Hebrew Names Version HNV
The Message Bible MSG
1 Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in justice.
1
But look! A king will rule in the right way, and his leaders will carry out justice.
2 A man shall be as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, as streams of water in a dry place, as the shade of a great rock in a weary land.
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Each one will stand as a shelter from high winds, provide safe cover in stormy weather. Each will be cool running water in parched land, a huge granite outcrop giving shade in the desert.
3 The eyes of those who see shall not be dim, and the ears of those who hear shall listen.
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Anyone who looks will see, anyone who listens will hear.
4 The heart of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.
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The impulsive will make sound decisions, the tongue-tied will speak with eloquence.
5 The fool shall be no more called noble, nor the scoundrel be highly respected.
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No more will fools become celebrities, nor crooks be rewarded with fame.
6 For the fool will speak folly, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice profanity, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.
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For fools are fools and that's that, thinking up new ways to do mischief. They leave a wake of wrecked lives and lies about God, Turning their backs on the homeless hungry, ignoring those dying of thirst in the streets.
7 The instruments of the churl are evil: he devises wicked devices to destroy the humble with lying words, even when the needy speaks right.
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And the crooks? Underhanded sneaks they are, inventive in sin and scandal, Exploiting the poor with scams and lies, unmoved by the victimized poor.
8 But the noble devises noble things; and in noble things shall he continue.
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But those who are noble make noble plans, and stand for what is noble.
9 Rise up, you women who are at ease, [and] hear my voice; you careless daughters, give ear to my speech.
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Take your stand, indolent women! Listen to me! Indulgent, indolent women, listen closely to what I have to say.
10 For days beyond a year shall you be troubled, you careless women; for the vintage shall fail, the harvest shall not come.
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In just a little over a year from now, you'll be shaken out of your lazy lives. The grape harvest will fail, and there'll be no fruit on the trees.
11 Tremble, you women who are at ease; be troubled, you careless ones; strip yourselves, and make yourselves naked, and gird [sackcloth] on your loins.
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Oh tremble, you indolent women. Get serious, you pampered dolls! Strip down and discard your silk fineries. Put on funeral clothes.
12 They shall strike on the breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.
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Shed honest tears for the lost harvest, the failed vintage.
13 On the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yes, on all the houses of joy in the joyous city.
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Weep for my people's gardens and farms that grow nothing but thistles and thornbushes. Cry tears, real tears, for the happy homes no longer happy, the merry city no longer merry.
14 For the palace shall be forsaken; the populous city shall be deserted; the hill and the watch-tower shall be for dens forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks;
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The royal palace is deserted, the bustling city quiet as a morgue, The emptied parks and playgrounds taken over by wild animals, delighted with their new home.
15 until the Spirit be poured on us from on high, and the wilderness become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest.
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Yes, weep and grieve until the Spirit is poured down on us from above And the badlands desert grows crops and the fertile fields become forests.
16 Then justice shall dwell in the wilderness; and righteousness shall abide in the fruitful field.
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Justice will move into the badlands desert. Right will build a home in the fertile field.
17 The work of righteousness shall be shalom; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.
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And where there's Right, there'll be Peace and the progeny of Right: quiet lives and endless trust.
18 My people shall abide in a peaceable habitation, and in safe dwellings, and in quiet resting-places.
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My people will live in a peaceful neighborhood - in safe houses, in quiet gardens.
19 But it shall hail in the downfall of the forest; and the city shall be utterly laid low.
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The forest of your pride will be clear-cut, the city showing off your power leveled.
20 Blessed are you who sow beside all waters, who send forth the feet of the ox and the donkey.
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But you will enjoy a blessed life, planting well-watered fields and gardens, with your farm animals grazing freely.
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.
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.