English Standard Version ESV
The Message Bible MSG
1 Ah, you destroyer, who yourself have not been destroyed, you traitor, whom none has betrayed! When you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed; and when you have finished betraying, they will betray you.
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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 O LORD, be gracious to us; we wait for you. Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble.
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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 tumultuous noise peoples flee; when you lift yourself up, nations are scattered,
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You spoke in thunder and everyone ran. You showed up and nations scattered.
4 and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers; as locusts leap, it is leapt upon.
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Your people, for a change, got in on the loot, picking the field clean of the enemy spoils.
5 The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness,
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God is supremely esteemed. His center holds. Zion brims over with all that is just and right.
6 and he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is Zion's treasure.
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God keeps your days stable and secure - salvation, wisdom, and knowledge in surplus, and best of all, Zion's treasure, Fear-of-God.
7 Behold, their heroes cry in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
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But look! Listen! Tough men weep openly. Peacemaking diplomats are in bitter tears.
8 The highways lie waste; the traveler ceases. Covenants are broken; cities are despised; there is no regard for man.
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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 mourns and languishes; Lebanon is confounded and withers away; Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.
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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 the LORD, "now I will lift myself up; now I will be exalted.
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"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; you give birth to stubble; your breath is a fire that will consume you.
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There's nothing to you. Pregnant with chaff, you produce straw babies; full of hot air, you self-destruct.
12 And the peoples will be as if burned to lime, like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire."
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You're good for nothing but fertilizer and fuel. Earth to earth - and the sooner the better.
13 Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and you who are near, acknowledge my might.
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"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 Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless: "Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?"
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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 who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil,
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The answer's simple: Live right, speak the truth, despise exploitation, refuse bribes, reject violence, avoid evil amusements.
16 he will dwell on the heights; his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks; his bread will be given him; his water will be sure.
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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 behold the king in his beauty; they will see a land that stretches afar.
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Oh, you'll see the king - a beautiful sight! And you'll take in the wide vistas of land.
18 Your heart will muse on the terror: "Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed the tribute? Where is he who counted the towers?"
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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 see no more the insolent people, the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend, stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand.
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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 Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an untroubled habitation, an immovable tent, whose stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of its cords be broken.
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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 the LORD in majesty will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams, where no galley with oars can go, nor majestic ship can pass.
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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 the LORD is our judge; the LORD is our lawgiver; the LORD is our king; he will save us.
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For God makes all the decisions here. God is our king. God runs this place and he'll keep us safe.
23 Your cords hang loose; they cannot hold the mast firm in its place or keep the sail spread out. Then prey and spoil in abundance will be divided; even the lame will take the prey.
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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 And no inhabitant will say, "I am sick"; the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.
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No one in Zion will say, "I'm sick." Best of all, they'll all live guilt-free.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
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.