Hebrew Names Version HNV
The Message Bible MSG
1 Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write perverseness;
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Doom to you who legislate evil, who make laws that make victims -
2 to turn aside the needy from justice, and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!
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Laws that make misery for the poor, that rob my destitute people of dignity, Exploiting defenseless widows, taking advantage of homeless children.
3 What will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will you flee for help? and where will you leave your glory?
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What will you have to say on Judgment Day, when Doomsday arrives out of the blue? Who will you get to help you? What good will your money do you?
4 They shall only bow down under the prisoners, and shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
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A sorry sight you'll be then, huddled with the prisoners, or just some corpses stacked in the street. Even after all this, God is still angry, his fist still raised, ready to hit them again. Doom to Assyria!
5 Ho Ashshur, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation!
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"Doom to Assyria, weapon of my anger. My wrath is a cudgel in his hands!
6 I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
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I send him against a godless nation, against the people I'm angry with. I command him to strip them clean, rob them blind, and then push their faces in the mud and leave them.
7 However he doesn't mean so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off not a few nations.
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But Assyria has another agenda; he has something else in mind. He's out to destroy utterly, to stamp out as many nations as he can.
8 For he says, Aren't my princes all of them kings?
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Assyria says, 'Aren't my commanders all kings? Can't they do whatever they like?
9 Isn't Kalno as Karkemish? Isn't Hamat as Arpad? Isn't Shomron as Dammesek?
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Didn't I destroy Calno as well as Carchemish? Hamath as well as Arpad? Level Samaria as I did Damascus?
10 As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, whose engraved images did excel them of Yerushalayim and of Shomron;
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I've eliminated kingdoms full of gods far more impressive than anything in Jerusalem and Samaria.
11 shall I not, as I have done to Shomron and her idols, so do to Yerushalayim and her idols?
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So what's to keep me from destroying Jerusalem in the same way I destroyed Samaria and all her god-idols?'"
12 Therefore it shall happen that, when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Tziyon and on Yerushalayim, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Ashshur, and the glory of his high looks.
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When the Master has finished dealing with Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he'll say, "Now it's Assyria's turn. I'll punish the bragging arrogance of the king of Assyria, his high and mighty posturing,
13 For he has said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I have understanding: and I have removed the bounds of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures, and like a valiant man I have brought down those who sit [on thrones]:
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the way he goes around saying, "'I've done all this by myself. I know more than anyone. I've wiped out the boundaries of whole countries. I've walked in and taken anything I wanted. I charged in like a bull and toppled their kings from their thrones.
14 and my hand has found as a nest the riches of the peoples; and as one gathers eggs that are forsaken, have I gathered all the eretz: and there was none that moved the wing, or that opened the mouth, or chirped.
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I reached out my hand and took all that they treasured as easily as a boy taking a bird's eggs from a nest. Like a farmer gathering eggs from the henhouse, I gathered the world in my basket, And no one so much as fluttered a wing or squawked or even chirped.'"
15 Shall the ax boast itself against him who hews therewith? Shall the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? as if a rod should wield those who lift it up, [or] as if a staff should lift up [him who is] not wood.
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Does an ax take over from the one who swings it? Does a saw act more important than the sawyer? As if a shovel did its shoveling by using a ditch digger! As if a hammer used the carpenter to pound nails!
16 Therefore will the Lord, the LORD of Hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory there shall be kindled a burning like the burning of fire.
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Therefore the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, will send a debilitating disease on his robust Assyrian fighters. Under the canopy of God's bright glory a fierce fire will break out.
17 The light of Yisra'el will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day.
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Israel's Light will burst into a conflagration. The Holy will explode into a firestorm, And in one day burn to cinders every last Assyrian thornbush.
18 He will consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and it shall be as when a standard-bearer faints.
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God will destroy the splendid trees and lush gardens. The Assyrian body and soul will waste away to nothing like a disease-ridden invalid.
19 The remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, so that a child may write them.
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A child could count what's left of the trees on the fingers of his two hands.
20 It shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Yisra'el, and those who are escaped of the house of Ya`akov, shall no more again lean on him who struck them, but shall lean on the LORD, the Holy One of Yisra'el, in truth.
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And on that Day also, what's left of Israel, the ragtag survivors of Jacob, will no longer be fascinated by abusive, battering Assyria. They'll lean on God, The Holy - yes, truly.
21 A remnant shall return, [even] the remnant of Ya`akov, to the mighty God.
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The ragtag remnant - what's left of Jacob - will come back to the Strong God.
22 For though your people, Yisra'el, be as the sand of the sea, [only] a remnant of them shall return: a destruction [is] determined, overflowing with righteousness.
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Your people Israel were once like the sand on the seashore, but only a scattered few will return. Destruction is ordered, brimming over with righteousness.
23 For a full end, and that determined, will the Lord, the LORD of Hosts, make in the midst of all the eretz.
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For the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, will finish here what he started all over the globe.
24 Therefore thus says the Lord, the LORD of Hosts, my people who dwell in Tziyon, don't be afraid of the Ashshur, though he strike you with the rod, and lift up his staff against you, after the manner of Mitzrayim.
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Therefore the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, says: "My dear, dear people who live in Zion, don't be terrorized by the Assyrians when they beat you with clubs and threaten you with rods like the Egyptians once did.
25 For yet a very little while, and the indignation [against you] shall be accomplished, and my anger [shall be directed] to his destruction.
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In just a short time my anger against you will be spent and I'll turn my destroying anger on them.
26 The LORD of Hosts will stir up against him a scourge, as in the slaughter of Midyan at the rock of `Orev: and his rod will be over the sea, and he will lift it up after the manner of Mitzrayim.
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I, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, will go after them with a cat-o'-nine-tails and finish them off decisively - as Gideon downed Midian at the rock Oreb, as Moses turned the tables on Egypt.
27 It shall happen in that day, that his burden shall depart from off your shoulder, and his yoke from off your neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed by reason of fatness.
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On that day, Assyria will be pulled off your back, and the yoke of slavery lifted from your neck." Assyria's on the move: up from Rimmon,
28 He is come to `Ayat, he is passed through Migron; at Mikhmash he lays up his baggage;
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on to Aiath, through Migron, with a bivouac at Micmash.
29 they are gone over the pass; they have taken up their lodging at Geva; Ramah trembles; Gevah of Sha'ul is fled.
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They've crossed the pass, set camp at Geba for the night. Ramah trembles with fright. Gibeah of Saul has run off.
30 Cry aloud with your voice, daughter of Gallim! listen, Layshah! You poor `Anatot!
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Cry for help, daughter of Gallim! Listen to her, Laishah! Do something, Anathoth!
31 Madmenah is a fugitive; the inhabitants of Gevim flee for safety.
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Madmenah takes to the hills. The people of Gebim flee in panic.
32 This very day shall he halt at Nov: he shakes his hand at the mountain of the daughter of Tziyon, the hill of Yerushalayim.
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The enemy's soon at Nob - nearly there! In sight of the city he shakes his fist At the mount of dear daughter Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
33 Behold, the Lord, the LORD of Hosts, will lop the boughs with terror: and the high of stature shall be hewn down, and the lofty shall be brought low.
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But now watch this: The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, swings his ax and lops the branches, Chops down the giant trees, lays flat the towering forest-on-the-march.
34 He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Levanon shall fall by a mighty one.
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His ax will make toothpicks of that forest, that Lebanon-like army reduced to kindling.
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.
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.