, and the many waters will cover you.


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Then I will send you down with those who go down to the grave, to the people of long ago. I will make you stay in the lower parts of the earth, like in waste places of long ago, with those who go down to the grave. So you will not have people living in you, and you will not have a place in the land of the living.


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I will fill you with fear and destroy you. People will look for you, but you will never be found again," says the Lord God.


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Say to Tyre, whose people live at the gateway to the sea and trade with people from many lands, 'The Lord God says, "O Tyre, you have said, 'I am perfect in beauty.'


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They made your pieces of wood from the fir trees from Senir. They made the wood that holds your sail out of a cedar from Lebanon.


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They made your oars out of oak trees from Bashan. They made your floor of ivory and boxwood from the land of Cyprus.


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Your sail was made of fine and beautiful linen from Egypt, to show all people who you are. Your covering was made of blue and purple cloth from the land of Elishah.


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The leaders and wise men of Gebal were with you, putting tar where it was needed to keep the water out. All the ships of the sea and their sailors were with you to trade for your good things.


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"Soldiers from Persia and Lud and Put were in your army. They hung battle-coverings and head-coverings in you, and made you beautiful.


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The men of Arvad and Helech were on your walls all around. And men of Gammad were in your towers. They hung their battle-coverings all around your walls, and made you perfect in beauty.


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"Tarshish traded with you because of all your riches of every kind. They paid for your good things with silver, iron, tin, and lead.


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Javan, Tubal, and Meshech traded with you. They paid for your good things with servants and objects of brass.


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The men of Dedan traded with you. Many lands beside the sea traded with you, paying you with ivory horns and beautiful dark wood.


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Syria traded with you because of all your good things. They bought them with stones of great worth, purple cloth, cloth with beautiful sewing, fine linen, and coral.


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Judah and the land of Israel traded with you. They paid for your good things with the grain of Minnith, cakes, honey, oil, and medicine.


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Damascus traded with you because of all your good things and riches of all kinds. They paid for them with the wine of Helbon and white wool.


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Sheba and Raamah traded with you. They paid for your good things with the best of all kinds of spices, stones of great worth, and gold.


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They paid you with the best clothing, clothes of blue cloth and beautiful sewing, floor coverings of many colors, and strong ropes.


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The ships of Tarshish carried your good things for you. You were filled and honored in the middle of the seas.


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Your riches, your good things, the things you trade, your sailors, your pilots, your builders, your traders, all your soldiers, and all your people will fall into the sea on the day you are destroyed.


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They will cut off their hair because of you, and dress themselves in cloth made from hair. They will cry over you with much sorrow in their soul.


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In their crying they will sing a song of sorrow for you, saying, 'Who is like Tyre, destroyed and quiet in the sea?


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When your good things went out on the sea, you pleased many nations. With all your riches and good things you made the kings of the earth rich.


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Now you are wrecked by the sea, in the deep waters. Your good things and all your people have gone down with you.


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All the people who live on the islands are full of fear and wonder because of you. Their kings are very afraid. Their faces are troubled.


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The traders among the nations make sounds of surprise at you. You have come to an end and you will be no more.' "


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"Son of man, tell the leader of Tyre, 'The Lord God says, "Because your heart is proud, you have said, 'I am a god. I sit in the seat of gods, with the seas around me.' Yet you are a man and not God, even if you think you are as wise as God.


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By your wisdom and understanding you have gathered riches for yourself. You have gathered gold and silver for your store-houses.


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By all your wisdom in trade you have added to your riches, and your heart has become proud because of them.


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I will bring strangers against you, those who have the hardest hearts of all the nations. With their swords they will destroy the beauty of your wisdom and your greatness.


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Will you still say, "I am a god," in front of those who kill you? You will be only a man and not a god in the hands of those who kill you.


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You will be killed by strangers, and will die the death of one who has not gone through the religious act of My people. For I have spoken,' says the Lord God." ' "


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"Son of man, sing a song of sorrow for the king of Tyre, and tell him, 'The Lord God says, "You were once the mark of what is perfect, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.


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You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every stone of great worth covered you: ruby, topaz, diamond, beryl, onyx, jasper, chrysolite, turquoise, and emerald. And you had beautiful objects of gold. They were made for you when you were made.


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You were the cherub who kept watch, and I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God. You walked among the stones of fire.


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Through all your trading you were filled with bad ways, and you sinned. So I have sent you away in shame from the mountain of God and I have destroyed you and driven you out from the stones of fire, O cherub who kept watch.


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Your heart was proud because of your beauty. You made your wisdom sinful because of your beauty. So I threw you to the ground. I laid you in front of kings for them to see you.


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By all your wrong-doing and sinful trading you made your holy places sinful. So I made a fire come out from you, and it has destroyed you. I have turned you to ashes on the earth in the eyes of all who see you.


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All the nations who know you are filled with wonder and fear because of you. You have come to a bad end, and you will be no more forever." ' "


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Tell her, 'The Lord God says, "I am against you, O Sidon, and My greatness will be honored among you. They will know that I am the Lord when I punish Sidon. I will show Myself holy within her.


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For I will send disease upon her, and blood into her streets. People will be killed by the sword from every side. Then they will know that I am the Lord.


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No longer will the people of Israel have neighbors like a sharp thistle or thorn who hate them. Then they will know that I am the Lord God.


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"The Lord God says, 'I will gather the people of Israel from the different nations where they have been sent. And I will show Myself holy among them in the eyes of the nations. Then they will live in their own land which I gave to My servant Jacob.


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They will live there and be safe. They will build houses, plant grape-fields, and be safe, when I punish all those around them who speak against them. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God." ' "


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Tell them, 'The Lord God says, "I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt. You are the big animal that lies in his rivers and says, 'The Nile is mine. I made it.'


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I will put hooks in your mouth. I will make the fish of your rivers stick to your hard skin. And I will pull you up out of your rivers, with the fish that stick to your hard skin.


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Then I will leave you in the desert, you and all the fish of your rivers. You will fall on the open field, and not be gathered or buried. I will feed you to the wild animals of the earth and to the birds of the sky.


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Then all the people of Egypt will know that I am the Lord. They have been only a weak piece of river grass to the people of Israel.


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When they took hold of you with their hands, you broke and tore all their shoulders. When they rested on you, you broke and hurt their backs."


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And the land of Egypt will be destroyed and laid waste. Then they will know that I am the Lord. "Because you said, 'The Nile is mine, and I made it,'


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I am against you and against your rivers. I will destroy Egypt and make it nothing but waste from Migdol to Syene and even to the land of Ethiopia.


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I will make the land of Egypt a waste among the lands which are laid waste. Her cities will be a waste for forty years among cities that are laid waste. I will divide the Egyptians among the nations and spread them out among the lands."


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'For the Lord God says, "At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the nations where they were divided.


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I will bring them back to Egypt and let them live in Pathros, the land they came from. And there they will be a small nation.


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It will be the least of the nations, and will never lift itself up above other nations again. I will make them so small that they will never rule over the nations.


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It will never again be a hope for the people of Israel. They will remember their sin in turning to Egypt for help in the past. Then they will know that I am the Lord God." ' "


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On the first day of the first month in the twenty-seventh year, the Word of the Lord came to me saying,


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"Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army work hard against Tyre. Every head lost its hair, and skin was rubbed off every shoulder. But he and his army did not receive anything from Tyre to pay for the work he had done against it."


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So the Lord God says, "I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. And he will carry away her riches. He will take all her good things, and they will be pay for his army.


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I have given him the land of Egypt for the work he has done, because he and his army worked for Me," says the Lord God.


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"On that day I will make the people of Israel strong, and give you the power to speak among them. Then they will know that I am the Lord."


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"Son of man, speak in My name and say, 'This is what the Lord God says: "Cry in a loud voice, 'It is bad for that day!'


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For the day is near. The day of the Lord is near. It will be a day of clouds, a time of trouble for the nations.


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A sword will come against Egypt, and Ethiopia will be very troubled. When the people are killed in Egypt, her riches will be taken away, and her country destroyed.


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Ethiopia, Put, Lud, all of Arabia, Libya, and the people of Israel living there, all who have an agreement with Egypt will be killed by the sword." ' "


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'The Lord says, "Those who help Egypt will be killed in battle. The pride of her power will come down. From Migdol to Syene they will be killed by the sword," says the Lord God.


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"They will be a waste among the lands that are laid waste. And her cities will be among the destroyed cities.


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Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I start a fire in Egypt and all those who help her are destroyed.


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On that day I will send men in ships to bring fear to Ethiopians who think they are safe. They will be troubled and afraid as when Egypt is destroyed, for their day is coming!"


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The Lord God says, "I will put an end to Egypt's riches by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.


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He and his people show the least pity of all the nations, and they will be brought in to destroy the land. They will use their swords against Egypt and fill the land with dead bodies.


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And I will dry up the Nile River and sell the land to sinful men. I will destroy the land and everything in it, by the hand of strangers. I, the Lord, have spoken."


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'The Lord God says, "I will also destroy the false gods and put an end to the objects of worship in Memphis. There will no longer be a leader in the land of Egypt, so I will put fear in the land.


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I will start a fire in Egypt. Pelusium will suffer much. Thebes will be broken open. And Memphis will not have rest from troubles and fear.


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At Tehaphnehes the day will be dark when I break the power of Egypt. The pride of her strength will come to an end. A cloud will cover her, and her daughters will be taken away.


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"Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And it has not been wrapped so that it could heal and be strong enough to hold the sword.


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So the Lord God says, 'I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt and will break his arms, both the strong one and the one already broken. And I will make the sword fall from his hand.


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For I will give strength to the arms of the king of Babylon and put My sword in his hand, and I will break the arms of Pharaoh, so that he will cry in pain in front of him like a dying man in battle.


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I will give strength to the arms of the king of Babylon, but Pharaoh's arms will fall. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I give My sword to the king of Babylon and he uses it against the land of Egypt.


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I will make the Egyptians go to the different nations and spread them out among the lands. Then they will know that I am the Lord.' "


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"Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his people, 'Who can be compared with you in greatness?


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Look at Assyria, once a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful branches and many leaves. It was very high, and its top was among the heavy branches.


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The waters made it grow, and the water under the ground made it grow high. Its rivers flowed all around its base, and spread water to all the trees of the field.


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So it was higher than all the trees of the field. And it grew many long and spreading branches because it had so much water.


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All the birds of the air made their nests in its branches. And under its branches all the animals of the field gave birth. All great nations lived in its shadow.


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It was beautiful in its greatness with its spreading branches, for its roots went down to much water.


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The cedars in God's garden could not compare with it. The fir trees and the chestnut trees could not compare with its branches. No tree in God's garden was like it in beauty.


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'So the Lord God says, "Because it has grown high with its top among the heavy branches, its heart has become proud,


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I will give it over to a powerful ruler of the nations, and he will punish it. Because of its sin, I will drive it out.


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Rulers from other nations will cut it down and leave it. Its branches will fall on the mountains and in all the valleys. Its spreading branches will be broken in all the deep valleys of the land. All the people of the earth will go away from its shadow and leave it.


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All the birds of the air will live on its broken pieces. And all the animals of the field will be on its fallen branches.


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This will be so that no trees by the water will grow high with their tops among the heavy branches. No trees that drink water will ever grow so high. For they have all been given over to death. They will go to the earth below, among men who die and go down to the grave."


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'The Lord God says, "When it goes down to the place of the dead, I will make the waters under the ground cover it in sorrow. I will stop its rivers of water and fill Lebanon with sorrow over it. All the trees of the field will waste away because of it.


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I will make the nations shake in fear at the sound of its fall when I send it to the place of the dead with those who go down to the grave. Then all the well-watered trees of Eden, the best of Lebanon, will be comforted in the earth below.


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And those who lived under its shadow among the nations will go down to the place of the dead with it, to those who were killed by the sword.


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"Which of the trees of Eden can be compared with you in beauty and greatness? Yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth below. You will lie among the sinful, with those who were killed by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his people!" ' says the Lord God."


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"Son of man, sing a song of sorrow for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him, 'You compared yourself to a young lion among the nations, yet you are like the big snake-like animal in the seas. You go through your rivers, troubling the water with your feet and making the rivers muddy.' "


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The Lord God says, "Now I will throw My net over you with an army of many nations. They will lift you up in My net.


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And I will leave you on the land. I will throw you on the open field. I will have all the birds of the air live on you. And I will feed you to the wild animals of the earth.


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I will make the land drink your flowing blood as far as the mountains, and the deep valleys will be full of you.


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When I destroy you, I will cover the heavens and make the stars dark. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light.


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I will make all the shining lights in the heavens dark over you, and bring darkness upon your land," says the Lord God.


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"I will trouble the hearts of many people when I destroy you among the nations, among lands you have not known.


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I will fill many nations with fear and wonder because of you. Their kings will shake in fear for you when I wave My sword in front of them. Every man will keep shaking in fear for his own life, on the day you are destroyed."


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I will cause your people to be killed by the swords of powerful men who will have no pity, all of them strong rulers of the nations. They will destroy the pride of Egypt and kill all its people.


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I will also destroy all its cattle from beside many waters. No foot of man or animal will fill them with mud any more.


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"When I destroy the land of Egypt and take from the land everything that was in it, and when I punish all who live there, then they will know that I am the Lord.


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This is the song of sorrow they will sing. The women of the nations will sing it. They will sing it over Egypt and all her people," says the Lord God.


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"Son of man, cry in a loud voice for the people of Egypt. Send them down with the powerful nations to the place of the dead, with those who go down to the grave.


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Say to them, 'Do you think you are more favored than anyone else? Go down and make your bed with the sinful.'


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They will fall among those who are killed by the sword. The sword is ready to kill all of Egypt's people.


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From the place of the dead the powerful leaders will say of Egypt and her helpers, 'They have come down. They lie with the sinful, with those killed by the sword.'


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"Assyria is there, with all of her army. All around her are the graves of her dead, who have been killed by the sword.


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Their graves lie in the farthest parts of the place of the dead. Her army is around her grave. All who had spread fear in the land of the living are dead, killed by the sword.


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"Elam is there, with all of her people around her grave. All of them are dead, killed by the sword. They have gone to the lower parts of the earth having not gone through the religious act of the Jews. They filled the land of the living with fear, and carried their shame with those who went down to the place of the dead.


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A bed is made for her among the dead with all her people. Their graves are around her. They are all sinful people, killed by the sword. They spread fear in the land of the living, and were put to shame with those who go down to the place of the dead and are among the dead.


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"Meshech and Tubal are there, with all their people. Their graves are around them. All of them are sinful, killed by the sword, for they had spread fear in the land of the living.


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They do not lie beside the graves of the powerful men of long ago, who went down to the place of the dead with their swords of war, whose swords were laid under their heads. But the punishment for their sin rested on their bones. For the fear of these powerful men was once in the land of the living.


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"Edom is there, with its kings and all its leaders. Even with all their power they are laid with those killed by the sword. They lie with the sinful, with those who go down to the place of the dead.


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"All the leaders of the north and all the Sidonians are there. Even with the fear they caused by their power, they went down with the dead in shame. They lie as sinful people with those killed by the sword. They carried their shame with those who go down to the place of the dead.


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"When Pharaoh and his army see them, they will be comforted for all his people who were killed by the sword," says the Lord God.


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"I spread fear of him in the land of the living, yet Pharaoh and all his people will be laid among the sinful, with those killed by the sword," says the Lord God.


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"Son of man, speak to the children of your people. Say to them, 'If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men to keep watch for them,


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then if anyone hears the horn and does not take care, and a sword comes and kills him, he will be to blame for his own death.


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He heard the sound of the horn, but did not worry about the danger. He will be to blame for his own death. If he had been careful, he would have saved his life.


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But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the horn, and the people are not told of the danger, and a sword comes and kills one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin. But the blood of the watchman must be given.'


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"Son of man, I have chosen you as a watchman for the people of Israel. So when I give you the word, you must tell them of the danger.


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When I tell a sinful man that he will die for sure, and you do not speak to him about the danger of his way, that sinful man will die in his sin. But your blood must be given.


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But if you tell a sinful man to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his sin. But you have saved your life.


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"Son of man, say to the people of Israel, 'You have said, "Our sins are upon us, and we are wasting away in them. How then can we live?" '


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Say to them, 'As I live,' says the Lord God, 'I am not pleased when sinful people die. But I am pleased when the sinful turn from their way and live. Turn! Turn from your sinful ways! Why will you die, O people of Israel?'


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Now, son of man, tell the children of your people, 'If a man does what is right and good, it will not save him when he sins.' And the sins of a sinful man will not make him fall when he turns from his sinful way. But the man who is right and good will not be able to live by his good ways when he sins.


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When I tell the man who is right and good that he will live, and he trusts in his good ways so much that he sins, none of his good works will be remembered. He will die for the sin he has done.


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But when I tell the sinful man that he will die, and he turns from his sin and does what is right and good,


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if he gives back what a person gave him as trust for a promise, pays back what he had stolen, follows the Laws that give life and does not sin, he will live for sure. He will not die.


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None of the sins he has done will be remembered against him. He has done what is right and good, and he will live for sure.


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"Yet the children of your people say, 'The way of the Lord is not right.' But it is their way that is not right.


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But when the sinful man turns from his sin and does what is right and good, he will live because of it.


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Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not right.' O people of Israel, I will judge each of you by his ways."


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On the fifth day of the tenth month in the twelfth year since we had been taken to a strange land, a man who got away from Jerusalem came and said to me, "The city has been taken."


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Now the hand of the Lord had been upon me in the evening before the man came. And He opened my mouth so that when the man came to me in the morning, I was able to speak.


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"Son of man, the people who live in these waste places in the land of Israel are saying, 'Abraham was only one man, yet he owned the land. But we are many, and for sure the land has been given to us.'


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So tell them, 'The Lord God says, "You eat meat with the blood in it, and worship your false gods as you kill. Should the land belong to you?


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You trust in your sword, and keep on sinning. Each of you does sex sins with his neighbor's wife. Should the land belong to you?" '


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Tell them, 'The Lord God says, "As I live, those who are in the waste places will be killed by the sword. Whoever is in the open field, I will feed to the wild animals. And those who are in the strong-places and in the caves will die of disease.


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I will destroy the land and make it a waste. The pride of her power will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will be laid waste, so that no one will pass through.


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Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I destroy the land and make it a waste because of all the hated sins they have done." '


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"As for you, son of man, your people are talking to each other about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses. They are saying, 'Come and hear the word that has come from the Lord.'


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They come and sit in front of you as My people, and listen to the words you say. But they do not do them. With their mouth they speak of love, but their hearts are full of sinful desire.


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They think of you as nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays music well. For they hear what you say, but they will not do it.


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"Son of man, speak against the shepherds of Israel. Speak in My name and tell those shepherds, 'The Lord God says, "It is bad for the shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock?


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You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool. You kill the fat sheep without feeding the flock.


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You have not given strength to the weak ones. You have not healed the sick. You have not helped the ones that are hurt. You have not brought back those that have gone away. And you have not looked for the lost. But you have ruled them with power and without pity.


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They went everywhere because they had no shepherd. And they became food for every animal of the field.


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My flock went many different ways through all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were spread over all the earth, and there was no one looking for them." ' "


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"As I live," says the Lord God, "My flock has been killed and become food for wild animals because they had no shepherd. My shepherds did not look for My flock. They fed themselves, but have not fed My flock."


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The Lord God says, "I am against the shepherds, and I will ask them for My sheep. I will stop them from feeding the sheep, so they will no longer be able to feed themselves. I will save my sheep from their mouths, so that they will no longer be food for them."


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As a shepherd looks for his sheep when they are not together, so I will look for My sheep. And I will save them from all the places where they were spread out on a day of clouds and darkness.


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I will bring them out from the people and gather them from the countries, and bring them to their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the rivers, and in all the places of the land where people live.


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I will feed them in a good field. The ground they eat upon will be on the mountains of Israel. There they will lie down in a good field and feed on good grass on the mountains of Israel.


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"I will look for the lost, bring back those that have gone away, help those who have been hurt, and give strength to the sick. But I will destroy the fat and the strong. I will feed them with punishment.


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"As for you, My flock, the Lord God says, 'I will judge between one sheep and another, between the rams and the male goats.


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Is it not enough for you to eat in the good field? Must you crush under foot the rest of your fields? Is it not enough for you to drink of the clear waters? Must your feet fill the rest with mud?


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Must My flock eat what you have crushed with your feet, and drink what you have made dirty with your feet?' "


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Because you push with your side and shoulder and run against all the weak with your horns until you have driven them away,


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Then I will set over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them. He will feed them and be their shepherd.


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I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David will be their leader. I, the Lord, have spoken.


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"I will make a peace agreement with them and take away wild animals from the land. Then they will be safe as they live in the desert and sleep in the woods.


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I will bring good to them and to the places around My hill. I will give them rain when they need it. Good will rain down upon them.


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The trees of the field will give their fruit and the earth will give its food. They will be safe in their land. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the load from their backs and have saved them from those who made servants of them.


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They will no longer be under the power of the nations. And the wild animals of the earth will not eat them. But they will be safe, and no one will make them afraid.


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I will give them a land well known for its fields of food. They will never suffer with hunger again, and will no longer be put to shame by the nations.


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Then they will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they, the people of Israel, are My people," says the Lord God.


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saying, 'The Lord God says, "I am against you, Mount Seir. I will put out My hand against you and make you a waste land.


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You have always hated the people of Israel and have given them over to be killed at the time of their trouble, at the time of the punishment of the end.


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So as I live," says the Lord God, "I will give you over to death, and you will not get away from death. Since you have not hated killing, death will come after you.


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I will fill its mountains with its dead. Those killed by the sword will fall on your hills and in your valleys.


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I will destroy you forever, and no one will live in your cities. Then you will know that I am the Lord.


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"You have said, 'These two nations and these two lands will be mine, and we will own them,' even when the Lord was there.


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So as I live," says the Lord God, "I will punish you for your anger and the jealousy you showed because of your hate toward them. And I will make Myself known among them when I judge you.


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Then you will know that I, the Lord, have heard all the bad things you have said against the mountains of Israel. You have said, 'They are destroyed. They are given to us for food.'


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As you had joy because the land of Israel was destroyed, so I will do to you. You will be destroyed, O Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am the Lord." '


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"Son of man, speak in My name to the mountains of Israel. Say, 'O mountains of Israel, hear the Word of the Lord.


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The Lord God says, "Those who hate you have laughed and spoken against you, saying, 'The old hills now belong to us.'


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So tell the mountains of Israel, 'The Lord God says, "They have made you a waste land, and destroyed you from every side. You were taken by the rest of the nations for their own. And the people have been saying bad things about you." ' "


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So, mountains of Israel, hear the Word of the Lord God. This is what the Lord God says to the mountains, the hills, the valleys, the destroyed places and empty cities, which have been robbed and made fun of by the rest of the nations around them.


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The Lord God says, "I speak in the fire of My jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom. They have taken My land for themselves with hearts full of joy and hate, that they might rob its good things."


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'So speak about the land of Israel, and tell the mountains, the hills, and valleys, "The Lord God says, 'I speak in My jealousy and anger because you have been put to shame by the nations.'


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But you, O mountains of Israel, will put out your branches and give your fruit for My people Israel. For they will come home soon.


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I will cause the people to become many, all the people of Israel. People will live in the cities, and the places that have been destroyed will be built again.


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I will give you many people and animals, and they will have many young ones. You will be full of people as you were before. And I will do more good to you than ever before. Then you will know that I am the Lord.


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I will have people, My people Israel, walk on you and own you. You will belong to them, and you will never again take their children from them.'


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"I will not let you hear words of shame from the nations any more. You will not be put to shame by the nations any longer. And you will no longer make your nation fall," says the Lord God.' "


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"Son of man, when the people of Israel were living in their own land, they made it sinful by their ways and their works. The way they acted before Me was unclean, like a woman is unclean during her time each month.


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So I poured out My anger upon them because of the blood they had poured on the land, and because they had made it sinful with their false gods.


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I sent them among the different nations and spread them out among the lands. I judged them for their ways and their works.


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But in every place they went among the nations, they brought shame upon My holy name, because it was said of them, 'These are the people of the Lord, yet they had to leave His land.'


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But I cared about My holy name, which the people of Israel had put to shame among the nations where they had gone.


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"So tell the people of Israel, 'The Lord God says, "It is not because of you, O people of Israel, that I am about to act. It is because of My holy name, which you have put to shame among the nations where you have gone.


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I will show how holy My great name is, which you have put to shame among the nations. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord," says the Lord God, "when I use you to show them that I am holy.


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For I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land.


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Then I will put clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will make you clean from all your unclean ways and from all your false gods.


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I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take away your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.


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And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to follow My Laws and be careful to do what I tell you.


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And you will live in the land that I gave to your fathers. You will be My people, and I will be your God.


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I will save you from all your unclean ways. I will give you much grain, and you will not have to go without food.


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I will have the trees give much fruit and the fields give much food. So you will never again suffer the shame of going hungry among the nations.


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Then you will remember your sinful ways and your sinful works, and you will hate yourselves because of your sins and wrongdoing.


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I want you to know that I am not doing this because of you," says the Lord God. "Be ashamed and troubled because of your ways, O people of Israel!"


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'The Lord God says, "On the day that I make you clean from all your sins, I will fill the cities with people, and the destroyed places will be built again.


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They will say, 'This waste land has become like the garden of Eden. And the destroyed cities now have strong walls and many people.'


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Then the nations that are left around you will know that I, the Lord, have built again the places that were destroyed, and planted what had been waste land. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do what I say."


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'The Lord God says, "I will also let the people of Israel ask Me to do this for them: I will give them many people, like the sheep of a flock.


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The empty cities will be filled with flocks of people, like the flock kept for burnt gifts, like the flock at Jerusalem during her special suppers. Then they will know that I am the Lord." ' "


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The hand of the Lord was upon me. He brought me out by His Spirit and set me down in the center of the valley. It was full of bones.


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He said to me, "Speak in My name over these bones. Say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord.'


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This is what the Lord God says to these bones: 'I will make breath come into you, and you will come to life.


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I will join you together, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin, and put breath in you to make you come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.' "


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So I spoke as I was told. And as I spoke, there was a noise, the sound of bones hitting against each other. The bones came together, bone to bone.


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I looked and saw that parts had grown to hold them together. Flesh had grown, and they were covered with skin. But there was no breath in them.


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Then He said to me, "Speak to the breath in My name, son of man. Tell the breath, 'The Lord God says, "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these dead bodies to make them come to life." ' "


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So I spoke as I had been told. The breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet. They were a large army.


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Then He said to me, "Son of man, these bones are all the people of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is gone. We are all destroyed.'


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So speak in My name and tell them, 'The Lord God says, "I will open your graves, My people, and make you come out of them. And I will bring you into the land of Israel.


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Then, My people, you will know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves and brought you up.


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I will put My Spirit within you, and you will come to life. I will place you in your own land. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and have done it," says the Lord.' "


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"Son of man, take one stick of wood and write on it, 'For Judah and for the people of Israel with him.' Then take another stick of wood and write on it, 'For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the people of Israel with him.'


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tell them, 'The Lord God says, "I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the people of Israel who are with him. And I will put it with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick. They will be one in My hand." '


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and tell them, 'The Lord God says, "I will take the people of Israel from the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land.


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I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king will rule over all of them. They will no longer be two nations, and they will no longer be divided under two kings.


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They will no longer make themselves unclean with their false gods, or with their hated objects of worship, or with any of their sins. I will keep them from turning again to these sins, and will make them clean. They will be My people, and I will be their God.


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"My servant David will be their king, and they will have one shepherd. They will follow and keep My Laws, and obey them.


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And they will live in the land that I gave to My servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children will live in it forever. And My servant David will be their leader forever.


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I will make a peace agreement with them, one that lasts forever. I will bring good to them and make them many in number. And I will set My holy place among them forever.


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Then the nations will know that I am the Lord Who makes Israel holy, when My holy place is among them forever." ' "


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"Son of man, look toward Gog of the land of Magog, the leader of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and speak against him.


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I will turn you around, put hooks into your mouth, and bring you out with your whole army. Your horses and horsemen will be dressed for battle. The army will be very large, with all the men holding battle-coverings and waving swords.


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There will be Gomer with all its army, and Beth-togarmah from the farthest parts of the north with all its army. Many nations will be with you.


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After many days you will be called. In future years you will come into the land where people have been gathered from many nations and have lived without fear of war. You will come to the mountains of Israel, which had been a waste land for a long time. But its people were brought out from the nations, and all of them are living without fear.


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You and all your army will come up against them like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land. Many nations will be with you."


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'The Lord God says, "On that day, thoughts will come into your mind, and you will make a sinful plan.


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You will say, 'I will go up against the open country, where people are quiet and live in peace. They live in villages without walls and have no iron pieces or gates.'


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You will go to rob the land and fight in the waste places where people now live. You will go up against the people who were gathered from the nations and are rich with cattle and good things and who live at the center of the land.


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Sheba and Dedan and the traders of Tarshish and all its villages will say to you, 'Have you come to take prizes of war? Have you gathered your army to carry away silver and gold, cattle, good things, and many prizes of war?' " '


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"So, son of man, speak in My name and tell Gog, 'The Lord God says, "On that day when My people Israel are living in peace and without fear, will you not know it?


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You will come from your place in the far north, and many nations will be with you. All of them will be riding on horses, a large and powerful army.


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You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud covering the land. In the last days, O Gog, I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me when I show Myself holy through you in front of their eyes."


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'The Lord God says, "Are you the one I spoke of in the past, through My servants of Israel who spoke in My name? At that time they said for many years that I would bring you against them.


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"On the day when Gog comes against the land of Israel, I will become very angry," says the Lord God.


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"In My jealousy and in My burning anger I have said that on that day the earth will shake in the land of Israel.


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The fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the wild animals of the field, all the animals that move upon the earth, and all the men on the earth will shake before Me. Mountains will be thrown down, the mountain sides will fall, and every wall will fall to the ground.


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I will call for a sword against Gog on all My mountains," says the Lord God. "His men will turn their swords against one another.


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I will punish him with disease and with blood. I will send down a hard rain, hailstones, fire and sulphur upon him and his army and the many nations with him.


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"Son of man, speak against Gog, and tell him, 'The Lord God says, "I am against you, O Gog, leader of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.


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I will turn you around and drive you on. I will bring you from the farthest parts of the north and lead you against the mountains of Israel.


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You will fall dead on the mountains of Israel, you and all your army and the nations who are with you. I will feed you to every kind of meat-eating bird and wild animal of the field.


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"I will send fire upon Magog and upon those who think they are safe in the islands. Then they will know that I am the Lord.


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"I will make My holy name known among My people Israel. I will not let My holy name be made unclean any more. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.


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"Then those who live in the cities of Israel will go out and make fires to burn up the objects of war. They will burn battle-coverings, bows and arrows, heavy sticks, and spears. For seven years they will use them to make fires.


text:
They will not take wood from the field or from among the trees to burn. For they will make fires with the objects of war. And they will rob those who robbed them," says the Lord God.


text:
"On that day I will give Gog a place in Israel for burying his dead. It will be the valley of those who travel east of the sea. And it will close that road to travelers, for Gog and all his people will be buried there. They will call it the Valley of Hamon-Gog.


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All the people of the land will bury them, and they will be honored for this on the day that I show My greatness," says the Lord God.


text:
"At the end of seven months, they will choose men to pass through the land to look for bodies that may be left on the ground. And the bodies will be buried to make the land clean.


text:
Those who pass through and see a man's bone will set up something to mark the place, until it is buried in the Valley of Hamon Gog.


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"Son of man, the Lord God says, 'Speak to every kind of bird and to every wild animal of the field. Say to them, "Gather together and come. Come together from every side to the special supper I have made for you. Much food has been killed for you on the mountains of Israel. You will eat flesh and drink blood.


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You will eat the flesh of powerful men, and drink the blood of the leaders of the earth. It will be as if they were rams, lambs, goats, and bulls, all of them fat animals of Bashan.


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You will eat fat until you are filled, and drink blood until you are drunk, at the special supper I have killed and made ready for you.


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You will be filled at My table with horses and horsemen, with powerful men and all the men of war," says the Lord God.


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"I will show My greatness among the nations. All the nations will see how I have punished Israel and My hand which I have laid on them.


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The nations will know that the people of Israel were taken from their land because of their sin, because they were not faithful to Me. So I hid My face from them and gave them over to those who hated them, and they died in battle.


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So the Lord God says, "Now I will return the people of Jacob to their land and show loving-kindness to all the people of Israel. And I will be jealous for My holy name.


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They will forget their shame and how unfaithful they were to Me, when they live in peace on their own land with no one to make them afraid.


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I will bring them back from the nations and gather them from the lands of those who hate them. In this way I will show the many nations that I am holy.


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Then they will know that I am the Lord their God, because I sent them away into the other nations and then gathered them again to their own land. And I will not leave any of them there any longer.


text:
I will not hide My face from them again, for I will pour out My Spirit on the people of Israel," says the Lord God.


text:
It was the twenty-fifth year since the people of Israel were taken away to a strange land, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month, and fourteen years since Jerusalem was taken in battle. On that day the hand of the Lord was upon me and He brought me there.


text:
In a special way God brought me into the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain. There were some buildings on its south side that looked like a city.


text:
He took me there, and I saw a man who looked like he was made of brass. In his hand was a linen rope and a stick to find how long something is. He was standing at the gate.


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And the man said to me, "Son of man, look with your eyes, hear with your ears, and think about all I am going to show you. For you have been brought here so that I may show it to you. Tell the people of Israel everything you see."


text:
I saw a wall all around the outside of the house of the Lord. The stick in the man's hand was six arm-lengths long <n>(with the width of a hand being added to the length of each arm)</n>. And with it he showed that the wall was one stick wide and one stick high.


text:
Then he went up the steps of the east gate, and showed me with his stick that the gateway was one stick wide, and the other gate was also one stick wide.


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The rooms for the watchmen were each one stick long and one stick wide, and they were five arm-lengths apart. And the gateway next to the porch toward the Lord's house was one stick wide.


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The porch of the gate was eight arm-lengths and its side pillars two arm-lengths wide. The porch of the gate was on the inside.


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There were three rooms for the watchmen on each side of the east gate. They all had the same length and width. And the pillars on each side were the same in width.


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Then he showed me that the opening of the gateway was ten arm-lengths wide and thirteen arm-lengths long.


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There was a wall one-tenth armlength wide in front of the watchmen's rooms on each side. And the watchmen's rooms were six arm-lengths wide and six arm-lengths long.


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Then he showed me that it was twenty-five arm-lengths from the roof of one room to the roof of the room across from it.


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He showed me that it was twenty arm-lengths around the walls inside the gateway, up to the porch facing the open space.


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It was fifteen arm-lengths from the front of the outer gate to the front of the porch of the inner gate.


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There were narrow windows looking toward the watchmen's rooms and toward their side pillars, all around inside the gate and also in the porches. And pictures of palm trees were cut on each side pillar.


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Then he brought me into the outer open space, and I saw rooms and a stone floor all around it. Thirty rooms were around the stone floor.


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Then he showed me how far it was from the inside of the lower gate to the outside of the inner open space. Both east and north sides were 100 arm-lengths each.


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It had three rooms on each side for the watchmen. Its side pillars and porches were as long and as wide as the first gate. It was as long as fifty arm-lengths, and as wide as twenty-five arm-lengths.


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Its windows, its porches, and palm tree pictures were the same length and width as those of the east gate. Seven steps led up to it, and its porch was in front of them.


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Across from the north gate was another gate leading to the inner open space, just as there was for the east gate. He showed me that it was 100 arm-lengths from gate to gate.


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Then he led me to the south, and I saw a gate toward the south. He showed me the length and width of its side pillars and its porches, and they were the same as the others.


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The gate and its porches had windows like the others all around and was as long as fifty arm-lengths and as wide as twenty-five arm-lengths.


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Seven steps led up to it, and its porches were in front of them. And it had pictures of palm trees on its side pillars, one on each side.


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The open space had a gate toward the south. He showed me that it was 100 arm-lengths from gate to gate toward the south.


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Then he brought me to the inner open space by the south gate, and showed me that this gate had the same width as the others.


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Its watchmen's rooms, side pillars and porches were also the same as the others and had windows all around. It was as long as fifty arm-lengths and as wide as twenty-five arm-lengths.


text:
<n>(There were porches all around, as long as twenty-five arm-lengths and five arm-lengths wide)</n>


text:
and its porches were toward the outer open space. Pictures of palm trees were on its side pillars, and leading up to it were eight steps.


text:
Then he brought me to the inner open space toward the east. He showed me that it was as wide as the others.


text:
Its watchmen's rooms, side pillars and porches were also the same as the others and, there were windows all around which were as long as fifty arm-lengths and as wide as twenty-five arm-lengths.


text:
Its gateway was toward the outer open space. Pictures of palm trees were on its side pillars, on each side. And going up to it were eight steps.


text:
Its watchmen's rooms, side pillars and porches were also the same as the others. There were windows all around and it was as long as fifty arm-lengths and as wide as twentyfive arm-lengths.


text:
Its side pillars were toward the outer open space. Pictures of palm trees were on its side pillars, on each side. And going up to it were eight steps.


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And there were two tables on each side of the porch. On these tables the animals were killed for the burnt gifts, the sin gifts, and the guilt gifts.


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On the outer side of the gateway, by the north gate, were two tables. And there were two tables on the other side of the gate.


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So there were four tables on each side of the gateway, eight tables in all, where they killed the animals for the altar.


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There were four tables for the burnt gifts. They were made of cut stone, and were one-and-a-half arm-lengths long, one-and-a-half armlength wide, and one arm-length high. The objects used for killing the animals for the burnt gifts were kept on these stone tables.


text:
Hooks as long as a man's hand hung on the wall all around. The tables were for the meat of the burnt gifts.


text:
Then he brought me from the outside into the inner open space and there were two rooms for the singers. One was at the side of the north gate which faced the south, and the other was at the side of the south gate which faced the north.


text:
And he said to me, "This room which faces the south is for the religious leaders who take care of the Lord's house.


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The room which faces the north is for the religious leaders who take care of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, who are the only Levites who may come near the Lord to do His work."


text:
He showed me that the inner open space was as long as 100 arm-lengths and as wide as 100 arm-lengths, the same on all four sides. And the altar was in front of the Lord's house.


text:
Then he brought me to the porch of the Lord's house. He showed me that each side pillar of the porch was five arm-lengths wide. And each side of the gate was three arm-lengths wide.


text:
The porch was as long as twenty arm-lengths, and six steps wide. Ten steps led up to it, and there was one pillar on each side.


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The doorway was ten arm-lengths wide, and the side walls on each side of it were five arm-lengths wide. The center room was as long as forty arm-lengths and as wide as twenty arm-lengths.


text:
Then he went into a smaller room. Each side pillar of the doorway was two arm-lengths wide, and the doorway was six arm-lengths high and seven arm-lengths wide.


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The room was as long as twenty arm-lengths and as wide as twenty arm-lengths, at the far end of the center room. He said to me, "This is the most holy place."


text:
Then he showed me that the wall of the Lord's house was six armlengths in width. And the side rooms all around the house on every side were four arm-lengths wide.


text:
The side rooms were on three floors, one above the other, and thirty on each floor. The outside wall on each floor was not as wide as the one below it, so the side rooms could sit upon the wall without being nailed to it.


text:
The side rooms at the top were larger than the ones at the bottom, all around the Lord's house. The house became wider as it went higher. There were steps leading up from the first floor all the way to the third floor.


text:
I saw that the house had a raised base all around it, which made the base for the side rooms six arm-lengths high.


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The width of the outside wall of the side rooms was five arm-lengths. But the open space between the side rooms


text:
There were doorways to the side rooms from this open space, one on the north and another on the south. The width of this open space was five arm-lengths wide all around.


text:
The building in front of the open space of the Lord's house, on the west side, was as wide as seventy armlengths. The width of the building wall was five arm-lengths, and it was as long as ninety arm-lengths.


text:
Then he showed me that the Lord's house was as long as 100 armlengths. The open space and the other building and its walls were also as long as 100 arm-lengths.


text:
He showed me the length of the building to the west, with its walkways on each side. It was as long as 100 arm-lengths.


text:
all had roofs of wood. And all three had windows with wooden cross-pieces all around. The inside walls of the house were covered with wood from the floor up to the windows, and from the windows to the roof.


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There was wood covering the wall above the door, and all the way to the most holy place, and all the walls both inside and out.


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Pictures of cherubim and palm trees were cut into the wood. A palm tree was between every two cherubim, and each cherub had two faces.


text:
The face of a man looked toward the palm tree on one side, and the face of a young lion looked toward the palm tree on the other side. These pictures were cut into the wood all around the Lord's house.


text:
There were cherubim and palm trees from the floor to above the door, and on the wall of the center room.


text:
The pillars beside the door of the center room were the same width on all four sides, and they looked alike.


text:
There was an altar of wood three arm-lengths high and two arm-lengths long. Its corners, base, and sides were made of wood. And he said to me, "This is the table that is before the Lord."


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Pictures of cherubim and palm trees were made on the doors of the center room, like the pictures on the walls. And there was a roof of wood over the front of the porch outside.


text:
There were windows with wooden cross-pieces and palm trees cut on each side wall of the house porch. It was the same on the side rooms of the house and their roofs.


text:
Then he brought me to the outside open space toward the north. He brought me to the rooms which were on the other side of the open space and the building to the north.


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Over from the place in the inner open space which was as wide as twenty arm-lengths, and over from the stone floor in the outer open space, was a walkway on the three floors, one above the other.


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In front of the rooms was an inside walkway as wide as ten arm-lengths and as long as 100 arm-lengths. Their doors were on the north.


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The upper rooms were smaller because the walkways took more away from them than from the rooms on the first and second floors of the building.


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For the rooms on all three floors had no pillars like the other buildings on the grounds. So the upper rooms were smaller than the ones on the first and second floors.


text:
There was an outside wall built beside the rooms toward the outer open space. It was in front of the rooms for fifty arm-lengths.


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The rooms next to the outer open space were as long as fifty arm-lengths, and those over from the Lord's house were as long as 100 arm-lengths.


text:
There were rooms in the width of the wall of the open space toward the east, over from the other open space and the other building.


text:
These rooms had a walkway in front of them, and they were like the rooms on the north. They had the same length and width. The ways out of them were the same, and the doors were made the same way.


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And like the doors of the rooms on the south side, there was a door at the beginning of the walkway in front of the wall toward the east, as one goes into them.


text:
Then he said to me, "The north rooms and the south rooms, over from the other open space, are the holy rooms where the religious leaders who go near the Lord eat the most holy things. There they will lay the most holy things, the grain gift, the sin gift, and the guilt gift. For the place is holy.


text:
When the religious leaders go in, they are not to go out into the outer open space from the holy place without leaving behind the clothes they wear while they do the Lord's work, for these are holy. They must put on other clothes before they go near the places that are for the people."


text:
When he had finished showing me the lengths and widths of the inner house, he brought me out through the east gate. And he showed me the lengths of all the open space around the house.


text:
He showed me the length of the four sides. It had a wall all around it, as long as 500 sticks and as wide as 500 sticks. This wall divided what was holy from what was not.


text:
and I saw the shining-greatness of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters, and the earth was shining because of His greatness.


text:
It was like the special dream that I saw when He came to destroy the city. It was like the special dream that I saw by the Chebar River. I fell with my face to the ground.


text:
the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner open space. And the shining-greatness of the Lord filled the house.


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And He said to me, "Son of man, this is the place for My throne and for the bottom of My feet, where I will live among the people of Israel forever. No longer will the people of Israel or their kings make My holy name unclean, by worshiping other gods or by the dead bodies of their kings.


text:
They put their doorways by My doorways, and their door pillars beside My door pillars, with only a wall between Me and them. In doing so, they have made My holy name unclean by the hated sins they have done. So I have destroyed them in My anger.


text:
Now let them put their worship of other gods and the dead bodies of their kings far from Me. And I will live among them forever.


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"Son of man, tell the people of Israel about the house of the Lord, that they may be ashamed of their sins. Let them look over the plan.


text:
And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, let them know how the house is built, the house with its doors and gateways, and its whole plan. Let them know all its laws. Write it down in front of them, so that they will see its whole plan and obey all its laws.


text:
This is the law of the house: All the ground around it on top of the mountain will be most holy. This is the law of the house.


text:
"This is the length, width, and height of the altar by arm-lengths <n>(with the length of the hand being added to the length of each arm)</n>. The base will be one arm-length long and one arm-length wide, with a side piece going around it as wide as a man's spread hand. This will be the height of the altar:


text:
The base will be two arm-lengths long from the base on the ground to its top, and one arm-length wide. And it will be four arm-lengths from the smaller part up to its larger top part, and one armlength wide.


text:
The altar fireplace will be four arm-lengths high, and four horns will go up from the top four corners of the altar one arm-length high.


text:
This top part of the altar will be twelve arm-lengths long and twelve arm-lengths wide, the same on each of the four sides.


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The side of it will be fourteen arm-lengths long and fourteen arm-lengths wide, the same on each of the four sides. And a side piece half an arm-length will be around that. Its base will be an armlength wide all around, and its steps will be on the east side."


text:
And He said to me, "Son of man, the Lord God says, 'These are the laws for giving burnt gifts and for putting blood on the altar on the day it is built:


text:
You must give a young bull for a sin gift to the Levite religious leaders of the sons of Zadok. They are the ones who come near Me to do My work,' says the Lord God.


text:
'You must take some of the bull's blood and put it on the four horns of the altar, and on the four corners of the top of the altar, and on the side piece that goes around it. In this way you will make it clean and free from sin.


text:
You must also take the bull for the sin gift, and burn it in the chosen place of the house, outside the holy place.


text:
On the second day you must give a male goat that is perfect for a sin gift. And the altar will be made clean, as it was made clean with the bull.


text:
When you have finished making it clean, you must give a young bull that is perfect, and a ram from the flock that is perfect.


text:
You must bring them before the Lord. The religious leaders will throw salt on them, and burn them on the altar as a gift to the Lord.


text:
You must make ready a goat for a sin gift each day for seven days. Also make ready a young bull and a ram from the flock. They must be perfect.


text:
For seven days they must make the altar free from sin and make it pure, so it will be set apart to Me.


text:
At the end of these days, from the eighth day on, the religious leaders will give your burnt gifts and peace gifts on the altar. And I will receive you,' says the Lord God."


text:
The Lord said to me, "This gate must stay shut. It must not be opened. No one may come in through it, for the Lord God of Israel has come in through it. So it must stay shut.


text:
Only the ruler may sit at the gate to eat bread before the Lord. He must come in through the porch of the gate, and go out the same way."


text:
Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the house. There I saw the shining-greatness of the Lord filling the Lord's house, and I fell with my face to the ground.


text:
The Lord said to me, "Son of man, be careful to see with your eyes and to hear with your ears everything that I say to you about all the rules and laws of the Lord's house. Be careful to learn which persons are allowed to go in and out of the Lord's house, and which persons are not allowed.


text:
Tell the sinful people of Israel, 'The Lord God says, "Enough of your hated sins, O people of Israel!


text:
You have brought in strangers, who had not gone through the religious act of becoming a Jew, and who were sinful in their heart. You brought them into My holy place to make it unclean, when you brought My food of the fat and the blood. You have broken My agreement by all your hated sins.


text:
And you have not taken care of My holy things yourselves. You have let strangers take care of My holy place."


text:
'So the Lord God says, "No stranger among the people of Israel who has not gone through the religious act of becoming a Jew, and is sinful in his heart, may come into My holy place.


text:
"The Levites who went far from Me when Israel left Me to follow their false gods, will be punished for their sin.


text:
They may do the work in My holy place. They may watch over the gates of the house and do the work in the house. They may kill the burnt gifts and the gifts brought by the people. And they may stand in front of the people to serve them.


text:
But because they served them in front of their false gods and caused the people of Israel to sin, I have promised," says the Lord God, "that they will be punished for their sin.


text:
They must not come near Me to serve Me as a religious leader. They must not come near any of My holy things and the things that are most holy. But they must suffer their shame because of the hated sins they have done.


text:
"But the Levite religious leaders of the sons of Zadok took care of My holy place when the people of Israel left Me. So they will come near Me to serve Me. They will stand before Me to give Me the fat and the blood," says the Lord God.


text:
When they come through the gates of the inner open space, they will be dressed in linen clothing. They must not wear any wool while they are serving inside the gates of the inner open space or in the house.


text:
They will wear linen head-coverings and linen underclothes. They must not dress in anything that makes their bodies wet with heat.


text:
When they go out to the people in the outer open space, they must take off the clothes they wear while they serve Me, and lay them in the holy rooms. Then they will put on other clothes, so that they do not make the people holy because of their clothing.


text:
And they must not cut all the hair from their heads, yet they must not let their hair grow long. They must only cut their hair shorter.


text:
They must not marry a woman whose husband has died, or who has been divorced. But they may marry women of Israel who have never had a man, or a woman whose husband was a religious leader before he died.


text:
They will teach My people the difference between what is holy and what is not. And they will teach them to know what is unclean and what is clean.


text:
In an argument, the religious leaders will serve as judges, and will judge by My Laws. They will also keep My Laws in all My special suppers. And they will keep My Day of Rest holy.


text:
They must not make themselves unclean by going near a dead person. But they may make themselves unclean if the dead person is their father or mother, son or daughter, brother, or sister who was not married.


text:
And on the day he goes into the holy place, into the inner open space to serve in the holy place, he must bring his sin gift," says the Lord God.


text:
"I am to be the only part that the religious leaders have. You must not give them any land in Israel for their own. I am their part.


text:
They will eat the grain gift, the sin gift, and the guilt gift. Everything in Israel that is set apart to Me will be theirs.


text:
The first of all the first fruits of every kind, and every kind of gift you bring, will be for the religious leaders. And you must give them the first of your grain, so that good will come to your house.


text:
The religious leaders must not eat any bird or animal that has died of itself or has been torn to pieces.


text:
"When the land is divided and each family receives its part, you must give a part to the Lord. This will be a holy piece of land, as long as 12,500 long steps and as wide as 5,000 long steps. This whole piece of land will be holy.


text:
Of this, there will be a piece of land for the holy place, as long as 250 long steps and as wide as 250 long steps. It will have four sides of the same length. And there will be an open space around it as wide as fifty arm-lengths.


text:
In the holy piece of land, number a length of 12,500 long steps and a width of 5,000 long steps. And in it will be the most holy place.


text:
It will be the holy part of the land. It will be for the religious leaders, those who do the work in the holy place, who come near to serve the Lord. It will also be a place for their houses, and a holy place for the Lord's House.


text:
Another piece of land as long as 12,500 long steps and as wide as 5,000 long steps will be for the Levites who serve in the house. It will be land to build their houses on.


text:
Next to the holy piece of land, another piece as wide as 2,500 long steps and as long as 12,500 long steps will be set aside for a city belonging to all the people of Israel.


text:
The ruler will have land on both sides of the holy piece of land and the place for the city. His land will be next to these two pieces of land, on the west side and on the east side. It will be as long as one of the shares of land, from the west side of the whole land to the east side.


text:
This land in Israel will belong to him. So My rulers will no longer make it hard for My people. They will give the rest of the land to the people of Israel by their family groups."


text:
'The Lord God says, "Enough, you rulers of Israel! Stop ruling in bad ways with your power and do what is right and good. Stop driving My people off their land," says the Lord God.


text:
One barrel of grain must be the same amount as one barrel of water. And one-tenth part of a barrel of grain must be the same amount as one-tenth part of a barrel of water.


text:
The silver piece of money must be worth the same as twenty small silver pieces. And sixty silver pieces of money must be worth the same as the heavy silver weight.


text:
"This is the gift that you must bring: One-sixtieth part of a barrel of wheat, one-sixtieth part of a barrel of barley,


text:
Also bring one lamb from each flock of 200 sheep from the well-watered fields of Israel. Bring them for a grain gift, a burnt gift, and a peace gift, to pay for the people's sins," says the Lord God.


text:
It will be the ruler's duty to bring the burnt gifts, the grain gifts, and the drink gifts, to the special suppers on the new moons and on the Days of Rest, and to all the special suppers of the people of Israel. He must bring the sin gift, the grain gift, the burnt gift, and the peace gifts, to pay for the sins of the people of Israel."


text:
'The Lord God says, "On the first day of the first month, you must take a young bull that is perfect and make the holy place clean.


text:
The religious leader will take some of the blood from the sin gift and put it on the door pillars of the house, on the four corners of the altar, and on the pillars of the gate of the inner open space.


text:
You must do the same on the seventh day of the month for every one who sins by mistake or because he does not know any better. In this way you will keep the Lord's house holy.


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"On the fourteenth day of the first month, you will have the Passover, a special supper that lasts for seven days. Every one will eat bread made without yeast.


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During the seven days of the special supper he will bring as a burnt gift to the Lord seven bulls and seven rams that are perfect, on each of the seven days. And he will bring a male goat each day for a sin gift.


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For a grain gift he will bring a tenth part of a barrel of grain for each bull, a tenth part of a barrel for each ram. And he will bring a large jar of oil for each tenth part of a barrel of grain.


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On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, and for the seven days of the special supper, he is to bring the same amount for the sin gift, the burnt gift, the grain gift, and the oil."


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'The Lord God says, "The east gate of the inner open space must stay shut during the six working days. But it may be opened on the Day of Rest and on the day of the new moon.


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The ruler will come in through the porch of the gate from outside and stand by the pillar of the gate. The religious leaders will make ready his burnt gift and his peace gifts, and he will worship at the gate and then go out. But the gate will not be shut until evening.


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The people of the land will also worship at the gate before the Lord on the Days of Rest and on the new moons.


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The burnt gift the ruler gives to the Lord on the Day of Rest will be six lambs that are perfect and a ram that is perfect.


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The grain gift will be one-tenth part of a barrel of grain with the ram, and as much grain as he is able to give with the lambs. And he will give a large jar of oil with each tenth part of a barrel of grain.


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On the day of the new moon he will give a young bull that is perfect, and six lambs and a ram that are perfect.


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He will give a grain gift, one-tenth part of a barrel of grain with the bull, one-tenth part of a barrel of grain with the ram, and as much grain as he is able to give with the lambs. And he will give a large jar of oil with each tenth part of a barrel of grain.


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But when the people of the land come before the Lord at the special suppers, he who comes in through the north gate to worship must go out through the south gate. And he who comes in through the south gate must go out through the north gate. No one should leave through the same gate that he came in. Each person must go out the gate on the other side from where he came in.


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At the special times and special suppers, the grain gift will be one-tenth part of a barrel of grain with a bull, and one-tenth part of a barrel with a ram. A person should give as much grain as he is able to give with the lambs. And he will give a large jar of oil with each tenth part of a barrel of grain.


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When the ruler brings a free-will gift to the Lord, a burnt gift or a peace gift, the east gate must be opened for him. He will bring his burnt gift and his peace gifts as he does on the Day of Rest. Then he will leave, and the gate will be shut after he goes out.


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"You must bring a one-year-old lamb that is perfect for a burnt gift to the Lord each day. Morning by morning you must bring it.


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And you must bring a grain gift with it each morning. Bring one-sixtieth part of a barrel of grain, and one-third part of a large jar of oil to mix with the flour. This is the law for the grain gift to the Lord forever.


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In this way the lamb, the grain gift and the oil will be brought each morning for a burnt gift forever."


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'The Lord God says, "If the ruler gives some of his land to any of his sons, it will belong to his sons. They will own the land for their families.


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But if he gives some of his land to one of his servants, it will be his until the year he is set free. Then it will be returned to the ruler. His land may be kept only by his sons. It will belong to them.


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The ruler must not take any land from the people, driving them away from what belongs to them. He must give only his own land to his sons, so that My people will not be divided from what belongs to them." ' "


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Then he brought me through the door beside the gate into the holy rooms for the religious leaders, toward the north. And I saw a place at the far west end.


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He said to me, "This is the place where the religious leaders will boil the guilt gift and the sin gift, and make the grain gift ready. This is so they will not bring them into the outer open space and make the people holy."


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Then he brought me into the outer open space and led me to its four corners. And in every corner I saw a small open space.


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In the four corners there were open spaces with walls around them, as long as twenty long steps and as wide as fifteen long steps. All four spaces in the corners were the same in length and width.


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Then he said to me, "These are the places where those who serve in the house will boil the gifts brought by the people."


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Then he brought me back to the door of the house. And I saw water flowing from under the doorway toward the east, for the house looked toward the east. The water was flowing from under the right side of the house, from south of the altar.


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He brought me out through the north gate and led me around on the outside to the east gate. And I saw water coming from the south side.


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Going toward the east, the man numbered 500 long steps, and he led me through the water, which covered my feet.


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He numbered another 500 long steps and led me through the water, which came up to my knees. He numbered another 500 long steps and led me through the water. This time it came above my legs.


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Again he numbered 500 long steps, and it was a river that I could not walk through. The water had risen. It was deep enough to swim in, and no one could cross it.


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He said to me, "These waters go out toward the east country and down into the Arabah, then flow into the Dead sea. When they flow into the sea, the waters there become clean again.


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Every living thing that gathers where the river goes will live. There will be very many fish, because these waters go there and make the salt water clean. So everything will live where the river goes.


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Fishermen will stand beside it. They will have places to spread their nets from Engedi to Eneglaim. The fish will be of many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea.


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All kinds of fruit trees will grow on both sides of the river. Their leaves will not dry up, and they will never stop giving fruit. They will give fruit every month because their water flows from the holy place. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing."


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The Lord God says, "This is how you should divide the land among the twelve family groups of Israel. Joseph will have two parts.


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You must divide the land so each family receives the same amount. For I promised to give this land to your fathers, and it will be your land to own.


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"This will be the side of the land: The north side will go from the Great Sea by way of Hethlon, and on to Zedad,


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Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim <n>(between the lands of Damascus and Hamath)</n>, and to Hazer-hatticon, by the land of Hauran.


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So the land will spread from the sea to Hazarenan on the north side of Damascus, with the land of Hamath toward the north. This will be the north side.


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The east side of the land will go from between Hauran and Damascus along the Jordan between Gilead and the land of Israel, to the sea in the east. This will be the east side.


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The south side of the land will go from Tamar as far as the waters of Meribath-kadesh, then to the River of Egypt and to the Great Sea. This will be the south side.


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The west side of the land will be the Great Sea, to a place beside Lebo-hamath. This will be the west side.


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Divide it by drawing names for yourselves and for the people from other lands who live with you and raise their children among you. You are to think of them as if they were born Israelites. They must be given a share of land with you among the families of Israel.


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The man from another country must be given a share of land among the family group he lives with," says the Lord God.


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"These are the names of the family groups: Dan will have one share of land at the far north. His land will follow the Hethlon road to Lebo-hamath, as far as Hazar-enan beside the land of Damascus, toward the north beside Hamath, going from east to west.


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"Beside Judah, from the east side to the west side, will be the share of land you must set apart as a special gift. It will be as wide as 12,500 long steps, and as long as one of the other shares of land, from the east side to the west side. And the holy place will be in the center of it.


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The gift of land that you will set apart to the Lord will be as long as 12,500 long steps and as wide as 5,000 long steps.


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There will be a holy part for the religious leaders. It will be as long as 12,500 long steps on the north side, 5,000 long steps on the west side, 5,000 long steps on the east side, and 12,500 long steps on the south side. The holy house of the Lord will be in the center of it.


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It will be for the religious leaders who are set apart of the sons of Zadok, who have been faithful in serving Me. They did not sin as the Levites did when the people of Israel went the wrong way.


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It will belong to them as a special gift from part of the land, a most holy place, beside the land of the Levites.


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The Levites will have land beside the religious leaders, as long as 12,500 long steps and as wide as 5,000 long steps. The whole length will be 12,500 long steps, and the width 5,000 long steps.


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They must not sell or trade any of it. This is the best part of the land, and it must not pass into other hands. For it is holy to the Lord.


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"The rest of the land, 2,500 long steps in width and 12,500 long steps in length, will be for all the people. It will be for houses and for open fields, and the city will be in the center of it.


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The rest of the length beside the holy part of the land will be 5,000 long steps toward the east and 5,000 long steps toward the west. This will be where food is grown for those who work in the city.


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The whole piece of land will be as long as 12,500 long steps on each of its four sides. You will set apart the holy piece of land, together with the land for the city.


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"The rest of the land will be for the ruler, on both sides of the holy piece of land and of the land for the city. It will go from the 12,500 long steps of the holy piece of land all the way to the east side, and from the 12,500 long steps all the way to the west side, along the shares for the family groups. It will belong to the ruler. The holy piece of land and the house of the Lord will be in the center of it.


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So the land of the Levites and the land of the city will be in the center of the ruler's land. And the ruler's land will be between the land of Judah and the land of Benjamin.


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"As for the rest of the family groups, Benjamin will have one share of land. It will spread from the east side to the west side.


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The south side of Gad's share will be from Tamar to the waters of Meribath-kadesh, then to the River of Egypt and to the Great Sea.


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This is the land you will give by drawing names to the family groups of Israel for their own. And these are their shares," says the Lord God.


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"These will be the gates of the city: Beginning on the north side, which is as long as 2,250 long steps,


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the gates of the city will be given the names of the family groups of Israel. The three gates on the north side will be the gate of Reuben, the gate of Judah, and the gate of Levi.


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The east side is as long as 2,250 long steps. The three gates on this side will be the gate of Joseph, the gate of Benjamin, and the gate of Dan.


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The south side is as long as 2,250 long steps. The three gates on this side will be the gate of Simeon, the gate of Issachar, and the gate of Zebulun.


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And the west side is as long as 2,250 long steps. The three gates on this side will be the gate of Gad, the gate of Asher, and the gate of Naphtali.


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It will be 9,000 long steps around the city. And the name of the city from that time on will be: 'The Lord is there.' "


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In the third year that Jehoiakim was king of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem. His army was all around the city.


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The Lord let him take King Jehoiakim of Judah, with some of the objects of the house of God. He brought them to the house of his god in the land of Shinar, and put the objects into the store-room of his god.


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Then the king told Ashpenaz, his head ruler, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, both those of the king's family and of the important leaders.


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They were to be young men, perfect in body, good-looking, with wisdom, understanding, much learning, and able to serve in the king's house. The king told Ashpenaz to teach them the writings and language of the Babylonians.


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And the king gave them a share of his best food and wine every day. They were to be taught for three years, and after that they were to serve the king.


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The king's head ruler gave them new names. To Daniel he gave the name Belteshazzar. To Hananiah he gave the name Shadrach. To Mishael he gave the name Meshach. And to Azariah he gave the name Abed-nego.


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But Daniel made up his mind that he would not make himself unclean with the king's best food and wine. So he asked the head ruler to allow him not to make himself unclean.


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The head ruler said to him, "I am afraid of my lord the king, who has said you were to have so much and he would see that you were not looking as good as the other young men who are as old as you. The king would cut off my head because of you."


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Then Daniel said to the man whom the head ruler had chosen to watch over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,


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Then compare how we look with the young men who are eating the king's best food. And do with us what you think is best by what you see."


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At the end of ten days they looked even better. They were fatter than all the young men who had been eating the king's best food.


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So the man who watch-ed over them took away the best food and the wine they were to drink, and kept giving them vegetables.


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God gave these four young men much learning and understanding in all kinds of writings and wisdom. Daniel even had understanding in all kinds of special dreams.


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At the end of the time set by the king to bring them in, the head ruler brought them to Nebuchadnezzar.


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The king talked with them, and found no one like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they became the king's own helpers.


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Every time the king asked them questions that needed wise and understanding answers, he found that they knew ten times more than all the wonder-workers under his rule who used their secret ways.


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In the second year that Nebuchadnezzar was king, he had a dream. His spirit was troubled and he could not sleep.


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Then the king called for the wonder-workers, those who used secret ways, those who learned from stars, to tell the king what he had dreamed. So they came in and stood in front of the king.


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Then those who learn from stars said to the king in the Aramaic language, "O king, live forever! Tell the dream to your servants, and we will tell you what it means."


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The king answered, saying, "My word is sure. If you do not tell me what my dream was and what it means, you will be torn apart and your houses will be laid waste.


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But if you tell me the dream and what it means, I will give you gifts and riches and great honor. So tell me the dream and what it means."


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They answered the king a second time, saying, "Let the king tell the dream to his servants, and we will tell you what it means."


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The king said, "I am sure that you are trying to get more time, because you see that my word is sure.


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You know that if you do not tell me what I dreamed, there is only one penalty for you. You have agreed among yourselves to keep telling me lies until things change. So tell me the dream. Then I will know that you can tell me what it means."


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Those who learn from stars answered the king and said, "There is not a man on earth who can do this for the king. For no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any wonder-worker or one who learns from stars.


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What the king asks is too hard. No one can do it for you except the gods, who do not live among men."


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Because of this the king became very angry and said that all the wise men of Babylon must be destroyed.


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So the law was sent out that the wise men must be killed. They looked for Daniel and his friends, to kill them also.


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Then Daniel spoke with wisdom and understanding to Arioch, the captain of the soldiers who watched over the king, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon.


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He said to Arioch, the king's captain, "Why is the king's law so hard?" Then Arioch told him what had happened.


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Then Daniel went to his house and told his friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, what had happened.


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He told them to ask for loving-pity from the God of heaven about this secret, so that Daniel and his friends might not be killed with the other wise men of Babylon.


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Then the secret was made known to Daniel in a special dream during the night. He gave honor and thanks to the God of heaven.


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He changes the times and the years. He takes kings away, and puts kings in power. He gives wisdom to wise men and much learning to men of understanding.


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I give thanks and praise to You, O God of my fathers. For You have given me wisdom and power. Even now You have made known what we asked of You. You have made the king's dream known to us."


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So Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had told to kill the wise men of Babylon. He went and said to him, "Do not kill the wise men of Babylon! Take me to the king, and I will tell him what his dream means."


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Then Arioch brought Daniel to the king in a hurry, and said to him, "I have found a man among those brought out of Judah who can tell the king the meaning of his dream!"


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The king said to Daniel <n>(also called Belteshazzar)</n>, "Are you able to tell me the dream I had, and what it means?"


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Daniel answered the king and said, "No wise men, wonderworkers, or men who use secret ways can make this dream known to the king.


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But there is a God in heaven who makes secrets known. And He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the future. This was the special dream you had while you were on your bed.


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O king, while on your bed your thoughts turned to what would happen in the future. And He Who makes secrets known has let you know what will happen.


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But this secret has not been made known to me because I am wiser than any other living man. It was made known to me so that I can make it known to the king, and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind.


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"O king, you were looking and saw a great object. The object was large and very bright, and it was standing in front of you. It filled you with fear and wonder as you looked at it.


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The object's head was made of fine gold. Its breast and arms were made of silver. Its stomach and thighs were made of brass.


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While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It fell and hit the large object on its feet of iron and clay, and crushed them.


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Then the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like dust on the grain-floor in the summer. The wind carried the dust away so nothing was to be found. But the stone that hit the large object became a large mountain and filled the whole earth.


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You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you the nation, the power, the strength, and the honor.


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In every place where people live, or the animals of the field, or the birds of the air, He has given them to you and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold.


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After you there will be another nation that is not as great as yours. A third nation of brass will come, which will rule over all the earth.


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Then there will be a fourth nation, as strong as iron. Iron crushes and breaks all things. So, like iron breaks things to pieces, this nation will crush and break all the others.


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Just as you saw the feet and toes made of part clay and part iron, it will be a divided nation. But it will have some of the strength of iron, just as you saw the iron mixed with the clay.


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As the toes of the feet were made of part iron and part clay, so some of the nation will be strong and part of it will be weak.


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As you saw the iron mixed with clay, they will try to join with one another. But they will not stay together any more than iron mixes with clay.


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In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a nation which will never be destroyed. And it will never be taken by another people. It will crush and put an end to all these nations, but it will last forever.


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You saw how a stone was cut out of the mountain by no human hands, and how it crushed the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold. The great God has shown the king what will happen in the future. The dream is true. And I have given you its true meaning."


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Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and gave honor to Daniel. He had a gift and special perfume brought to him.


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The king said to Daniel, "For sure your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and He makes hidden things known. For you have been able to make known this secret."


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Then the king gave Daniel much power and gave him many great gifts. He made him ruler over the whole land of Babylon and the head of all the wise men of Babylon.


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And Daniel asked the king to put Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego as leaders over the land of Babylon, while Daniel stayed near the king.


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King Nebuchadnezzar made an object of gold which looked like a god. It was fifteen times taller than a man, and as wide as three long steps. He set it up on the plain of Dura in the land of Babylon.


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Then Nebuchadnezzar called together all the captains, leaders, rulers, wise men, money-keepers, judges, and law-keepers of Babylon's lands. He called them to come to the first showing of the object that he had set up.


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So all the captains, leaders, rulers, wise men, money-keepers, judges, and law-keepers of Babylon's lands were gathered together for the special time of setting apart this object Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And they stood in front of it.


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Then the man who spread news for the king said in a loud voice, "This is what you must do, O people of every nation and language:


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When you hear the sound of the horns and harps, and all kinds of music, you are to get down on your knees and worship the object of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.


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Then all the people heard the sound of the horns and harps and all kinds of music. All the people of every nation and language got down and worshiped the object of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.


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You yourself, O king, have made a law that every man who hears the sound of the horns and harps and all kinds of music is to get down on his knees and worship the object of gold.


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There are certain Jews whom you have chosen as leaders over the land of Babylon. Their names are Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. These men have not listened to you, O king. They do not serve your gods or worship the object of gold which you have set up."


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Then Nebuchadnezzar became very angry and called for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. And they were brought to the king.


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Nebuchadnezzar said to them, "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the object of gold that I have set up?


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Now if you are ready to get down on your knees and worship the object I have made when you hear the sound of the horns and harps and all kinds of music, very well. But if you will not worship, you will be thrown at once into the fire. And what god is able to save you from my hands?"


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Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego answered and said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer to this question.


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If we are thrown into the fire, our God Whom we serve is able to save us from it. And He will save us from your hand, O king.


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But even if He does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the object of gold that you have set up."


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Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with anger, and he looked at Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego with an angry face. He had the fire made seven times hotter than it was.


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And he told certain powerful soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, and to throw them into the fire.


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So the men were tied up in their coats and head-coverings and their other clothes, and were thrown into the fire.


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Because the king had spoken that the fire was to be very hot, those men who put Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego into the fire were killed by the fire.


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Then King Nebuchadnezzar was very surprised and stood up in a hurry. He said to his leaders, "Did we not throw three men who were tied up into the fire?" They answered, "That is true, O king."


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He said, "Look! I see four men loose and walking about in the fire without being hurt! And the fourth one looks like a son of the gods <n>(or the Son of God)</n>!"


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Then Nebuchadnezzar came near the door where the fire was burning, and said, "Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!" So Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego came out of the fire.


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The captains, leaders, rulers, and the king's important men gathered around and saw that the fire had not hurt the bodies of these three men. Their hair was not burned. Their clothes were not burned. They did not even smell like fire.


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Nebuchadnezzar said, "Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. He has sent His angel and saved His servants who put their trust in Him. They changed the king's word and were ready to give up their lives instead of serving or worshiping any god except their own God.


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So I now make a law that if any people of any nation or language say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, they will be torn apart and their houses will be laid waste. For there is no other god who is able to save in this way."


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King Nebuchadnezzar sent this letter to all the people of every nation and language who live in all the world: "May you have much peace!


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How great are the special things He shows us! How powerful are His wonderful works! His nation lasts forever, and His rule is for all people for all time.


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But I had a dream that made me afraid. As I lay on my bed the pictures that passed through my mind filled me with fear.


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Then the wonder-workers, those who learn from stars, and those who use their secret ways, came in. I told them about the dream, but they could not tell me what it meant.


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At last Daniel came to me, who was given the name Belteshazzar after the name of my god. A spirit of the holy gods is in him, and I told him about my dream. I said,


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'O Belteshazzar, head of the wonder-workers, I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and that no secret is hidden from you. So tell me what dream I had, and what it means.


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This is what I saw in my mind as I lay on my bed: I saw a tree in the center of the land. It was very tall.


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The tree grew and became strong. Its top went up to the sky, and it could be seen to the end of the whole earth.


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Its leaves were beautiful and it had much fruit. It had enough food for everyone. The wild animals of the field rested in its shadow. The birds of the air lived in its branches. And every living thing was fed from it.


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'In the dreams I had as I lay on my bed, I looked and saw an angel who kept watch. He was a holy one who came down from heaven.


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He said in a loud voice, "Cut down the tree and cut off its branches. Tear off its leaves and throw away its fruit. Let the animals run from under it and the birds fly from its branches.


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Yet leave the base of the tree with its roots in the ground, and tie a chain of iron and brass around it. Leave it there in the new grass of the field. Let him be wet with the water from heaven on the grass in the early morning. Let him share with the wild animals in the grass of the earth.


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This penalty is by the law of the angels who keep watch. This is what the holy ones have decided, so that the living may know that the Most High is ruler over the nation of all people. He gives it to whomever He wants, and lets the least important of men rule over it."


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This is the dream that I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen. Now, Belteshazzar, tell me what it means. None of the wise men in my nation can tell me what it means, but you can. For the spirit of the holy gods is in you.'


text:
"Then Daniel <n>(also called Belteshazzar)</n> was afraid for a while. His thoughts filled him with fear. The king said, 'Belteshazzar, do not be afraid of the dream or its meaning.' Belteshazzar answered, 'My lord, if only the dream and its meaning had to do with those who hate you and fight against you!


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You saw the tree which grew large and strong, whose top went up to the sky and could be seen over all the earth.


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Its leaves were beautiful and it had much fruit, enough food for all. Wild animals of the field rested under it, and birds of the air lived in its branches.


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This tree is you, O king! For you have become great and strong. Your power has become great and has gone up to the sky, and your rule has gone to the end of the earth.


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The king saw an angel who kept watch, a holy one coming down from heaven and saying, "Cut down the tree and destroy it. Yet leave its base with its roots in the ground. Put a chain of iron and brass around it and leave it in the new grass of the field. And let him be wet with the water from heaven on the grass in the early morning. Let him share with the wild animals of the field for seven years."


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You will be driven away from all people and will live with the wild animals of the field. You will eat grass like cattle and become wet with the water from heaven. Seven years will pass until you understand that the Most High is ruler over the nations of men, and gives them to whomever He wants.


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It was said that the base of the tree and its roots must be left. This means that your nation will be returned to you after you understand that it is Heaven that rules.


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So, O king, may my words be pleasing to you. Turn away from your sins by doing what is right and good. Turn away from your wrong-doing by being kind to the poor. Then it may be that things will keep going well for you.'


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And he said, 'Is not this the great Babylon which I have built as a beautiful place for the king? I have built it by my great strength and for the greatness of my power.'


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Before the king was finished speaking, a voice came from heaven, saying, 'King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is said: Your power over the nation has been taken from you.


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You will be driven away from all people and will live with the wild animals of the field. You will eat grass like cattle. And seven years will pass until you understand that the Most High is ruler over the nations of men, and gives them to whomever He wants.'


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At once these words about Nebuchadnezzar came true. He was driven away from all people and began eating grass like cattle. His body became wet with the water from heaven, until his hair grew as long as eagles' feathers and his nails like those of birds.


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"But at the end of that time I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up toward heaven and my understanding returned to me. And I gave thanks to the Most High and praised and honored Him Who lives forever. For His nation lasts forever, and His rule is for all people for all time.


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All the people of the earth are thought of as nothing. He does as He pleases with the angels of heaven and the people of the earth. No one can hold back His hand or say to Him, 'What have You done?'


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At that time my understanding returned to me. And my honor and power were returned to me for the greatness of my nation. My wise men and my leaders began looking for me, and I was made king again, with even more greatness added to me.


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Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and honor the King of heaven. For all His works are true and His ways are right. And He is able to bring down those who walk in pride."


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King Belshazzar gave a special supper for a thousand of his important men, and drank wine with them.


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When Belshazzar tasted the wine, he had all the gold and silver cups brought which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the Lord's house in Jerusalem. The king sent for them so that he and his important men and all his wives could drink from them.


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So they brought the gold cups that had been taken from the house of God in Jerusalem. And the king and his important men and all his wives drank from them.


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All at once the fingers of a man's hand were seen writing on the wall near the lamp-stand of the king's house. And the king saw the back of the hand as it wrote.


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Then the king's face turned white, and his thoughts turned to fear. His legs became weak and his knees began shaking.


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The king called in a loud voice for the wonder-workers, the men who learned from stars and those who used their secret ways. He said to the wise men of Babylon, "Any man who can read this writing and tell me what it means will be dressed with purple clothing and have a chain of gold around his neck. And he will be the third in power in the nation."


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Then all the king's wise men came in. But they could not read the writing or tell the king what it meant.


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Then King Belshazzar was very afraid. His face lost even more of its color, and his important men did not know what to do.


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The queen heard the words of the king and his men, and came into the room where they were eating. She said, "O king, live forever! Do not let your thoughts make you afraid or your face turn white.


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There is a man in your nation who has the spirit of the holy gods in him. In your father's time light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him. And King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, made him the head of the wonder-workers, the men who learned from stars, and those who use their secret ways.


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This was because a special spirit was found in this Daniel whom the king called Belteshazzar. He had much learning and understanding to tell the meaning of dreams and secrets and to give answers to problems. Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what this means."


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So Daniel was brought to the king. And the king said to him, "Are you that Daniel who is one of the people whom my father the king brought from Judah?


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I have heard that the spirit of the gods is in you. Light and understanding and special wisdom have been found in you also.


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The wise men and wonder-workers were brought in to me so that they might read this writing and tell me what it means. But they could not tell me its meaning.


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Now I have heard that you are able to tell the meaning of such things and give answers to hard problems. If you are able to read the writing and tell me what it means, you will be dressed in purple and wear a chain of gold around your neck. And you will be the third in power in the nation."


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Then Daniel answered the king, saying, "Keep your gifts for yourself, or give them to someone else. But I will read the writing to the king and tell him what it means.


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O king, the Most High made your father Nebuchadnezzar king, and gave him greatness, honor, and power.


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Because of the greatness He gave to him, all the people of every nation and language shook in fear in front of him. He killed whomever he wanted. And he let live whomever he wanted. He gave honor to whomever he wanted. And he put down whomever he wanted.


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But when his heart and spirit became proud and he acted in pride, he was taken from his throne and his greatness was taken from him.


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He was driven away from people, and his mind became like that of an animal. He lived with the wild donkeys. He ate grass like cattle, and his body became wet with the water from heaven. It was like this for him until he understood that the Most High God is ruler over the nation of all men, and that He lets whomever He wants rule it.


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Yet you, his son Belshazzar, have not put away the pride from your heart, even though you knew all this.


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You have honored yourself more than the Lord of heaven. The cups of His house have been brought to you. And you and your important men and all your wives have been drinking wine from them. You have praised the gods of silver, gold, brass, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see, hear or understand. But you have not honored the God Who holds your life and your ways in His hand.


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And this is what it means: 'MENE' means that God has numbered the days of your rule and has brought it to an end.


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Then Belshazzar had them dress Daniel in purple and put a chain of gold around his neck. And he made it known that Daniel was the third most powerful ruler in the nation.


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It pleased Darius to choose 120 captains to rule over the people. They would rule over the whole nation.


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And three leaders were to rule over them, and Daniel was one. The captains were to answer to them, so that the king might suffer no loss.


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Then Daniel showed that he could do better work than the other leaders and captains because a special spirit was in him. So the king planned to give him power over the whole nation.


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Then the leaders and captains tried to find a reason to complain against Daniel about his duties over the nation. But they could not find any reason to complain or anything to blame him for, because he was faithful and honest and did not do anything wrong.


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Then these men said, "We will not find anything to say against Daniel unless it has to do with the Law of his God."


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All the leaders of the nation, the captains, the important men and the rulers have spoken with each other and have agreed that a new law should be made. The king should make a law that must be obeyed, saying that anyone who asks something of any god or man besides you, O king, for thirty days, must be thrown to the lions.


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O king, make this law now and write your name on it so that it may not be changed. It will be by the law of the Medes and Persians, and cannot be changed."


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When Daniel knew that the king had written his name on this law, he went into his house where, in his upper room, he had windows open toward Jerusalem. There he got down on his knees three times each day, praying and giving thanks to his God, as he had done before.


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So they went to the king and spoke to him about his law, saying, "Did you not write your name on a law which says that anyone who asks something of any god or man besides you, O king, for thirty days, is to be thrown to the lions?" The king answered, "This is true. It is by the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be changed."


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Then they said to the king, "Daniel, who is one of the people brought from Judah, does not listen to you, O king. He is not obeying the law that you wrote your name on. He is still asking things of his God three times a day."


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When the king heard this, he was very troubled and tried to think of a way to save Daniel. Even until sunset he was trying to find a way to save him.


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Then these men came as a group to the king and said, "Understand, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that any law the king makes cannot be changed."


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So the king had Daniel brought in and thrown into the place where lions were kept. The king said to Daniel, "May your God, Whom you are faithful to serve, save you."


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And a stone was brought and laid over the mouth of the hole. The king marked it with his own special ring and with the rings of his important men, so that no one could save Daniel.


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Then the king went to his beautiful house and spent the night without food and sleep. And nothing was brought to make him feel better.


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When he came to the hole in the ground where Daniel was, he called to him with a troubled voice, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, Whom you always serve, been able to save you from the lions?"


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My God sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths. They have not hurt me, because He knows that I am not guilty, and because I have done nothing wrong to you, O king."


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Then the king was very pleased and had Daniel taken up out of the hole in the ground. So they took Daniel out of the hole and saw that he had not been hurt at all, because he had trusted in his God.


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Then the king had those men brought to him who had spoken against Daniel. And they threw them with their wives and children into the hole with the lions. Even before they hit the bottom of the hole, the lions went after them and crushed all their bones.


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Then King Darius wrote to all the people of every nation and language who were living on the earth. He wrote, "May you have much peace!


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I make a law that all those under my rule are to fear and shake before the God of Daniel. For He is the living God and He lives forever. His nation will never be destroyed and His rule will last forever.


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He saves and brings men out of danger, and shows His great power in heaven and on earth. And He has saved Daniel from the power of the lions."


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In the first year that Belshazzar was king of Babylon, Daniel had a special dream in his mind as he lay on his bed. And he wrote the dream down, telling what he saw.


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Daniel said, "In my dream at night I looked and saw the four winds of heaven causing waves in the great sea.


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The first was like a lion and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were pulled off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man. A man's heart was given to it also.


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Then I saw a second animal, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth. And it was told, 'Get up, and eat much meat!'


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Then I looked and saw another animal, which looked like a leopard. It had four wings of a bird on its back, and four heads. And it was given the power to rule.


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After this I looked in my dream in the night and saw a fourth animal. It filled me with a very great fear. It was very strong and it had large, iron teeth. It ate and crushed, and whatever was left, it crushed with its feet. It was different from all the animals that were before it, and it had ten horns.


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While I was thinking about the horns, I saw another horn, a little one, come up among them. And three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots in front of it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth which spoke in pride.


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"As I kept looking, thrones were set up and the One Who has lived forever took His seat. His clothing was as white as snow and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne and its wheels were a burning fire.


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A river of fire was flowing and coming out from before Him. Many thousands were serving Him, and many millions were standing before Him. The Judge was seated, and The Books were opened.


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I kept looking because of the sound of the proud words which the horn was speaking. I watched until the fourth animal was killed, and its body was destroyed and thrown into the burning fire.


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"I kept looking in the night dream and saw One like a Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He came to the One Who has lived forever, and was brought before Him.


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And He was given power and shining-greatness, and was made King, so that all the people of every nation and language would serve Him. His rule lasts forever. It will never pass away. And His nation will never be destroyed.


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I went to one of those who were standing near and asked him the true meaning of all this. So he told me what these things meant.


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Then I wanted to know the true meaning of the fourth animal which was different from all the others. It filled me with fear, with its iron teeth and sharp nails of brass. It ate and crushed, and whatever was left it crushed with its feet.


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I wanted to know about the ten horns on its head, and the other horn which came up. I wanted to know about the three horns that fell in front of this larger horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke proud words.


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until the One came Who has lived forever. This One judged in favor of the holy ones of the Most High. And the time came when the holy ones took the nation for their own.


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"He told me, 'The fourth animal will be a fourth nation on the earth. It will be different from all the other nations. It will destroy the whole earth. And it will crush under foot whatever is left.


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The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this nation. And another will come after them who will be different from the ones before. He will put three kings under his power.


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He will speak against the Most High and make it hard for His holy ones. And he will try to make changes in times and in law. The holy ones will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time <n>(three and a half years)</n>.


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But the Judge will decide against him. And his ruling power will be taken away and destroyed forever.


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Then the ruling power and greatness of all the nations under the whole heaven will be given to the holy people of the Most High. His nation will last forever, and all rulers will serve and obey Him.'


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This is the end of the special dream. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts filled me with fear and my face turned white. But I kept everything to myself."


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In the dream I looked and saw that I was in the strong city of Susa, in the land of Elam. I saw that I was beside the Ulai River.


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Then I looked up and saw a ram with two horns standing by the river. The two horns were long, but one was longer than the other. And the longer one came up last.


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I saw the ram pushing to the west, to the north, and to the south. No other animals could stop him or be saved from his power. He did as he pleased and made himself great.


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While I was watching, a male goat came from the west across the whole earth without touching the ground. And the goat had a horn between his eyes that was very easy to see.


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He came up to the ram with the two horns, which I had seen standing by the river, and rushed at him in his strong anger.


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I saw him come at the ram in his anger. He hit the ram and broke his two horns to pieces. The ram was not strong enough to fight against him. So the goat threw him to the ground and crushed him under foot. And there was no one to save the ram from his power.


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Then the male goat became very great. But as soon as he was powerful, the large horn was broken. And four large horns came up in its place, toward the four winds of heaven.


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Out of them came a little horn which grew in power toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Beautiful Land.


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It grew to be as great as the army of heaven and made some of them fall to the earth, and it crushed them into the ground.


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It thought itself to be as great as the Ruler of the army of heaven. It took away the burnt gifts which were given to Him each day, and destroyed His holy place.


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Because of sin, the army of heaven and the burnt gifts were given over to the horn. It did well in whatever it wanted to do, and truth was thrown to the ground.


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Then I heard a holy one speaking. And another holy one said to the one that spoke, "How long will it take for the things seen in the dream to happen? How long will the burnt gifts be taken, and sin allowed to destroy, so that the holy place and the army of heaven are crushed under foot?"


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When I, Daniel, had seen the special dream, I tried to understand it. Then I saw one standing in front of me who looked like a man.


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And I heard a man's voice from the Ulai River. He called out and said, "Gabriel, help this man to understand the special dream."


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When he came near the place where I was standing, I was afraid and fell on my face to the ground. But he said to me, "Son of man, understand that the special dream is about the time of the end."


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While he was talking to me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground. But he touched me and made me stand up.


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He said, "I am going to let you know what the end of God's anger will be. For the special dream is about the time of the end.


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The broken horn and the four horns that grew in its place are the four nations which will come from his nation. But they will not be as powerful.


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In the later part of their rule, when they have become as sinful as they can be, a king will rise to power. This king will be very proud and will understand secret things.


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He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will destroy much, and do well in whatever he wants done. He will destroy powerful men and the holy people.


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He will do well by using his false ways and lies, and will think of himself as great. He will destroy many who are taking it easy. He will even go against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by a human hand.


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The special dream of the evenings and mornings that has been given to you is true. But keep the dream secret, for it has to do with things far into the future."


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I, Daniel, was tired and sick for days. Then I got up again and did the work that the king had given me. But I was filled with wonder because of the special dream, and did not understand it.


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In the first year of his rule, I, Daniel, understood the books which were given by the Lord through Jeremiah that Jerusalem would lie waste for seventy years.


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So I turned to the Lord God in prayer and did not eat. I dressed in cloth made from hair, and threw ashes on myself.


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I prayed to the Lord my God and told him the sins of my people, saying, "O Lord, you are great and we fear You. You keep Your agreement and show loving-kindness to those who love You and keep Your Laws.


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"But we have sinned. We have done wrong and have acted in sin. We have turned against You and against Your Laws.


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We have not listened to Your servants who spoke for You, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our leaders, our fathers, and all the people of the land.


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You are right and good, O Lord. But we are all covered with shame, all the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, and all Israel. The people both near and far away in all the countries where You have driven us are covered with shame because they have not been faithful to You.


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We, our kings, our leaders and our fathers are all covered with shame, O Lord, because we have sinned against You.


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We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by following the Laws He gave us through His servants who spoke for Him.


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All Israel has sinned against Your Law and turned away, not obeying Your voice. So the curses and punishments have been poured out on us, which were written about in the Law of God's servant Moses. For we have sinned against Him.


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He has done what He said He would do against us and our leaders, and has brought much trouble upon us. For under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem.


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All this trouble has come upon us just as it is written in the Law of Moses. Yet we have not looked for the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our sin and following Your truth.


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So the Lord brought trouble upon us. For the Lord our God is right and good in all He does, but we have not obeyed His voice.


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"O Lord our God, You have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a powerful hand. And You have made a name for Yourself that is known to this day. Now we have sinned. We have done sinful things.


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O Lord, because You are right and good in what You do, do not be angry any longer with Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain. For because of our sins and the sins of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have been put to shame by everyone around us.


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So now, our God, listen to Your servant's prayer and what he is asking. And for Your good, O Lord, look with favor upon the House of God which now lies waste.


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O my God, turn Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our trouble and the city that is called by Your name. We are not asking this of You because we are right or good, but because of Your great loving-pity.


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O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! For Your own good, O my God, do not wait, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name."


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I was speaking and praying, and telling the Lord my sin and the sin of my people Israel. I was asking the Lord my God to show favor to His holy mountain.


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And while I was still praying, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen before in the dream, flew to me in a hurry at about the time when the evening gift is given in worship.


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He talked to me and told me things, saying, "O Daniel, I have now come to give you wisdom and understanding.


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As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you. For you are loved very much. So listen to what I say and understand the special dream.


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"Seventy weeks are given for your people and your holy city to finish the wrong-doing and put an end to sin. By the end of this time, you must pay for your sins and follow what is right and good forever. You must finish what was shown in the special dream and what has been spoken in My name, and set apart the most holy place.


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Know and understand that seven weeks and sixty-two weeks will pass from the time the people are told to build Jerusalem again until the Chosen One comes. It will be built again, with streets and with a ditch of water around it. But that will be a troubled time.


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After the sixty-two weeks, the Chosen One will be killed and have nothing. And the people of the ruler who is to come will destroy the city and the holy place. The end will come like a flood. Even to the end there will be war. For the Lord has said that much will be destroyed.


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That ruler will make a strong agreement with many for one week. But when half that time is past, he will put a stop to burnt gifts and grain gifts. And a very sinful man-made god will be put there. It will stay there until the one who put it there is destroyed."


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In the third year that Cyrus was the king of Persia, some news was made known to Daniel <n>(who was called Belteshazzar)</n>. The news was true and it was about a battle. He received understanding of the news in a special dream.


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I did not eat any fine food, and no meat or wine came into my mouth. And I did not use any oil at all, until the three weeks were finished.


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His body was like shining stone. His face looked like lightning. His eyes were like fire. His arms and feet were like shining brass. And his voice was like the noise of many people.


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I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the special dream. The men who were with me did not see it. But they were filled with much fear, and ran away to hide themselves.


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So I was left alone and saw this special dream. I had no strength left. My skin color turned white as if I were dead, and there was no strength left in me.


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Then I heard the sound of his words. And as soon as I heard him speak, I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground.


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And he said to me, "O Daniel, you who are loved very much, understand what I am about to tell you, and stand up. For I have now been sent to you." When he said this to me, I stood up shaking in fear.


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Then he said to me, "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind on understanding and getting rid of your pride before your God, your words were heard. And I have come because of your words.


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But the ruler of Persia stood against me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the leading princes of honor, came to help me, because I had been left there with the king of Persia.


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Now I have come to help you understand what will happen to your people in the last days. For the special dream is about the days yet to come."


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Then one who looked like a man touched my lips, and I opened my mouth and spoke. I said to him who was standing in front of me, "O my lord, pain has come to me because of the special dream, and I have no strength left.


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He said, "O man who is loved very much, do not be afraid. May peace be with you. Be strong and have strength of heart." And when he had spoken to me, I received strength, and said, "May my lord speak, for you have given me strength."


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He said, "Do you understand why I have come to you? Soon I will return to fight against the ruler of Persia. And when I go, the ruler of Greece will come.


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But first I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth. <n>(No one helps me against these rulers except Michael, your leading angel.


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I tell you the truth. Three more kings will rule over Persia. Then a fourth will become much richer than all of them. As soon as he becomes strong because of his riches, he will move everyone against the nation of Greece.


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But as soon as he has risen to power, his nation will be broken and divided to the four winds of heaven. It will not be divided among his own children, or because of his own power. For his power will be taken and given to others besides these.


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"Then the king of the South will become strong. But one of his leaders will become stronger than he and will rule with much power.


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After some years they will join together. The daughter of the king of the South will come to the king of the North to make an agreement. But she will not keep her power, and he will not keep his. She will be killed, together with those who brought her, and her father, and the one who helped her.


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But one of her family will become king in his place. He will fight against the army and go into the strong city of the king of the North. He will fight against them and win.


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And he will carry their false gods and objects of silver and gold away to Egypt. For some years he will leave the king of the North alone.


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Then the king of the North will go to fight against the king of the South, but will return to his own land.


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"His sons will get ready for war and gather together a very large army. They will come like a flood and pass through, and fight in battle as far as his strong city.


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The king of the South will be very angry and will go and fight with the king of the North, who will have a very large army. But his army will be given over to the king of the South.


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When the army is taken away, the king of the South will become very proud, and he will kill tens of thousands. But his strength will not last.


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For the king of the North will gather together a larger army than before. And after some years he will come with a large army ready to do battle.


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"In those times many will fight against the king of the South. Angry men among your people will also go against the king to do what was shown in the special dream, but they will not win.


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Then the king of the North will come and build a battle-wall, and take a very strong city. The army of the South will not be able to stand against him, not even their best soldiers. They will not have enough strength.


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The king of the North will do as he pleases. No one will be able to stand against him. He will stay for awhile in the Beautiful Land with the power to destroy it.


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He will plan to come with the strength of his whole nation and will make a peace agreement with the king of the South. He will give him a daughter in marriage to try to destroy his nation. But she will not help him or be on his side.


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Then he will turn to the lands beside the sea and take many in battle. But a captain will stop him <n>(king of the North)</n> in his pride, and cause trouble to be put on him.


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So he will turn to the strong cities of his own land. But he will lose his step and fall, and will not be seen again.


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"Then one will become king in his place, who will send a man through his great nation to make the people pay taxes. Yet within a short time that king will be killed, but not in anger or in battle.


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A very sinful person will rise to power in his place. He will not be given the honor of being king, but he will come in a time of peace and take over the nation using smooth sounding words and false ways.


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And after a peace agreement is made with him, he will use false ways and become strong with a small army.


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In a time of peace he will go into the richest parts of the land, and do what his fathers and his fathers' fathers never did. He will divide the things taken in war and things of worth among them, and make plans against strong cities, but only for a time.


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He will gather all his strength against the king of the South with a large army. So the king of the South will gather together a very large and powerful army for war, but he will not win the battle. Secret plans will be made against him.


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Those who eat his best food will destroy him. And his army will be driven away and many will be killed.


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The hearts of both kings will be sinful. They will lie to each other at the same table. But nothing will come of it, for the end will still come at the chosen time.


text:
Then the king of the North will return to his land with many things of much worth. But his heart will be set against the holy agreement. He will work against it and then return to his own land.


text:
For ships of Kittim will come against him, and he will be afraid and turn back. He will return in anger and go against the holy agreement. He will come back and show favor to those who have turned away from the holy agreement.


text:
His armies will come and make the house of God unclean, and put an end to the burnt gifts. Then they will set up the very sinful manmade god.


text:
He will speak well of those who sin against the agreement. But the people who know their God will show their strength and stand against him.


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Those people who are wise will make many understand. But for many days they will be killed by the sword or by fire, or be taken to prison or robbed.


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Some of the wise people will be hurt, but this is so they will be made pure through punishment until the time of the end. For the end will still come at the chosen time.


text:
"Then the king will do as he pleases. He will honor himself more than every god, and will say very bad things against the God of gods. Everything will go well for him until the time of anger is finished. For what has been planned will be done.


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He will not care about the gods of his fathers or for the one that women like. He will not care about any other god, for he will honor himself more than any of them.


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Instead he will honor a god of strong cities, a god his fathers did not know. He will honor him with gold, silver, stones of much worth, and riches.


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And he will fight against the strongest cities with the help of a strange god. He will give great honor to those who follow him, and will let them rule over many people. And he will divide the land for a price.


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"At the time of the end the king of the South will go against him. And the king of the North will fight against him with war-wagons, horsemen, and many ships. He will come into countries like a flood and pass through.


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He will also come into the Beautiful Land and many countries will be taken. But Edom, Moab and the leaders of Ammon will be saved from his power.


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He will get the hidden riches of gold and silver and all the things of great worth in Egypt. And the people of Libya and Ethiopia will follow behind him.


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But news from the East and from the North will trouble him, and he will go with much anger to kill and destroy many people.


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He will set up his tents made for kings between the sea and the beautiful holy mountain. Yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.


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"At that time the great angel Michael, who watches over your people, will rise up. And there will be a time of trouble, the worst since there was a nation. But at that time, every one whose name is written in the Book will be taken out of the trouble.


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Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will wake up. Some will have life that lasts forever, but others will have shame and will suffer much forever.


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Those who are wise will shine like the bright heavens. And those who lead many to do what is right and good will shine like the stars forever and ever.


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But as for you, Daniel, keep these words hidden and lock up the Book until the end of time. Many will travel here and there and knowledge will be more and more."


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Then I, Daniel, looked and saw two others. One was standing on this side of the river, and the other was standing on that side.


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And one said to the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, "How long will it be until the end of these wonders?"


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The man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven. And I heard him promise by Him Who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and a half a time <n>(three and a half years)</n>. As soon as the power of the holy people is broken, all these things will be completed.


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Many will be made pure and made white and tried, but the sinners will be very sinful. None of the sinful will understand, but those who are wise will understand.


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From the time the burnt gifts are stopped and the very sinful manmade god is set up, there will be 1,290 days.


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But go your way until the end. Then you will have rest, and will rise again to take your place at the end of time."


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The Word of the Lord came to Hosea the son of Beeri during the time that Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah were kings of Judah, and Jeroboam the son of Joash was king of Israel.


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When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to him, "Go and marry a wife who is not faithful in marriage, and have children from that woman. For the land is guilty of not being faithful to the Lord."


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And the Lord said to Hosea, "Name him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the people of Jehu for the killing at Jezreel. And I will put an end to the ruling power of the people of Israel.


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Then Gomer gave birth to a daughter. And the Lord said to Hosea, "Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have loving-pity on the people of Israel and forgive them.


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But I will have loving-pity on the people of Judah. I, the Lord their God, will save them. But I will not save them by bow, sword, war, horses, or horsemen."


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"Yet the number of the people of Israel will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not My people,' it will be said to them, 'You are the sons of the living God.'


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The people of Judah and the people of Israel will be gathered together, and they will choose one leader for themselves. And they will go up from the land, for the day of Jezreel will be a great day.


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"Speak with strong words to your mother. Speak with strong words, for she is not My wife and I am not her husband. Tell her to stop selling the use of her body and giving herself to other men.


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If she does not, I will put her to shame by taking off her clothes and show her as when she was born. I will make her like a desert, like a hot and dry land, and will kill her with thirst.


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Their mother has not been faithful. She who gave birth to them has acted in shame. For she said, 'I will go after my lovers. They give me my bread and water, my wool and linen, my oil and my drink.'


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She will go after her lovers but will not catch up with them. She will look for them but will not find them. Then she will say, 'I will return to my first husband. For it was better for me then than now.'


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"She does not know that it was I Who gave her the grain, the new wine, the oil, and all the silver and gold, which they used for the false god Baal.


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So I will take back My grain during the gathering time, and My new wine during its time. And I will take away My wool and My linen, which were given to cover her.


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So I will take away the covering of her shame in the eyes of her lovers. And no one will take her out of My hand.


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I will put an end to all her fun, her special suppers, her new moons, her Days of Rest, and all her special times for gathering together.


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I will destroy her vines and fig trees, which she said were her pay from her lovers. I will make many trees grow wild among them, and the animals of the field will eat them.


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I will punish her for the days she gave gifts in worship to the false gods of Baal. I will punish her for the times she forgot Me, and put on rings and other beautiful objects and went after her lovers'" says the Lord.


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I will give her grape-fields there, and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And she will sing there as she did when she was young, as in the day she came out of the land of Egypt.


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In that day'" says the Lord, "you will call Me, 'My Husband.' And you will no longer call Me, 'My Baal.'


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For I will take the names of the Baals from her mouth. The names of these false gods will never be spoken again.


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In that day I will make an agreement for them with the wild animals of the field, the birds of the sky, and the things which move upon the ground. I will put an end to the bow, the sword, and war in all the land. And I will let My people lie down in peace and be safe.


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I will promise to make you Mine forever. Yes, I will take you as My bride in what is right and good and fair, and in loving-kindness and in loving-pity.


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"In that day'" says the Lord, "I will give an answer to the heavens, and they will give an answer to the earth.


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The earth will give an answer to the grain, the new wine, and the oil. And they will give an answer to Jezreel.


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I will plant her for Myself in the land. Those who were not loved, I will call, 'My loved ones.' Those who were not My people, I will call, 'My people.' And they will say, 'You are my God!' "


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Then the Lord said to me, "Go again and love your wife, even when she is loved by another and is not faithful. Love her as the Lord loves the people of Israel, even when they turn to other gods and love cakes of dried grapes."


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Then I said to her, "You must stay with me for many days, and be faithful to me. Do not have another man, and I will also be faithful to you."


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For the sons of Israel will live many days without a king or leader, without holy gifts or holy stone pillars, and without linen vests or false gods.


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After this the sons of Israel will return and look for the Lord their God and for David their king. And they will come shaking before the Lord and receive His goodness in the last days.


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Listen to the Word of the Lord, O people of Israel, because He has something against the people of the land. "They are not faithful or kind, and no one in the land knows God.


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There is swearing, lying, killing, stealing, and sex sins. They are always hurting others, and there is one killing after another.


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The land is filled with sorrow. Everyone who lives on it wastes away, together with the animals of the field and the birds of the sky. Even the fish of the sea are taken away.


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"Yet let no one put blame or guilt upon another. For your people are like those who argue with the religious leader.


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You will fall during the day, and the religious leaders will fall with you during the night. And I will destroy your mother.


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My people are destroyed because they have not learned. You were not willing to learn. So I am not willing to have you be My religious leader. Since you have forgotten the Law of your God, I also will forget your children.


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"The more there were, the more they sinned against Me. I will change their shining-greatness into shame.


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The religious leaders will be punished the same as the people. I will punish them for what they have done.


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They will eat, but not have enough. They will do sex sins, but the number of their children will not grow because they have not been faithful to the Lord.


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They ask things of a wooden god and are answered by a stick of wood. A false spirit has led them the wrong way. They have not been faithful, and they have left their God.


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They give gifts in worship on the tops of the mountains and burn special perfume on the hills. They do this under oak, poplar and terebinth trees, because their shadow is pleasing. So your daughters are like women who sell the use of their bodies, and your brides do sex sins.


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I will not punish your daughters when they are like women who sell the use of their bodies, or your brides when they do sex sins. For the men themselves go with the sinful women to give gifts in worship to false gods. And people without understanding will be destroyed.


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"Even if you, Israel, are like women who sell the use of their bodies, do not let Judah become guilty. Do not go to Gilgal or up to Beth-aven. And do not swear, 'As the Lord lives!'


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The people of Israel are strong-willed like a young cow. How then can the Lord feed them like a lamb in a large field?


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Their strong drink is gone. They are like women who sell the use of their bodies all the time. Their rulers love shame.


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"Hear this, O religious leaders! Listen, O people of Israel! Listen, O family of the king! For you are to be judged. You have been a trap at Mizpah, and a net spread out on Tabor.


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I know all about Ephraim. Israel is not hidden from Me. O Ephraim, you have acted like a woman who sells the use of her body. Israel has made itself unclean.


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Their wrong-doing will not allow them to return to their God. For a spirit of a woman who sells the use of her body is within them, and they do not know the Lord.


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The pride of Israel speaks against them. Israel and Ephraim fall in their sin, and Judah has fallen with them.


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They will go with their flocks and cattle to look for the Lord, but they will not find Him. He has gone away from them.


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They have not been faithful to the Lord, for they have given birth to children who are not His. Now the new moon will destroy them with their land.


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"Blow the horn in Gibeah and in Ramah! Let the sound of danger be heard at Beth-aven! Look behind you, Benjamin!


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Ephraim will be laid waste in the day of punishment. Among the family groups of Israel I make known what is sure.


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The leaders of Judah are like those who take away the land-marks. I will pour out My anger on them like water.


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It is hard for Ephraim. He is crushed by punishment, because he wanted to follow what is of no worth.


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When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah saw his sore, then Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to King Jareb for help. But he is not able to cure you, or heal your sore.


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For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the people of Judah. I will tear them to pieces and go away. I will carry them away, with no one to take them.


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I will go away and return to My place until they know they are guilty and look for Me. In their suffering they will try to find Me."


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"Come, let us return to the Lord. He has hurt us but He will heal us. He has cut us but He will cover the sore.


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After two days He will give us new life. He will raise us up on the third day, that we may live before Him.


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So keep on trying to know the Lord. His coming to us is as sure as the rising of the sun. He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain giving water to the earth."


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"What should I do with you, Ephraim? What should I do with you, Judah? Your loving-kindness is like a morning cloud, and like the water on the grass in the early morning.


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So I have cut them in pieces by the men who speak for Me. I have killed them by the words of My mouth. My punishments come upon you like lightning.


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I want loving-kindness and not a gift to be given in worship. I want people to know God instead of giving burnt gifts.


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Like robbers lie in wait for a man, a group of religious leaders kill on the way to Shechem. For sure they have done a sinful thing.


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I have seen a very bad thing among the people of Israel. Ephraim has left Me to worship false gods. Israel has made itself unclean.


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"Whenever I would heal Israel, I see the sin of Ephraim and the wrong-doing of Samaria. They are false in their ways. The robber breaks into houses, and sinful men rob in the streets.


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They do not think about how I remember all the sinful things they do. Their sins are all around them, and are always before Me.


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None of them are faithful. They are like a hot stove whose fire the bread-maker leaves alone from the time he makes the dough until the bread rises.


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On the special day of our king the leaders became drunk with wine. He joined hands with those who laughed at the truth.


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Their hearts are like a hot stove as they make their plans. Their anger smokes all night, and in the morning it burns like a hot fire.


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All of them are hot like a stove, and they destroy their leaders. All their kings have fallen, and none of them calls to Me for help.


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Strangers destroy his strength, yet he does not know it. White hairs come upon him, yet he does not know it.


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Israel's pride speaks against him, yet they do not return to the Lord their God. Even for all this, they do not look for Him.


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When they go, I will spread My net over them. I will bring them down like the birds of the sky. I will punish them for the sinful things they have done.


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It is bad for them, for they have turned away from Me! They will be destroyed, for they would not obey Me! I would save them and make them free, but they speak lies against Me.


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They do not cry out to Me from their heart when they cry on their beds. They come together for grain and new wine, but turn away from Me.


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They do not turn to the Most High. They are like a bow that does not work right. Their leaders will be killed by the sword because of their proud words. And those in the land of Egypt will laugh at them.


text:
"Put the horn to your lips! Men who hate us are coming like an eagle to fight against the house of the Lord, because the people of Israel have sinned against My agreement and would not obey My Law.


text:
They have set up kings, but not by Me. They have chosen leaders, but I did not know it. They have made false gods for themselves out of silver and gold, so they will be destroyed.


text:
O Samaria, I will have nothing to do with the calf you worship. My anger burns against them! How long will it be before they are pure


text:
in Israel? A workman made this calf, so it is not God. The calf of Samaria will be broken to pieces.


text:
They plant the wind and they will gather the storm. The standing grain has no heads, and will give no food. If it were to give food, strangers would eat it.


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Even when they hire people among the nations to help them, I will now gather them together. And they will begin to waste away because the powerful king will make it hard for them.


text:
They give gifts to Me and eat the meat of the gifts, but the Lord is not pleased with them. Now He will remember their wrong-doing and punish them for their sins. They will return to Egypt.


text:
Israel has forgotten his Maker and built great houses. And Judah has built many strong cities ready for battle. But I will send a fire upon its cities that will destroy its beautiful houses."


text:
Do not be happy, O Israel! Do not be glad like the nations! For you have sinned like a woman who sells the use of her body, turning away from your God. You have loved selling yourselves on every grain-floor.


text:
The grain-floor and the place where the grapes are crushed will not feed them. And they will not have enough new wine.


text:
They will not stay in the Lord's land, but Ephraim will return to Egypt. And in Assyria they will eat unclean food.


text:
They will not pour out drink gifts of wine to the Lord. Their gifts of worship will not please Him. Their bread will be like the bread of those in sorrow. Everyone who eats it will be unclean, for their bread will be for themselves alone. It will not come into the house of the Lord.


text:
When trouble comes and the people try to get away, Egypt will gather them up. Memphis will bury them. Their riches of silver will be grown over by weeds, and thorns will be in their tents.


text:
The days of punishment have come, the days when the people must pay for their sins. Let Israel know this. The man who tells what will happen in the future is a fool. The man who is led by the spirit is crazy. This is because of all your sin and anger.


text:
Ephraim was meant to be a watchman who would speak for God. Yet there is a net in all his ways, and only anger in the house of his God.


text:
They have gone deep into sin, as in the days of Gibeah. The Lord will remember their wrong-doing, and will punish their sins.


text:
"I found Israel like grapes in the desert. I saw your fathers like the first-fruit on the fig tree in its first year. But they came to Baal-peor and gave themselves to that false god of shame. They became as sinful as the thing they loved.


text:
Ephraim's greatness will fly away like a bird. There will be no more children born to them, and they will not be able to have children.


text:
Even if they raise children, I will take them away and not leave anyone alive. It will be bad for them when I leave them!


text:
I have seen Ephraim planted in a good field like Tyre. But Ephraim will lead his children out to be killed."


text:
O Lord, what will You give them? Give them children who die before they are born, and make them not able to nurse their babies.


text:
"Because of all their sin at Gilgal, I hated them there. Because of the sinful things they did, I will drive them out of My house. I will not love them any more. All their leaders would not obey Me.


text:
Ephraim is destroyed. Their root is dried up and they will give no fruit. Even if they give birth, I will kill the children they love."


text:
My God will send them away because they have not listened to Him. And they will travel from nation to nation.


text:
Israel is a spreading vine full of fruit. The more fruit he had, the more altars he made. As his land became richer, he made his pillars for worship better.


text:
Their heart is not faithful, and now they must suffer for their sins. The Lord will break down their altars and destroy their pillars for worship.


text:
Then they will say, "We have no king because we do not fear the Lord. And what could a king do for us?"


text:
They speak empty words and make false promises, so punishment grows like weeds of poison in a plowed field.


text:
The people of Samaria will be afraid for the calf of Beth-aven. Its people will have sorrow for it. Its religious leaders who worship false gods will cry over it in a loud voice. They will cry because its greatness has gone.


text:
The thing itself will be carried to Assyria and given to King Jareb. Ephraim will be put to shame, and Israel will be ashamed of its false god.


text:
The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed. Thorns and thistles will grow on their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, "Cover us!" and to the hills, "Fall on us!"


text:
"You have sinned since the days of Gibeah, O Israel, and there you have stayed. Will not the sinners be destroyed in battle in Gibeah?


text:
I will punish them when I please. And the nations will be gathered against them when they are punished for their many sins.


text:
"Ephraim is a well-taught young cow that loves to crush the grain. But I will put a load on her beautiful neck. I will drive Ephraim. Judah must plow. And Jacob must break up the ground.


text:
Plant what is right and good for yourselves. Gather the fruit of lasting love. Break up your ground that has not been plowed. For it is time to look for the Lord, until He comes and pours His saving power on you.


text:
You have plowed wrong-doing and have gathered sin. You have eaten the fruit of lies. You have trusted in your own strength and in your many soldiers.


text:
The noise of battle will rise up among your people. All your strong cities will be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle. Mothers were crushed in pieces with their children.


text:
This will be done to you at Bethel because of your many sins. When the day begins, the king of Israel will be destroyed.


text:
The more I called them, the more they went from Me. They kept giving gifts in worship to the Baals and burning special perfume to false gods.


text:
Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk. I took them in My arms. But they did not know that I healed them.


text:
I led them with ropes of human kindness, with ties of love. I lifted the load from their neck and went down to feed them.


text:
"They will not return to the land of Egypt, and Assyria will be their king, because they would not return to Me.


text:
The sword will come upon their cities and destroy their gates. And it will destroy them because of their plans.


text:
My people are always turning from Me. Even when those who speak for the Lord call them to the Most High, no one honors Him.


text:
"How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I give you up, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart will not let Me do it. I love you very much.


text:
I will not do anything in My burning anger. I will not destroy Ephraim again. For I am God and not man. I am the Holy One among you, and I will not come in anger.


text:
They will follow the Lord, and He will make noise like a lion. Yes, He will make noise like a lion, and His children will come from the west shaking with fear.


text:
They will come shaking like birds from Egypt, and like doves from the land of Assyria. And I will return them to their homes'" says the Lord.


text:
"The lies of Ephraim and the lies of the people of Israel are all around Me. And Judah will not obey God, the One Who is holy and faithful."


text:
Ephraim's food is the wind, he goes after the east wind all day long. He tells many lies and does much in his anger. He makes an agreement with Assyria and takes oil to Egypt.


text:
The Lord has a cause against Judah, and will punish Jacob for his ways. He will make him pay for what he has done.


text:
He fought with the angel and won. He cried and begged for His favor. He met God at Bethel, and God spoke with him there.


text:
Ephraim has said, "I have become rich. I have found riches for myself. With all my riches they will not find any sin in me."


text:
"I am the Lord your God Who brought you out of Egypt. I will make you live in tents again, as in the days of your special suppers.


text:
I have spoken to the men who speak for Me. I have given many special dreams. And I gave picture-stories through the men who speak for Me."


