New International Version NIV
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees,
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Cursed are those who make evil decisions, and the writers who make the records of their cruel acts:
2 to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.
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Who do wrong to the poor in their cause, and take away the right of the crushed among my people, so that they may have the property of widows, and get under their power those who have no father.
3 What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches?
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And what will you do in the day of punishment, and in the destruction which is coming from far? to whom will you go for help, and what will become of your glory?
4 Nothing will remain but to cringe among the captives or fall among the slain. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.
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... For all this his wrath is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
5 “Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger, in whose hand is the club of my wrath!
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Ho! Assyrian, the rod of my wrath, the instrument of my punishment!
6 I send him against a godless nation, I dispatch him against a people who anger me, to seize loot and snatch plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets.
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I will send him against a nation of wrongdoers, and against the people of my wrath I will give him orders, to take their wealth in war, crushing them down like the dust in the streets.
7 But this is not what he intends, this is not what he has in mind; his purpose is to destroy, to put an end to many nations.
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But this is not what is in his mind, and this is not his design; but his purpose is destruction, and the cutting off of more and more nations.
8 ‘Are not my commanders all kings?’ he says.
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For he says, Are not all my captains kings?
9 ‘Has not Kalno fared like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad, and Samaria like Damascus?
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Will not the fate of Calno be like that of Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus?
10 As my hand seized the kingdoms of the idols, kingdoms whose images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria—
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As my hand has come on the kingdoms of the images, whose pictured images were more in number than those of Jerusalem and Samaria;
11 shall I not deal with Jerusalem and her images as I dealt with Samaria and her idols?’ ”
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So, as I have done to Samaria and her images, I will do to Jerusalem and her images.
12 When the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes.
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For this cause it will be that, when the purpose of the Lord against Mount Zion and Jerusalem is complete, I will send punishment on the pride of the heart of the king of Assyria, and on the glory of his uplifted eyes.
13 For he says: “ ‘By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, because I have understanding. I removed the boundaries of nations, I plundered their treasures; like a mighty one I subdued their kings.
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For he has said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my knowledge, for I am wise: and I have taken away the limits of the peoples' lands, and the stores of their wealth have become mine; and I have made towns low in the dust, sending destruction on those living in them;
14 As one reaches into a nest, so my hand reached for the wealth of the nations; as people gather abandoned eggs, so I gathered all the countries; not one flapped a wing, or opened its mouth to chirp.’ ”
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And I have put my hands on the wealth of the peoples, as on the place where a bird has put her eggs; and as a man may take the eggs from which a bird has gone, so I have taken all the earth for myself: and not a wing was moved, and not a mouth gave out a sound.
15 Does the ax raise itself above the person who swings it, or the saw boast against the one who uses it? As if a rod were to wield the person who lifts it up, or a club brandish the one who is not wood!
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Will the axe say high-sounding words against him who is using it, or the blade be full of pride against him who is cutting with it? As if a rod had the power of shaking him who is using it, or as if a stick might take up him who is not wood.
16 Therefore, the Lord, the LORD Almighty, will send a wasting disease upon his sturdy warriors; under his pomp a fire will be kindled like a blazing flame.
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For this cause the Lord, the Lord of armies, will make his fat become wasted; and in his inner parts a fire will be lighted like a burning flame.
17 The Light of Israel will become a fire, their Holy One a flame; in a single day it will burn and consume his thorns and his briers.
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And the light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: wasting and burning up his thorns in one day.
18 The splendor of his forests and fertile fields it will completely destroy, as when a sick person wastes away.
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And he will put an end to the glory of his woods and of his planted fields, soul and body together; and it will be as when a man is wasted by disease.
19 And the remaining trees of his forests will be so few that a child could write them down.
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And the rest of the trees of his wood will be small in number, so that a child may put them down in writing.
20 In that day the remnant of Israel, the survivors of Jacob, will no longer rely on him who struck them down but will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.
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And it will be in that day that the rest of Israel, and those of Jacob who have come safely through these troubles, will no longer go for help to him whose rod was on their back, but their faith will be in the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.
21 A remnant will return, a remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty God.
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The rest, even the rest of Jacob, will come back to the Strong God.
22 Though your people be like the sand by the sea, Israel, only a remnant will return. Destruction has been decreed, overwhelming and righteous.
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For though your people, O Israel, are as the sand of the sea, only a small number will come back: for the destruction is fixed, overflowing in righteousness.
23 The Lord, the LORD Almighty, will carry out the destruction decreed upon the whole land.
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For the Lord, the Lord of armies, is about to make destruction complete in all the land.
24 Therefore this is what the Lord, the LORD Almighty, says: “My people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians, who beat you with a rod and lift up a club against you, as Egypt did.
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For this cause the Lord, the Lord of armies, says, O my people living in Zion, have no fear of the Assyrian, even if his rod comes on your back, and his stick is lifted up as in Egypt.
25 Very soon my anger against you will end and my wrath will be directed to their destruction.”
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For in a very short time my passion will be over, and my wrath will be turned to their destruction.
26 The LORD Almighty will lash them with a whip, as when he struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb; and he will raise his staff over the waters, as he did in Egypt.
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And the Lord of armies will be shaking a whip against him, as when he overcame Midian at the rock of Oreb: and his rod will be lifted up against them as it was against the Egyptians.
27 In that day their burden will be lifted from your shoulders, their yoke from your neck; the yoke will be broken because you have grown so fat.
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And in that day the weight which he put on your back will be taken away, and his yoke broken from off your neck.
28 They enter Aiath; they pass through Migron; they store supplies at Mikmash.
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He has gone up from Pene-Rimmon, he has come to Aiath; he has gone past Migron, at Michmash he puts his forces in order.
29 They go over the pass, and say, “We will camp overnight at Geba.” Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul flees.
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They have gone across the mountain; Geba will be our resting-place tonight, they say: Ramah is shaking with fear; Gibeah of Saul has gone in flight.
30 Cry out, Daughter Gallim! Listen, Laishah! Poor Anathoth!
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Give a loud cry, daughter of Gallim; let Laishah give ear; let Anathoth give answer to her.
31 Madmenah is in flight; the people of Gebim take cover.
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Madmenah has gone; the men of Gebim are putting their goods in a safe place.
32 This day they will halt at Nob; they will shake their fist at the mount of Daughter Zion, at the hill of Jerusalem.
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This very day he is stopping at Nob; he is shaking his hand against the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
33 See, the Lord, the LORD Almighty, will lop off the boughs with great power. The lofty trees will be felled, the tall ones will be brought low.
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See, the Lord, the Lord of armies, is cutting off his branches with a great noise, and his strong ones are falling and his high ones are coming down.
34 He will cut down the forest thickets with an ax; Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One.
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And he is cutting down the thick places of the wood with an axe, and Lebanon with its tall trees is coming down.
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The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.