Common English Bible CEB
New Revised Standard NRS
1 The LORD's word came to me:
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The word of the Lord came to me:
2 Human one, face Jerusalem, preach against their sanctuary, and prophesy against Israel's fertile land.
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Mortal, set your face toward Jerusalem and preach against the sanctuaries; prophesy against the land of Israel
3 Say to Israel's fertile land, The LORD proclaims: I'm now against you! I will draw my sword from its sheath and cut off both the righteous and the wicked from you.
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and say to the land of Israel, Thus says the Lord: I am coming against you, and will draw my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from you both righteous and wicked.
4 In order to cut off the righteous and wicked from you, my sword will go out from its sheath against everyone from south to north.
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Because I will cut off from you both righteous and wicked, therefore my sword shall go out of its sheath against all flesh from south to north;
5 And everyone will know that I, the LORD, have taken my sword out of its sheath. It won't be put away again.
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and all flesh shall know that I the Lord have drawn my sword out of its sheath; it shall not be sheathed again.
6 You, human one, groan in their sight; groan bitterly with trembling knees.
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Moan therefore, mortal; moan with breaking heart and bitter grief before their eyes.
7 If they ask you why you're groaning, say to them, "Because of the news." When it comes, every heart will despair, every hand will hang lifeless, every spirit will be listless, and urine will run down every leg. It's coming! It will happen! This is what the LORD God says.
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And when they say to you, "Why do you moan?" you shall say, "Because of the news that has come. Every heart will melt and all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint and all knees will turn to water. See, it comes and it will be fulfilled," says the Lord God.
8 The LORD's word came to me:
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And the word of the Lord came to me:
9 Human one, prophesy! Say, The Lord proclaims! Say: A sword! A sharp and polished sword!
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Mortal, prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord; Say: A sword, a sword is sharpened, it is also polished;
10 For utter slaughter it is sharpened, polished to flash like lightning. Let's not rejoice, because no one will escape the purge.
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it is sharpened for slaughter, honed to flash like lightning! How can we make merry? You have despised the rod, and all discipline.
11 He appoints it for polishing, to seize in the hand. The sword is sharpened, it is polished; it is ready for the destroyer's hand.
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The sword is given to be polished, to be grasped in the hand; it is sharpened, the sword is polished, to be placed in the slayer's hand.
12 Human one, cry aloud, and wail, for it comes against my people, against all of Israel's princes, handed over to the sword along with my people. Therefore, strike your thigh.
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Cry and wail, O mortal, for it is against my people; it is against all Israel's princes; they are thrown to the sword, together with my people. Ah! Strike the thigh!
13 He's testing. When even the rod rejects, will it not certainly happen? This is what the LORD God says.
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For consider: What! If you despise the rod, will it not happen? says the Lord God.
14 And you, human one, prophesy! Strike hand to hand. Let the sword strike twice, three times! It's a deadly sword, a great deadly sword. It whirls around them
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And you, mortal, prophesy; strike hand to hand. Let the sword fall twice, thrice; it is a sword for killing. A sword for great slaughter— it surrounds them;
15 to make hearts shudder, to make many stumble and fall. I've set the slaughtering sword against all their gates. Oh! It's crafted to flash like lightning, polished for slaughter!
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therefore hearts melt and many stumble. At all their gates I have set the point of the sword. Ah! It is made for flashing, it is polished for slaughter.
16 Stab again and again! Plunge right, plunge left, wherever your edge goes.
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Attack to the right! Engage to the left! —wherever your edge is directed.
17 It is I who strike hand to hand! I'll satisfy my wrath! I, the LORD, have spoken.
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I too will strike hand to hand, I will satisfy my fury; I the Lord have spoken.
18 The LORD's word came to me:
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The word of the Lord came to me:
19 You, human one, mark two roads for the coming of the sword of the king of Babylon. They should diverge from a single country. Where the road to the city begins, set up a sign,
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Mortal, mark out two roads for the sword of the king of Babylon to come; both of them shall issue from the same land. And make a signpost, make it for a fork in the road leading to a city;
20 and point out the way for the sword to come: "To Rabbah of the Ammonites" or "To Judah in its stronghold Jerusalem."
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mark out the road for the sword to come to Rabbah of the Ammonites or to Judah and to Jerusalem the fortified.
21 The king of Babylon stands at the fork in the road where the two roads begin and performs his divinations. He shakes the arrows, consults the divine images, and inspects the liver.
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For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way, at the fork in the two roads, to use divination; he shakes the arrows, he consults the teraphim, he inspects the liver.
22 On his right side appeared the omen for Jerusalem: to put battering rams in place, to proclaim war and raise the alarm, to place battering rams against the gates, and to set up siege ramps and build towers.
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Into his right hand comes the lot for Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to call out for slaughter, for raising the battle cry, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up ramps, to build siege towers.
23 It seems to them like a lying divination, because solemn pledges had been sworn to them. But he will remind them of their guilt, and they will be captured.
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But to them it will seem like a false divination; they have sworn solemn oaths; but he brings their guilt to remembrance, bringing about their capture.
24 So the LORD God proclaims: Now that you have remembered your guilt and your treacheries are exposed, your sins can be seen in everything you do. Because you have brought your guilt to light, you will be captured!
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Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have brought your guilt to remembrance, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your deeds your sins appear—because you have come to remembrance, you shall be taken in hand.
25 But you vile, wicked prince of Israel whose day has come, the time of final punishment,
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As for you, vile, wicked prince of Israel, you whose day has come, the time of final punishment,
26 this is what the LORD God says: Remove the turban, take off the crown! Nothing will be as it was. Bring down the exalted, and exalt the lowly.
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thus says the Lord God: Remove the turban, take off the crown; things shall not remain as they are. Exalt that which is low, abase that which is high.
27 A ruin, ruin, ruin, I'll make it! Such a thing has never happened! Even before the rightful judge comes, I've handed it over to him.
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A ruin, a ruin, a ruin— I will make it! (Such has never occurred.) Until he comes whose right it is; to him I will give it.
28 You, human one, prophesy and say, The LORD God proclaims to the Ammonites concerning their disgrace. Say, Sword! Sword unsheathed for slaughter, burnished, battle-ready, flashing like lightning:
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As for you, mortal, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord God concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their reproach; say: A sword, a sword! Drawn for slaughter, polished to consume, to flash like lightning.
29 False visions and lying divinations set you against the necks of vile, wicked men whose day had come, the time of final punishment.
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Offering false visions for you, divining lies for you, they place you over the necks of the vile, wicked ones— those whose day has come, the time of final punishment.
30 Return it to its sheath. In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you.
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Return it to its sheath! In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you.
31 I will pour out my wrath against you. With a raging fire I will blow against you, and I will hand you over to those who burn and forge destruction.
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I will pour out my indignation upon you, with the fire of my wrath I will blow upon you. I will deliver you into brutish hands, those skillful to destroy.
32 Fire will consume you, your blood will sink into the earth, and you will no longer be remembered. I, the LORD, have spoken.
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You shall be fuel for the fire, your blood shall enter the earth; you shall be remembered no more, for I the Lord have spoken.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.