The Message Bible MSG
English Standard Version ESV
1 God's Message came to me:
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The word of the LORD came to me:
2 "Son of man, now face Jerusalem and let the Message roll out against the Sanctuary. Prophesy against the land of Israel.
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"Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem and preach against the sanctuaries. Prophesy against the land of Israel
3 Say, 'God's Message: I'm against you. I'm pulling my sword from its sheath and killing both the wicked and the righteous.
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and say to the land of Israel, Thus says the LORD: Behold, I am against you and will draw my sword from its sheath and will cut off from you both righteous and wicked.
4 Because I'm treating everyone the same, good and bad, everyone from south to north is going to feel my sword!
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Because I will cut off from you both righteous and wicked, therefore my sword shall be drawn from its sheath against all flesh from south to north.
5 Everyone will know that I mean business.'
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And all flesh shall know that I am the LORD. I have drawn my sword from its sheath; it shall not be sheathed again.
6 "So, son of man, groan! Double up in pain. Make a scene!
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"As for you, son of man, groan; with breaking heart and bitter grief, groan before their eyes.
7 "When they ask you, 'Why all this groaning, this carrying on?' say, 'Because of the news that's coming. It'll knock the breath out of everyone. Hearts will stop cold, knees turn to rubber. Yes, it's coming. No stopping it. Decree of God, the Master.'"
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And when they say to you, 'Why do you groan?' you shall say, 'Because of the news that it is coming. Every heart will melt, and all hands will be feeble; every spirit will faint, and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it is coming, and it will be fulfilled,'" declares the Lord GOD.
8 God's Message to me:
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And the word of the LORD came to me:
9 "Son of man, prophesy. Tell them, 'The Master says: "'A sword! A sword! razor-sharp and polished,
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"Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord, say: "A sword, a sword is sharpened and also polished,
10 Sharpened to kill, polished to flash like lightning! "'My child, you've despised the scepter of Judah by worshiping every tree-idol.
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sharpened for slaughter, polished to flash like lightning!(Or shall we rejoice? You have despised the rod, my son, with everything of wood.)
11 "'The sword is made to glisten, to be held and brandished. It's sharpened and polished, ready to be brandished by the killer.'
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So the sword is given to be polished, that it may be grasped in the hand. It is sharpened and polished to be given into the hand of the slayer.
12 "Yell out and wail, son of man. The sword is against my people! The princes of Israel and my people - abandoned to the sword! Wring your hands! Tear out your hair!
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Cry out and wail, son of man, for it is against my people. It is against all the princes of Israel. They are delivered over to the sword with my people. Strike therefore upon your thigh.
13 "'Testing comes. Why have you despised discipline? You can't get around it. Decree of God, the Master.'
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For it will not be a testing--what could it do if you despise the rod?" declares the Lord GOD.
14 "So, prophesy, son of man! Clap your hands. Get their attention. Tell them that the sword's coming down once, twice, three times. It's a sword to kill, a sword for a massacre, A sword relentless, a sword inescapable -
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"As for you, son of man, prophesy. Clap your hands and let the sword come down twice, yes, three times, the sword for those to be slain. It is the sword for the great slaughter, which surrounds them,
15 People collapsing right and left, going down like dominoes. I've stationed a murderous sword at every gate in the city, Flashing like lightning, brandished murderously.
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that their hearts may melt, and many stumble. At all their gates I have given the glittering sword. Ah, it is made like lightning; it is taken up for slaughter.
16 Cut to the right, thrust to the left, murderous, sharp-edged sword!
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Cut sharply to the right; set yourself to the left, wherever your face is directed.
17 Then I'll clap my hands, a signal that my anger is spent. I, God, have spoken."
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I also will clap my hands, and I will satisfy my fury; I the LORD have spoken."
18 God's Message came to me:
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The word of the LORD came to me again:
19 "Son of man, lay out two roads for the sword of the king of Babylon to take. Start them from the same place. Place a signpost at the beginning of each road.
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"As for you, son of man, mark two ways for the sword of the king of Babylon to come. Both of them shall come from the same land. And make a signpost; make it at the head of the way to a city.
20 Post one sign to mark the road of the sword to Rabbah of the Ammonites. Post the other to mark the road to Judah and Fort Jerusalem.
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Mark a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the Ammonites and to Judah, into Jerusalem the fortified.
21 The king of Babylon stands at the fork in the road and he decides by divination which of the two roads to take. He draws straws, he throws god-dice, he examines a goat liver.
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For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination. He shakes the arrows; he consults the teraphim; he looks at the liver.
22 He opens his right hand: The omen says, 'Head for Jerusalem!' So he's on his way with battering rams, roused to kill, sounding the battle cry, pounding down city gates, building siege works.
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Into his right hand comes the divination for Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth with murder, to lift up the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up mounds, to build siege towers.
23 "To the Judah leaders, who themselves have sworn oaths, it will seem like a false divination, but he will remind them of their guilt, and so they'll 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, that they may be taken.
24 "So this is what God, the Master, says: 'Because your sin is now out in the open so everyone can see what you've been doing, you'll be taken captive.
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"Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have made your guilt to be remembered, 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 "'O Zedekiah, blasphemous and evil prince of Israel: Time's up. It's "punishment payday."
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And you, O profanewicked one, prince of Israel, whose day has come, the time of your final punishment,
26 God says, Take your royal crown off your head. No more "business as usual." The underdog will be promoted and the top dog will be demoted.
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thus says the Lord GOD: Remove the turban and take off the crown. Things shall not remain as they are. Exalt that which is low, and bring low that which is exalted.
27 Ruins, ruins, ruins! I'll turn the whole place into ruins. And ruins it will remain until the one comes who has a right to it. Then I'll give it to him.'
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A ruin, ruin, ruin I will make it. This also shall not be, until he comes, the one to whom judgment belongs, and I will give it to him.
28 "But, son of man, your job is to prophesy. Tell them, 'This is the Message from God, the Master, against the Ammonites and against their cruel taunts: "'A sword! A sword! Bared to kill, Sharp as a razor, flashing like lightning.
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"And you, son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord GODconcerning the Ammonites and concerning their reproach; say, A sword, a sword is drawn for the slaughter. It is polished to consume and to flash like lightning--
29 Despite false sword propaganda circulated in Ammon, The sword will sever Ammonite necks, for whom it's punishment payday.
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while they see for you false visions, while they divine lies for you--to place you on the necks of the profane wicked, whose day has come, the time of their final punishment.
30 Return the sword to the sheath! I'll judge you in your home country, in the land where you grew up.
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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'll empty out my wrath on you, breathe hot anger down your neck. I'll give you to vicious men skilled in torture.
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And I will pour out my indignation upon you; I will blow upon you with the fire of my wrath, and I will deliver you into the hands of brutish men, skillful to destroy.
32 You'll end up as stove-wood. Corpses will litter your land. Not so much as a memory will be left of you. I, God, have said so.'"
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You shall be fuel for the fire. Your blood shall be in the midst of the land. You shall be no more remembered, for I the LORD have spoken."
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.