The Message Bible MSG
King James Version KJV
1 Doom to you who legislate evil, who make laws that make victims -
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Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;
2 Laws that make misery for the poor, that rob my destitute people of dignity, Exploiting defenseless widows, taking advantage of homeless children.
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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!
3 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?
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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?
4 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!
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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.
5 "Doom to Assyria, weapon of my anger. My wrath is a cudgel in his hands!
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O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
6 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.
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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.
7 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.
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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.
8 Assyria says, 'Aren't my commanders all kings? Can't they do whatever they like?
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For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?
9 Didn't I destroy Calno as well as Carchemish? Hamath as well as Arpad? Level Samaria as I did Damascus?
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Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus?
10 I've eliminated kingdoms full of gods far more impressive than anything in Jerusalem and Samaria.
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As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria;
11 So what's to keep me from destroying Jerusalem in the same way I destroyed Samaria and all her god-idols?'"
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Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?
12 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,
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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.
13 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.
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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:
14 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.'"
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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.
15 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!
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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.
16 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.
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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.
17 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.
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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;
18 God will destroy the splendid trees and lush gardens. The Assyrian body and soul will waste away to nothing like a disease-ridden invalid.
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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.
19 A child could count what's left of the trees on the fingers of his two hands.
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And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.
20 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.
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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.
21 The ragtag remnant - what's left of Jacob - will come back to the Strong God.
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The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.
22 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.
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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.
23 For the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, will finish here what he started all over the globe.
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For the Lord GOD of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land.
24 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.
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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.
25 In just a short time my anger against you will be spent and I'll turn my destroying anger on them.
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For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.
26 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.
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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.
27 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,
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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.
28 on to Aiath, through Migron, with a bivouac at Micmash.
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He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages:
29 They've crossed the pass, set camp at Geba for the night. Ramah trembles with fright. Gibeah of Saul has run off.
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They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled.
30 Cry for help, daughter of Gallim! Listen to her, Laishah! Do something, Anathoth!
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Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim: cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth.
31 Madmenah takes to the hills. The people of Gebim flee in panic.
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Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee.
32 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.
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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.
33 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.
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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.
34 His ax will make toothpicks of that forest, that Lebanon-like army reduced to kindling.
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And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.
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 King James Version is in the public domain.