New International Version NIV
Good News Translation GNT
1 “Woe to the obstinate children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin;
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The Lord has spoken: "Those who rule Judah are doomed because they rebel against me. They follow plans that I did not make, and sign treaties against my will, piling one sin on another.
2 who go down to Egypt without consulting me; who look for help to Pharaoh’s protection, to Egypt’s shade for refuge.
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They go to Egypt for help without asking for my advice. They want Egypt to protect them, so they put their trust in Egypt's king.
3 But Pharaoh’s protection will be to your shame, Egypt’s shade will bring you disgrace.
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But the king will be powerless to help them, and Egypt's protection will end in disaster.
4 Though they have officials in Zoan and their envoys have arrived in Hanes,
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Although their ambassadors have already arrived at the Egyptian cities of Zoan and Hanes,
5 everyone will be put to shame because of a people useless to them, who bring neither help nor advantage, but only shame and disgrace.”
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the people of Judah will regret that they ever trusted that unreliable nation, a nation that fails them when they expect help."
6 A prophecy concerning the animals of the Negev: Through a land of hardship and distress, of lions and lionesses, of adders and darting snakes, the envoys carry their riches on donkeys’ backs, their treasures on the humps of camels, to that unprofitable nation,
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This is God's message about the animals of the southern desert: "The ambassadors travel through dangerous country, where lions live and where there are poisonous snakes and flying dragons. They load their donkeys and camels with expensive gifts for a nation that cannot give them any help.
7 to Egypt, whose help is utterly useless. Therefore I call her Rahab the Do-Nothing.
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The help that Egypt gives is useless. So I have nicknamed Egypt, "The Harmless Dragon.' "
8 Go now, write it on a tablet for them, inscribe it on a scroll, that for the days to come it may be an everlasting witness.
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God told me to write down in a book what the people are like, so that there would be a permanent record of how evil they are.
9 For these are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the LORD’s instruction.
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They are always rebelling against God, always lying, always refusing to listen to the Lord's teachings.
10 They say to the seers, “See no more visions!” and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions.
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They tell the prophets to keep quiet. They say, "Don't talk to us about what's right. Tell us what we want to hear. Let us keep our illusions.
11 Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!”
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Get out of our way and stop blocking our path. We don't want to hear about your holy God of Israel."
12 Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says: “Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit,
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But this is what the holy God of Israel says: "You ignore what I tell you and rely on violence and deceit.
13 this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses suddenly, in an instant.
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You are guilty. You are like a high wall with a crack running down it; suddenly you will collapse.
14 It will break in pieces like pottery, shattered so mercilessly that among its pieces not a fragment will be found for taking coals from a hearth or scooping water out of a cistern.”
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You will be shattered like a clay pot, so badly broken that there is no piece big enough to pick up hot coals with or to dip water from a cistern."
15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.
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The Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says to the people, "Come back and quietly trust in me. Then you will be strong and secure." But you refuse to do it.
16 You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’ Therefore you will flee! You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’ Therefore your pursuers will be swift!
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Instead, you plan to escape from your enemies by riding fast horses. And you are right - escape is what you will have to do! You think your horses are fast enough, but those who pursue you will be faster!
17 A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.”
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A thousand of you will run away when you see one enemy soldier, and five soldiers will be enough to make you all run away. Nothing will be left of your army except a lonely flagpole on the top of a hill.
18 Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
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And yet the Lord is waiting to be merciful to you. He is ready to take pity on you because he always does what is right. Happy are those who put their trust in the Lord.
19 People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you.
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You people who live in Jerusalem will not weep any more. The Lord is compassionate, and when you cry to him for help, he will answer you.
20 Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them.
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The Lord will make you go through hard times, but he himself will be there to teach you, and you will not have to search for him any more.
21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
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If you wander off the road to the right or the left, you will hear his voice behind you saying, "Here is the road. Follow it."
22 Then you will desecrate your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, “Away with you!”
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You will take your idols plated with silver and your idols covered with gold, and will throw them away like filth, shouting, "Out of my sight!"
23 He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows.
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Whenever you plant your crops, the Lord will send rain to make them grow and will give you a rich harvest, and your livestock will have plenty of pasture.
24 The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash, spread out with fork and shovel.
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The oxen and donkeys that plow your fields will eat the finest and best fodder.
25 In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill.
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On the day when the forts of your enemies are captured and their people are killed, streams of water will flow from every mountain and every hill.
26 The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the LORD binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted.
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The moon will be as bright as the sun, and the sun will be seven times brighter than usual, like the light of seven days in one. This will all happen when the Lord bandages and heals the wounds he has given his people.
27 See, the Name of the LORD comes from afar, with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke; his lips are full of wrath, and his tongue is a consuming fire.
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The Lord's power and glory can be seen in the distance. Fire and smoke show his anger. He speaks, and his words burn like fire.
28 His breath is like a rushing torrent, rising up to the neck. He shakes the nations in the sieve of destruction; he places in the jaws of the peoples a bit that leads them astray.
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He sends the wind in front of him like a flood that carries everything away. It sweeps nations to destruction and puts an end to their evil plans.
29 And you will sing as on the night you celebrate a holy festival; your hearts will rejoice as when people playing pipes go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel.
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But you, God's people, will be happy and sing as you do on the night of a sacred festival. You will be as happy as those who walk to the music of flutes on their way to the Temple of the Lord, the defender of Israel.
30 The LORD will cause people to hear his majestic voice and will make them see his arm coming down with raging anger and consuming fire, with cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail.
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The Lord will let everyone hear his majestic voice and feel the force of his anger. There will be flames, cloudbursts, hailstones, and torrents of rain.
31 The voice of the LORD will shatter Assyria; with his rod he will strike them down.
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The Assyrians will be terrified when they hear the Lord's voice and feel the force of his punishment.
32 Every stroke the LORD lays on them with his punishing club will be to the music of timbrels and harps, as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm.
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As the Lord strikes them again and again, his people will keep time with the music of drums and harps. God himself will fight against the Assyrians.
33 Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its fire pit has been made deep and wide, with an abundance of fire and wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.
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Long ago a place was prepared where a huge fire will burn the emperor of Assyria. It is deep and wide, and piled high with wood. The Lord will breathe out a stream of flame to set it on fire.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.