The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 Woe to Ari'el [fireplace on God's altar, lion of God] - Ari'el, the city where David encamped! Celebrate the feasts for a few more years,
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Ho! Ariel, Ariel, the town against which David made war; put year to year, let the feasts come round:
2 but then I will bring trouble to Ari'el. There will be mourning and moaning, as she becomes truly an ari'el for me.
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And I will send trouble on Ariel, and there will be weeping and cries of grief; and she will be to me as Ariel.
3 I will encamp all around you, besiege you with towers and mount siege-works against you.
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And I will make war on you like David, and you will be shut in by earthworks, and I will make towers round you.
4 Prostrate, you will speak from the ground; your words will be stifled by the dust; your voice will sound like a ghost in the ground, your words like squeaks in the dust.
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And you will be made low, and your voice will come out of the earth, and your words will be low out of the dust; and your voice will come out of the earth like that of a spirit, making bird-like noises out of the dust.
5 But your many foes will become like fine powder, the horde of tyrants like blowing chaff, and it will happen very suddenly.
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And the army of your attackers will be like small dust, and all the cruel ones like dry stems gone before the wind; suddenly it will come about.
6 You will be visited by ADONAI-Tzva'ot with thunder, earthquakes and loud noises, whirlwinds, tempests, flaming firestorms.
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The Lord of armies will come in with thunder and earth-shaking and great noise, with rushing wind and storm, and the flame of burning fire.
7 Then, all the nations fighting Ari'el, every one at war with her, the ramparts around her, the people that trouble her will fade like a dream, like a vision in the night.
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And all the nations making war on Ariel, and all those who are fighting against her and shutting her in with their towers, will be like a dream, like a vision of the night.
8 It will be like a hungry man dreaming he's eating; but when he wakes up, his stomach is empty; or like a thirsty man dreaming he's drinking; but when he wakes up, he is dry and exhausted - it will be like this for the horde of all nations fighting against Mount Tziyon.
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And it will be like a man desiring food, and dreaming that he is feasting; but when he is awake there is nothing in his mouth: or like a man in need of water, dreaming that he is drinking; but when he is awake he is feeble and his soul is full of desire: so will all the nations be which make war on Mount Zion.
9 If you make yourselves stupid, you will stay stupid! If you blind yourselves, you will stay blind! You are drunk, but not from wine; you are staggering, but not from strong liquor.
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Be surprised and full of wonder; let your eyes be covered and be blind: be overcome, but not with wine; go with uncertain steps, but not because of strong drink.
10 For ADONAI has poured over you a spirit of lethargy; he has closed your eyes (that is, the prophets) and covered your heads (that is, the seers).
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For the Lord has sent on you a spirit of deep sleep; and by him your eyes, the prophets, are shut, and your heads, the seers, are covered.
11 For you this whole prophetic vision has become like the message in a sealed-up scroll. When one gives it to someone who can read and says, "Please read this," he answers, "I can't, because it's sealed."
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And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book which is shut, which men give to one who has knowledge of writing, saying, Make clear to us what is in the book: and he says, I am not able to, for the book is shut:
12 If the scroll is given to someone who can't read with the request, "Please read this," he says, "I can't read."
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And they give it to one without learning, saying, Make clear to us what is in the book: and he says, I have no knowledge of writing.
13 Then Adonai said: "Because these people approach me with empty words, and the honor they bestow on me is mere lip-service; while in fact they have distanced their hearts from me, and their 'fear of me' is just a mitzvah of human origin
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And the Lord said, because this people come near to me with their mouths, and give honour to me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, and their fear of me is false, a rule given them by the teaching of men;
14 therefore, I will have to keep shocking these people with astounding and amazing things, until the 'wisdom' of their 'wise ones' vanishes, and the 'discernment' of their 'discerning ones' is hidden away."
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For this cause I will again do a strange thing among this people, a thing to be wondered at: and the wisdom of their wise men will come to nothing, and the sense of their guides will no longer be seen.
15 Woe to those who burrow down deep to hide their plans from ADONAI! They work in the dark and say to themselves, "Nobody sees us, nobody knows us."
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Cursed are those who go deep to keep their designs secret from the Lord, and whose works are in the dark, and who say, Who sees us? and who has knowledge of our acts?
16 How you turn things upside down! - Is the potter not better than the clay, Does something made say of its maker, "He didn't make me"? Does the product say of its producer, "He has no discernment"?
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You are turning things upside down! Is the wet earth the same to you as the one who is forming it? will the thing made say of him who made it, He made me not: or the thing formed say of him who gave it form, He has no knowledge?
17 In but a little while the L'vanon will be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field regarded as a forest.
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In a very short time Lebanon will become a fertile field, and the fertile field will seem like a wood.
18 On that day the deaf will hear the words of a book, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
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And in that day those whose ears are stopped will be hearing the words of the book; and the eyes of the blind will see through the mist and the dark.
19 The humble will again rejoice in ADONAI and the poor exult in the Holy One of Isra'el,
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And the poor will have their joy in the Lord increased, and those in need will be glad in the Holy One of Israel.
20 for the tyrant is now nothing, the scoffer is finished, and all alert to do evil are cut off
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For the cruel one has come to nothing; and those who make sport of the Lord are gone; and those who are watching to do evil are cut off:
21 those whose words make a man out to be a sinner, those who set traps for the arbitrator at the city gate, and those who groundlessly deny justice to the one in the right.
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Who give help to a man in a wrong cause, and who put a net for the feet of him who gives decisions in the public place, taking away a man's right without cause.
22 Therefore, here are the words of ADONAI, who redeemed Avraham, concerning the house of Ya'akov: "Ya'akov will no longer be ashamed, no longer will his face grow pale.
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For this reason the Lord, the saviour of Abraham, says about the family of Jacob, Jacob will not now be put to shame, or his face be clouded with fear.
23 When his descendants see the work of my hands among them, they will consecrate my name. Yes, they will consecrate the Holy one of Ya'akov and stand in awe of the God of Isra'el.
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But when they, the children of Jacob, see the work of my hands among them, they will give honour to my name; yes, they will give honour to the Holy One of Jacob, and go in fear of the God of Israel.
24 Those whose spirits stray will come to understand, and those who complain will learn their lesson.
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Those whose hearts were turned away from him will get knowledge, and those who made an outcry against him will give attention to his teaching.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.