The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 Woe, destroyer, yourself undestroyed! Woe, betrayer, yourself unbetrayed! When you stop destroying, you will be destroyed; when you tire of betraying, they will betray you.
1
Ho! you who make waste those who did not make you waste; acting falsely to those who were not false to you. When you have come to an end of wasting, you will be made waste, and after your false acts, they will do the same to you.
2 ADONAI, show us mercy; we have waited for you. Be their arm every morning, and our salvation in time of trouble.
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O Lord, have mercy on us; for we have been waiting for your help: be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of trouble.
3 At the sound of the tumult, the peoples wander off; when you exalt yourself, the nations are scattered.
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At the loud noise the peoples have gone in flight; at your coming up the nations have gone in all directions.
4 Your spoil is gathered as if stripped by shearer-worms; they run over it like a swarm of locusts.
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And the goods taken in war will be got together like the massing of young locusts; men will be rushing on them like the rushing of locusts.
5 ADONAI is exalted, for he dwells on high; he has filled Tziyon with justice and right.
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The Lord is lifted up; his place is on high: he has made Zion full of righteousness and true religion.
6 He will be the stability of your times, a wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge, and fear of ADONAI, which is his treasure.
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And she will have no more fear of change, being full of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge: the fear of the Lord is her wealth.
7 Hear their brave men crying out for help! The envoys of peace weep bitterly.
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See, the men of war are sorrowing outside the town: those who came looking for peace are weeping bitterly.
8 The highways are deserted, there are no travelers. He has broken the covenant, despised the cities; he has no regard for human life.
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The highways are waste, no man is journeying there: the agreement is broken, he has made sport of the towns, he has no thought for man.
9 The land is mourning and wilting away. The L'vanon is withering with shame. The Sharon has become like the 'Aravah. Bashan and Karmel have been shaken bare.
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The earth is sorrowing and wasting away; Lebanon is put to shame and has become waste; Sharon is like the Arabah; and in Bashan and Carmel the leaves are falling.
10 "Now I will arise," says ADONAI, "Now I will exalt and lift myself up.
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Now will I come forward, says the Lord; now will I be lifted up; now will my power be seen.
11 You conceive chaff and give birth to stubble, your breath is a fire devouring you.
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Your designs will be without profit, and their effect will be nothing: you will be burned up by the fire of my breath.
12 The peoples will be as if burned into lime, like thorns cut off to burn in the fire.
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And the peoples will be like the burning of chalk: as thorns cut down, which are burned in the fire.
13 You living far off, hear what I have done! You who are near, acknowledge my strength!"
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Give ear, you who are far off, to what I have done: see my power, you who are near.
14 The sinners in Tziyon are frightened; trembling has seized the ungodly. "Who of us can live with the devouring fire? Who of us can live with eternal burning?"
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The sinners in Zion are full of fear; the haters of God are shaking with wonder. Who among us may keep his place before the burning fire? who among us may see the eternal burnings?
15 He whose life is right and whose speech is straight, he who scorns getting rich by extortion, he who shakes his hands free of bribes, stops his ears against talk of bloodshed and shuts his eyes against looking at evil.
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He whose ways are true, and whose words are upright; he who gives no thought to the profits of false acts, whose hands have not taken rewards, who will have no part in putting men to death, and whose eyes are shut against evil;
16 Such a person will live on the heights, his refuge a fortress among the cliffs, his food and water in steady supply.
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He will have a place on high: he will be safely shut in by the high rocks: his bread will be given to him; his waters will be certain.
17 Your eyes will see the king in his beauty, they will gaze on a land stretching into the distance.
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Your eyes will see the king in his glory: they will be looking on a far-stretching land.
18 Your mind will meditate on the terror: "Where is the man who did the counting? Where is the man who did the weighing? Where is the man who numbered the towers?"
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Your heart will give thought to the cause of your fear: where is the scribe, where is he who made a record of the payments, where is he by whom the towers were numbered?
19 You will not see the intransigent people, that people whose language is so obscure, whose stuttering speech you cannot understand.
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Never again will you see the cruel people, a people whose tongue has no sense for you; whose language is strange to you.
20 Look at Tziyon, the city of our festivals; your eyes will see Yerushalayim a secure abode, a tent that will not be removed, whose pegs will never be pulled out and whose guy-ropes will not be cut.
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Let your eyes be resting on Zion, the town of our holy feasts: you will see Jerusalem, a quiet resting-place, a tent which will not be moved, whose tent-pins will never be pulled up, and whose cords will never be broken.
21 But there in his splendor ADONAI will be with us, in a place of rivers and broad streams. But no boat with oars will go there, no majestic ship will pass by.
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But there the Lord will be with us in his glory, ... wide rivers and streams; where no boat will go with blades, and no fair ship will be sailing.
22 For ADONAI is our judge, ADONAI is our lawgiver, ADONAI is our king. He will save us.
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For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our law-giver, the Lord is our king; he will be our saviour.
23 For your ropes are hanging loose, not holding the mast, not spreading the sail. Then the plunder shared out is so huge that even the lame get part of the spoil.
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Your cords have become loose; they were not able to make strong the support of their sails, the sail was not stretched out: then the blind will take much property, the feeble-footed will make division of the goods of war.
24 No inhabitant will say, "I am ill"; the people living there will be forgiven their sin.
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And the men of Zion will not say, I am ill: for its people will have forgiveness for their sin.
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.