King James Version KJV
Good News Translation GNT
1 Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;
1
You are doomed! You make unjust laws that oppress my people.
2 To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!
2
That is how you keep the poor from having their rights and from getting justice. That is how you take the property that belongs to widows and orphans.
3 And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?
3
What will you do when God punishes you? What will you do when he brings disaster on you from a distant country? Where will you run to find help? Where will you hide your wealth?
4 Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they 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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You will be killed in battle or dragged off as prisoners. Yet even so the Lord's anger will not be ended; his hand will still be stretched out to punish.
5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
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The Lord said, "Assyria! I use Assyria like a club to punish those with whom I am angry.
6 I will send him against an hypocritical 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 sent Assyria to attack a godless nation, people who have made me angry. I sent them to loot and steal and trample the people like dirt in the streets."
7 Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.
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But the Assyrian emperor has his own violent plans in mind. He is determined to destroy many nations.
8 For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?
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He boasts, "Every one of my commanders is a king!
9 Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus?
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I conquered the cities of Calno and Carchemish, the cities of Hamath and Arpad. I conquered Samaria and Damascus.
10 As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria;
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I reached out to punish those kingdoms that worship idols, idols more numerous than those of Jerusalem and Samaria.
11 Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?
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I have destroyed Samaria and all its idols, and I will do the same to Jerusalem and the images that are worshiped there."
12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.
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But the Lord says, "When I finish what I am doing on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, I will punish the emperor of Assyria for all his boasting and all his pride."
13 For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man:
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The emperor of Assyria boasts, "I have done it all myself. I am strong and wise and clever. I wiped out the boundaries between nations and took the supplies they had stored. Like a bull I have trampled the people who live there.
14 And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.
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The nations of the world were like a bird's nest, and I gathered their wealth as easily as gathering eggs. Not a wing fluttered to scare me off; no beak opened to scream at me!"
15 Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.
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But the Lord says, "Can an ax claim to be greater than the one who uses it? Is a saw more important than the one who saws with it? A club doesn't lift up a person; a person lifts up a club."
16 Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.
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The Lord Almighty is going to send disease to punish those who are now well-fed. In their bodies there will be a fire that burns and burns.
17 And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day;
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God, the light of Israel, will become a fire. Israel's holy God will become a flame, which in a single day will burn up everything, even the thorns and thistles.
18 And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standardbearer fainteth.
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The rich forests and farmlands will be totally destroyed, in the same way that a fatal sickness destroys someone.
19 And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.
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There will be so few trees left that even a child will be able to count them.
20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
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A time is coming when the people of Israel who have survived will not rely any more on the nation that almost destroyed them. They will truly put their trust in the Lord, Israel's holy God.
21 The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.
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A few of the people of Israel will come back to their mighty God.
22 For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
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Even though now there are as many people of Israel as there are grains of sand by the sea, only a few will come back. Destruction is in store for the people, and it is fully deserved.
23 For the Lord GOD of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land.
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Yes, throughout the whole country the Sovereign Lord Almighty will bring destruction, as he said he would.
24 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt.
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The Sovereign Lord Almighty says to his people who live in Zion, "Do not be afraid of the Assyrians, even though they oppress you as the Egyptians used to do.
25 For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.
25
In only a little while I will finish punishing you, and then I will destroy them.
26 And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.
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I, the Lord Almighty, will beat them with my whip as I did the people of Midian at Oreb Rock. I will punish Assyria as I punished Egypt.
27 And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.
27
When that time comes, I will free you from the power of Assyria, and their yoke will no longer be a burden on your shoulders."
28 He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages:
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The enemy army has captured the city of Ai! They have passed through Migron! They left their supplies at Michmash!
29 They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled.
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They have crossed the pass and are spending the night at Geba! The people in the town of Ramah are terrified, and the people in King Saul's hometown of Gibeah have run away.
30 Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim: cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth.
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Shout, people of Gallim! Listen, people of Laishah! Answer, people of Anathoth!
31 Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee.
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The people of Madmenah and Gebim are running for their lives.
32 As yet shall he remain at Nob that day: he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
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Today the enemy are in the town of Nob, and there they are shaking their fists at Mount Zion, at the city of Jerusalem.
33 Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled.
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The Lord Almighty will bring them crashing down like branches cut off a tree. The proudest and highest of them will be cut down and humiliated.
34 And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.
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The Lord will cut them down as trees in the heart of the forest are cut down with an ax, as even the finest trees of Lebanon fall!
The King James Version is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.