The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Message Bible MSG
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
Doom to you, Destroyer, not yet destroyed; And doom to you, Betrayer, not yet betrayed. When you finish destroying, your turn will come - destroyed! When you quit betraying, your turn will come - betrayed!
2 ADONAI, show us mercy; we have waited for you. Be their arm every morning, and our salvation in time of trouble.
2
God, treat us kindly. You're our only hope. First thing in the morning, be there for us! When things go bad, help us out!
3 At the sound of the tumult, the peoples wander off; when you exalt yourself, the nations are scattered.
3
You spoke in thunder and everyone ran. You showed up and nations scattered.
4 Your spoil is gathered as if stripped by shearer-worms; they run over it like a swarm of locusts.
4
Your people, for a change, got in on the loot, picking the field clean of the enemy spoils.
5 ADONAI is exalted, for he dwells on high; he has filled Tziyon with justice and right.
5
God is supremely esteemed. His center holds. Zion brims over with all that is just and right.
6 He will be the stability of your times, a wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge, and fear of ADONAI, which is his treasure.
6
God keeps your days stable and secure - salvation, wisdom, and knowledge in surplus, and best of all, Zion's treasure, Fear-of-God.
7 Hear their brave men crying out for help! The envoys of peace weep bitterly.
7
But look! Listen! Tough men weep openly. Peacemaking diplomats are in bitter tears.
8 The highways are deserted, there are no travelers. He has broken the covenant, despised the cities; he has no regard for human life.
8
The roads are empty - not a soul out on the streets. The peace treaty is broken, its conditions violated, its signers reviled.
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.
9
The very ground under our feet mourns, the Lebanon mountains hang their heads, Flowering Sharon is a weed-choked gully, and the forests of Bashan and Carmel? Bare branches.
10 "Now I will arise," says ADONAI, "Now I will exalt and lift myself up.
10
"Now I'm stepping in," God says. "From now on, I'm taking over. The gloves come off. Now see how mighty I am.
11 You conceive chaff and give birth to stubble, your breath is a fire devouring you.
11
There's nothing to you. Pregnant with chaff, you produce straw babies; full of hot air, you self-destruct.
12 The peoples will be as if burned into lime, like thorns cut off to burn in the fire.
12
You're good for nothing but fertilizer and fuel. Earth to earth - and the sooner the better.
13 You living far off, hear what I have done! You who are near, acknowledge my strength!"
13
"If you're far away, get the reports on what I've done, And if you're in the neighborhood, pay attention to my record.
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?"
14
The sinners in Zion are rightly terrified; the godless are at their wit's end: 'Who among us can survive this firestorm? Who of us can get out of this purge with our lives?'"
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.
15
The answer's simple: Live right, speak the truth, despise exploitation, refuse bribes, reject violence, avoid evil amusements.
16 Such a person will live on the heights, his refuge a fortress among the cliffs, his food and water in steady supply.
16
This is how you raise your standard of living! A safe and stable way to live. A nourishing, satisfying way to live. God Makes All the Decisions Here
17 Your eyes will see the king in his beauty, they will gaze on a land stretching into the distance.
17
Oh, you'll see the king - a beautiful sight! And you'll take in the wide vistas of 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?"
18
In your mind you'll go over the old terrors: "What happened to that Assyrian inspector who condemned and confiscated? And the one who gouged us of taxes? And that cheating moneychanger?"
19 You will not see the intransigent people, that people whose language is so obscure, whose stuttering speech you cannot understand.
19
Gone! Out of sight forever! Their insolence nothing now but a fading stain on the carpet! No more putting up with a language you can't understand, no more sounds of gibberish in your ears.
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.
20
Just take a look at Zion, will you? Centering our worship in festival feasts! Feast your eyes on Jerusalem, a quiet and permanent place to live. No more pulling up stakes and moving on, no more patched-together lean-tos.
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.
21
Instead, God! God majestic, God himself the place in a country of broad rivers and streams, But rivers blocked to invading ships, off-limits to predatory pirates.
22 For ADONAI is our judge, ADONAI is our lawgiver, ADONAI is our king. He will save us.
22
For God makes all the decisions here. God is our king. God runs this place and he'll keep us safe.
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.
23
Ha! Your sails are in shreds, your mast wobbling, your hold leaking. The plunder is free for the taking, free for all - for weak and strong, insiders and outsiders.
24 No inhabitant will say, "I am ill"; the people living there will be forgiven their sin.
24
No one in Zion will say, "I'm sick." Best of all, they'll all live guilt-free.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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.