The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Message Bible MSG
1 For ADONAI will have compassion on Ya'akov - he will once again choose Isra'el and resettle them in their own land, where foreigners will join them, attaching themselves to the house of Ya'akov.
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But not so with Jacob. God will have compassion on Jacob. Once again he'll choose Israel. He'll establish them in their own country. Outsiders will be attracted and throw their lot in with Jacob.
2 Peoples will take and escort them to their homeland, and the house of Isra'el will possess them in the land of ADONAI as male and female slaves. They will take their captors captive and rule over their oppressors.
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The nations among whom they lived will actually escort them back home, and then Israel will pay them back by making slaves of them, men and women alike, possessing them as slaves in God's country, capturing those who had captured them, ruling over those who had abused them.
3 Then, when ADONAI gives you rest from your suffering and trouble and from the hard service imposed on you,
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When God has given you time to recover from the abuse and trouble and harsh servitude that you had to endure,
4 you will take up this taunt-song against the king of Bavel: "At last the oppressor is stilled, his arrogance is ended!
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you can amuse yourselves by taking up this satire, a taunt against the king of Babylon: Can you believe it? The tyrant is gone! The tyranny is over!
5 ADONAI has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers,
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God has broken the rule of the wicked, the power of the bully-rulers
6 which furiously struck down peoples with unceasing blows, angrily beating down nations with relentless persecution.
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That crushed many people. A relentless rain of cruel outrage Established a violent rule of anger rife with torture and persecution.
7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet. They break into song.
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And now it's over, the whole earth quietly at rest. Burst into song! Make the rafters ring!
8 The cypresses rejoice over you, with the cedars of the L'vanon - 'Now that you are laid low, no one comes to cut us down.'
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Ponderosa pine trees are happy, giant Lebanon cedars are relieved, saying, "Since you've been cut down, there's no one around to cut us down."
9 "Sh'ol below is stirred up to meet you when you come. It awakens for you the ghosts of the dead who were leaders on earth; it makes all the kings of the nations arise from their thrones.
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And the underworld dead are all excited, preparing to welcome you when you come. Getting ready to greet you are the ghostly dead, all the famous names of earth. All the buried kings of the nations will stand up on their thrones
10 They all greet you with these words: 'Now you are as weak as we are, you have become like us!
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With well-prepared speeches, royal invitations to death: "Now you are as nothing as we are! Make yourselves at home with us dead folks!"
11 Your pride has been brought down to Sh'ol with the music of your lyres, under you a mattress of maggots, over you a blanket of worms.'
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This is where your pomp and fine music led you, Babylon, to your underworld private chambers, A king-size mattress of maggots for repose and a quilt of crawling worms for warmth.
12 "How did you come to fall from the heavens, morning star, son of the dawn? How did you come to be cut to the ground, conqueror of nations?
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What a comedown this, O Babylon! Daystar! Son of Dawn! Flat on your face in the underworld mud, you, famous for flattening nations!
13 You thought to yourself, 'I will scale the heavens, I will raise my throne above God's stars. I will sit on the Mount of Assembly far away in the north.
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You said to yourself, "I'll climb to heaven. I'll set my throne over the stars of God. I'll run the assembly of angels that meets on sacred Mount Zaphon.
14 I will rise past the tops of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High.'
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I'll climb to the top of the clouds. I'll take over as King of the Universe!"
15 "Instead you are brought down to Sh'ol, to the uttermost depths of the pit.
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But you didn't make it, did you? Instead of climbing up, you came down - Down with the underground dead, down to the abyss of the Pit.
16 Those who see you will stare at you, reflecting on what has become of you: 'Is this the man who shook the earth, who made kingdoms tremble,
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People will stare and muse: "Can this be the one Who terrorized earth and its kingdoms,
17 who made the world a desert, who destroyed its cities, who would not set his prisoners free?'
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turned earth to a moonscape, Wasted its cities, shut up his prisoners to a living death?"
18 "All other kings of the nations, all of them, lie in glory, each in his tomb.
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Other kings get a decent burial, honored with eulogies and placed in a tomb.
19 But you are discarded, unburied, like a loathed branch, clothed like the slain who were pierced by the sword, then fall to the stones inside a pit, like a corpse to be trampled underfoot.
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But you're dumped in a ditch unburied, like a stray dog or cat, Covered with rotting bodies, murdered and indigent corpses. Your dead body desecrated, mutilated -
20 You will not be joined with those kings in the grave, because you destroyed your own land, you have brought death to your own people. The descendants of evildoers will be utterly forgotten.
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no state funeral for you! You've left your land in ruins, left a legacy of massacre. The progeny of your evil life will never be named. Oblivion!
21 Get ready to slaughter his sons for the iniquity of their fathers; so they won't arise, take over the earth and cover the world with their cities."
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Get a place ready to slaughter the sons of the wicked and wipe out their father's line. Unthinkable that they should own a square foot of land or desecrate the face of the world with their cities!
22 "I will arise against them," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot. "I will cut off from Bavel name and remnant, offshoot and offspring," says ADONAI.
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"I will confront them" - Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies - "and strip Babylon of name and survivors, children and grandchildren.
23 "I will make it a haunt for hedgehogs, it will become a swampy waste, I will sweep it with the broom of destruction," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.
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" God's Decree. "I'll make it a worthless swamp and give it as a prize to the hedgehog. And then I'll bulldoze it out of existence." Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies. Who Could Ever Cancel Such Plans?
24 ADONAI-Tzva'ot has sworn, "Just as I thought it, it will occur; just as I planned it, so it will be.
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God-of-the-Angel-Armies speaks: "Exactly as I planned, it will happen. Following my blueprints, it will take shape.
25 I will break Ashur in my land, I will trample him down on my mountains. Then his yoke will fall off them, his burden be removed from their shoulders."
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I will shatter the Assyrian who trespasses my land and stomp him into the dirt on my mountains. I will ban his taking and making of slaves and lift the weight of oppression from all shoulders."
26 This is the program planned for all the earth, this is the hand stretched out over all the nations.
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This is the plan, planned for the whole earth, And this is the hand that will do it, reaching into every nation.
27 ADONAI-Tzva'ot has made his decision. Who is there that can stop him? He has stretched out his hand. Who can turn it back?
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God-of-the-Angel-Armies has planned it. Who could ever cancel such plans? His is the hand that's reached out. Who could brush it aside?
28 In the year that King Achaz died, this prophecy came:
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In the year King Ahaz died, this Message came:
29 Do not rejoice, P'leshet, any of you, that the rod which struck you is broken; for out of the snake's root will come a viper, and his offspring will be a flying fiery serpent.
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Hold it, Philistines! It's too soon to celebrate the defeat of your cruel oppressor. From the death throes of that snake a worse snake will come, and from that, one even worse.
30 While the firstborn of the poor graze and the needy lie down in safety, I will kill off your root with famine and slaughter the rest of you.
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The poor won't have to worry. The needy will escape the terror. But you Philistines will be plunged into famine, and those who don't starve, God will kill.
31 Howl, gate! Cry, city! Melt away, P'leshet, all of you! For a smoke is coming from the north, with not a straggler in its ranks.
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Wail and howl, proud city! Fall prostrate in fear, Philistia! On the northern horizon, smoke from burned cities, the wake of a brutal, disciplined destroyer.
32 And what is one to answer the messengers of the nation? That ADONAI founded Tziyon, and there the poor of his people will find refuge.
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What does one say to outsiders who ask questions? Tell them, "God has established Zion. Those in need and in trouble find refuge in her."
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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.