Good News Translation GNT
New International Version NIV
15 Those who try to hide their plans from the Lord are doomed! They carry out their schemes in secret and think no one will see them or know what they are doing.
15
Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the LORD, who do their work in darkness and think, “Who sees us? Who will know?”
16 They turn everything upside down. Which is more important, the potter or the clay? Can something you have made say, "You didn't make me"? Or can it say, "You don't know what you are doing"?
16
You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, “You did not make me”? Can the pot say to the potter, “You know nothing”?
17 As the saying goes, before long the dense forest will become farmland, and the farmland will go back to forest.
17
In a very short time, will not Lebanon be turned into a fertile field and the fertile field seem like a forest?
18 When that day comes, the deaf will be able to hear a book being read aloud, and the blind, who have been living in darkness, will open their eyes and see.
18
In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
19 Poor and humble people will once again find the happiness which the Lord, the holy God of Israel, gives.
19
Once more the humble will rejoice in the LORD; the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20 It will be the end of those who oppress others and show contempt for God. Every sinner will be destroyed.
20
The ruthless will vanish, the mockers will disappear, and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down—
21 God will destroy those who slander others, those who prevent the punishment of criminals, and those who tell lies to keep honest people from getting justice.
21
those who with a word make someone out to be guilty, who ensnare the defender in court and with false testimony deprive the innocent of justice.
22 So now the Lord, the God of Israel, who rescued Abraham from trouble, says, "My people, you will not be disgraced any longer, and your faces will no longer be pale with shame.
22
Therefore this is what the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, says to the descendants of Jacob: “No longer will Jacob be ashamed; no longer will their faces grow pale.
23 When you see the children that I will give you, then you will acknowledge that I am the holy God of Israel. You will honor me and stand in awe of me.
23
When they see among them their children, the work of my hands, they will keep my name holy; they will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 Foolish people will learn to understand, and those who are always grumbling will be glad to be taught."
24
Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding; those who complain will accept instruction.”
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.