New Living Translation NLT
Hebrew Names Version HNV
1 This message came to me concerning Babylon—the desert by the sea : Disaster is roaring down on you from the desert, like a whirlwind sweeping in from the Negev.
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The burden of the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the South sweep through, it comes from the wilderness, from an awesome land.
2 I see a terrifying vision: I see the betrayer betraying, the destroyer destroying. Go ahead, you Elamites and Medes, attack and lay siege. I will make an end to all the groaning Babylon caused.
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A grievous vision is declared to me; the treacherous man deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, `Elam; besiege, Madai; all the sighing of it have I made to cease.
3 My stomach aches and burns with pain. Sharp pangs of anguish are upon me, like those of a woman in labor. I grow faint when I hear what God is planning; I am too afraid to look.
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Therefore are my loins filled with anguish; pangs have taken hold on me, as the pangs of a woman in travail: I am pained so that I can't hear; I am dismayed so that I can't see.
4 My mind reels and my heart races. I longed for evening to come, but now I am terrified of the dark.
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My heart flutters, horror has frightened me; the twilight that I desired has been turned into trembling to me.
5 Look! They are preparing a great feast. They are spreading rugs for people to sit on. Everyone is eating and drinking. But quick! Grab your shields and prepare for battle. You are being attacked!
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They prepare the table, they set the watch, they eat, they drink: rise up, you princes, anoint the shield.
6 Meanwhile, the Lord said to me, “Put a watchman on the city wall. Let him shout out what he sees.
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For thus has the Lord said to me, Go, set a watchman: let him declare what he sees:
7 He should look for chariots drawn by pairs of horses, and for riders on donkeys and camels. Let the watchman be fully alert.”
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and when he sees a troop, horsemen in pairs, a troop of donkeys, a troop of camels, he shall listen diligently with much heed.
8 Then the watchman called out, “Day after day I have stood on the watchtower, my lord. Night after night I have remained at my post.
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He cried as a lion: Lord, I stand continually on the watch-tower in the day-time, and am set in my ward whole nights;
9 Now at last—look! Here comes a man in a chariot with a pair of horses!” Then the watchman said, “Babylon is fallen, fallen! All the idols of Babylon lie broken on the ground!”
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and, behold, here comes a troop of men, horsemen in pairs. He answered, Fallen, fallen is Bavel; and all the engraved images of her gods are broken to the ground.
10 O my people, threshed and winnowed, I have told you everything the LORD of Heaven’s Armies has said, everything the God of Israel has told me.
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You my threshing, and the grain of my floor! that which I have heard from the LORD of hosts, the God of Yisra'el, have I declared to you.
11 This message came to me concerning Edom : Someone from Edom keeps calling to me, “Watchman, how much longer until morning? When will the night be over?”
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The burden of Dumah. One calls to me out of Se`ir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?
12 The watchman replies, “Morning is coming, but night will soon return. If you wish to ask again, then come back and ask.”
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The watchman said, "The morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire. Come back again."
13 This message came to me concerning Arabia: O caravans from Dedan, hide in the deserts of Arabia.
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The burden on `Arav. In the forest in `Arav shall you lodge, you caravans of Dedanim.
14 O people of Tema, bring water to these thirsty people, food to these weary refugees.
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To him who was thirsty they brought water; the inhabitants of the land of Tema did meet the fugitives with their bread.
15 They have fled from the sword, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow and the terrors of battle.
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For they fled away from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the heat of battle.
16 The Lord said to me, “Within a year, counting each day, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end.
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For thus has the Lord said to me, Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Kedar shall fail;
17 Only a few of its courageous archers will survive. I, the LORD, the God of Israel, have spoken!”
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and the residue of the number of the archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be few; for the LORD, the God of Yisra'el, has spoken it.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.