Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible RHE
GOD'S WORD Translation GW
1 Hear ye this word, which I take up concerning you for a lamentation. The house of Israel is fallen, and it shall rise no more.
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Listen to this message, this funeral song that I sing about you, nation of Israel:
2 The virgin of Israel is cast down upon her land, there is none to raise her up.
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The people of Israel have fallen, never to rise again. They lie abandoned in their own land. There is no one to help them.
3 For thus saith the Lord God: The city, out of which came forth a thousand, there shall be left in it a hundred: and out of which there came a hundred, there shall be left in it ten, in the house of Israel.
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This is what the Almighty LORD says: The city that sends 1,000 troops off to war will have [only] 100 left. The one that sends 100 troops off to war will have [only] 10 left for the nation of Israel.
4 For thus saith the Lord to the house of Israel: Seek ye me, and you shall live.
4
This is what the LORD says to the nation of Israel: Search for me and live!
5 But seek not Bethel, and go not into Galgal, neither shall you pass over to Bersabee: for Galgal shall go into captivity, and Bethel shall be unprofitable.
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But don't search [for me] at Bethel. Don't go to Gilgal. Don't travel to Beersheba. Gilgal will certainly go into exile. Bethel will come to nothing.
6 Seek ye the Lord, and live: lest the house of Joseph be burnt with fire, and it shall devour, and there shall be none to quench Bethel.
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Search for the LORD and live! If you don't, he will spread like a fire through the house of Joseph and burn it down. Bethel will have no one to put it out.
7 You that turn judgment into wormwood, and forsake justice in the land,
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You, Israel, turn justice into poison and throw righteousness on the ground.
8 Seek him that maketh Arcturus, and Orion, and that turneth darkness into morning, and that changeth day into night: that calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name.
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God made the [constellations] Pleiades and Orion. He turns deep darkness into dawn. He turns day into night. He calls for water from the sea to pour it over the face of the earth. His name is the LORD.
9 He that with a smile bringeth destruction upon the strong, and waste upon the mighty.
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He destroys strongholds and ruins fortresses.
10 They have hated him that rebuketh in the gate: and have abhorred him that speaketh perfectly.
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Israel, you hate anyone who speaks out against injustice. You are disgusted by anyone who speaks the truth.
11 Therefore because you robbed the poor, and took the choice prey from him: you shall build houses with square stone, and shall not dwell in them: you shall plant most delightful vineyards, and shall not drink the wine of them.
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You trample on the poor and take their wheat from them for taxes. That is why you build houses from hand-cut stones, but you will not live in them. You plant beautiful vineyards, but you will not drink their wine.
12 Because I know your manifold crimes, and your grievous sins: enemies of the just, taking bribes, and oppressing the poor in the gate.
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I know that your crimes are numerous and your sins are many. You oppress the righteous by taking bribes. You deny the needy access to the courts.
13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence at that time, for it is an evil time.
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That is why a wise person remains silent at such times, because those times are so evil.
14 Seek ye good, and not evil, that you may live: and the Lord the God of hosts will be with you, as you have said.
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Search for good instead of evil so that you may live. Then the LORD God of Armies will be with you, as you have said.
15 Hate evil, and love good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be the Lord the God of hosts may have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.
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Hate evil and love good. Then you will be able to have justice in your courts. Maybe the LORD God of Armies will have pity on the faithful few of Joseph.
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord the God of hosts the sovereign Lord: In every street there shall be wailing: and in all places that are without, they shall say: Alas, alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful in lamentation to lament.
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This is what the LORD, the Almighty God of Armies, says: There will be loud crying in every city square, and people will say in every street, "Oh, no!" They will call on farmers to mourn and on professional mourners to cry loudly.
17 And in all vineyards there shall be wailing: because I will pass through in the midst of thee, saith the Lord.
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There will be loud crying in every vineyard, because I will pass through your land [with death]. The LORD has said this.
18 Woe to them that desire the day of the Lord: to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light.
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How horrible it will be for those who long for the day of the LORD! Why do you long for that day? The day of the LORD is one of darkness and not light.
19 As if a man should flee from the face of a lion, and a bear should meet him: or enter into the house, and lean with his hand upon the wall, and a serpent should bite him.
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It is like a person who flees from a lion only to be attacked by a bear. It is like a person who goes home and puts his hand on the wall only to be bitten by a snake.
20 Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light: and obscurity, and no brightness in it?
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The day of the LORD brings darkness and not light. It is pitch black, with no light.
21 I hate, and have rejected your festivities: and I will not receive the odour of your assemblies.
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I hate your festivals; I despise them. I'm not pleased with your religious assemblies.
22 And if you offer me holocausts, and your gifts, I will not receive them: neither will I regard the vows of your fat beasts.
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Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I won't accept them. I won't even look at the fellowship offerings of your choicest animals.
23 Take away from me the tumult of thy songs: and I will not hear the canticles of thy harp.
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Spare me the sound of your songs. I won't listen to the music of your harps.
24 But judgment shall be revealed as water, and justice as a mighty torrent.
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But let justice flow like a river and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
25 Did you offer victims and sacrifices to me in the desert for forty years, O house of Israel?
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Did you bring me sacrifices and grain offerings in the desert for 40 years, nation of Israel?
26 you carried a tabernacle for your Moloch, and the image of your idols, the star of your god, which you made to yourselves.
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You carried along the statues of [the god] Sikkuth as your king and the star Kiyyun, the gods you made for yourselves.
27 And I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, the God of hosts is his name.
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I will send you into exile beyond Damascus, says the LORD, whose name is the God of Armies.
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