New Living Translation NLT
Common English Bible CEB
1 What sorrow awaits you Assyrians, who have destroyed others but have never been destroyed yourselves. You betray others, but you have never been betrayed. When you are done destroying, you will be destroyed. When you are done betraying, you will be betrayed.
1
Doom to the destroyer left undestroyed, you traitor whom none have betrayed: when you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed; and when you have stopped betraying, they will betray you.
2 But LORD, be merciful to us, for we have waited for you. Be our strong arm each day and our salvation in times of trouble.
2
LORD, show us favor; we hope in you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in times of distress.
3 The enemy runs at the sound of your voice. When you stand up, the nations flee!
3
At the noise, peoples fled; on account of your roar, nations scattered.
4 Just as caterpillars and locusts strip the fields and vines, so the fallen army of Assyria will be stripped!
4
They gathered spoil like insects; they rushed upon it like a swarm of locusts.
5 Though the LORD is very great and lives in heaven, he will make Jerusalem his home of justice and righteousness.
5
The LORD is exalted; he lives on high, filling Zion with justice and righteousness.
6 In that day he will be your sure foundation, providing a rich store of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the LORD will be your treasure.
6
He will provide security during a lifetime: a source of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge— fear of the LORD will be Zion's treasure.
7 But now your brave warriors weep in public. Your ambassadors of peace cry in bitter disappointment.
7
But then those in Ariel cried out in the streets; messengers of peace wept bitterly.
8 Your roads are deserted; no one travels them anymore. The Assyrians have broken their peace treaty and care nothing for the promises they made before witnesses. They have no respect for anyone.
8
The highways were deserted; travelers left the road. The covenant was broken; solemn pledges were rejected; no one cared for humanity.
9 The land of Israel wilts in mourning. Lebanon withers with shame. The plain of Sharon is now a wilderness. Bashan and Carmel have been plundered.
9
The land mourned; it wasted away; Lebanon was ashamed; it withered. Sharon became like the desert, and Bashan and Carmel were dropping their leaves.
10 But the LORD says: “Now I will stand up. Now I will show my power and might.
10
Now I will arise, says the LORD. Now I will exalt myself; now I will stand tall.
11 You Assyrians produce nothing but dry grass and stubble. Your own breath will turn to fire and consume you.
11
You conceive straw, give birth to stubble; your breath is a fire that devours you.
12 Your people will be burned up completely, like thornbushes cut down and tossed in a fire.
12
Peoples will be burned to lime, thorns cut up and set ablaze.
13 Listen to what I have done, you nations far away! And you that are near, acknowledge my might!”
13
You who are far away, hear what I have done; and you who are near, know my strength!
14 The sinners in Jerusalem shake with fear. Terror seizes the godless. “Who can live with this devouring fire?” they cry. “Who can survive this all-consuming fire?”
14
Sinners became terrified in Zion; trembling seized the godless: "Who among us can live with the devouring fire? Who among us can live with the everlasting blaze?"
15 Those who are honest and fair, who refuse to profit by fraud, who stay far away from bribes, who refuse to listen to those who plot murder, who shut their eyes to all enticement to do wrong—
15
The one who walks righteously and speaks truthfully, who rejects profit from extortion, who waves away a bribe instead of grabbing it, who won't listen to bloody plots, and who won't contemplate doing something evil.
16 these are the ones who will dwell on high. The rocks of the mountains will be their fortress. Food will be supplied to them, and they will have water in abundance.
16
He will live on the heights; fortresses in the cliffs will be his refuge. His food will be provided, his water guaranteed.
17 Your eyes will see the king in all his splendor, and you will see a land that stretches into the distance.
17
When you gaze upon a king in his glamour and look at the surrounding land,
18 You will think back to this time of terror, asking, “Where are the Assyrian officers who counted our towers? Where are the bookkeepers who recorded the plunder taken from our fallen city?”
18
in dismay you will think: Where is the one who counts? Where is the one who weighs? Where is the one who counts towers?
19 You will no longer see these fierce, violent people with their strange, unknown language.
19
You will no longer see the defiant people, the people of speech too obscure to understand, who stammer in an incomprehensible language.
20 Instead, you will see Zion as a place of holy festivals. You will see Jerusalem, a city quiet and secure. It will be like a tent whose ropes are taut and whose stakes are firmly fixed.
20
Gaze upon Zion, our festival town. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a carefree dwelling, a tent that is not packed up, whose stakes are never pulled up, whose ropes won't snap.
21 The LORD will be our Mighty One. He will be like a wide river of protection that no enemy can cross, that no enemy ship can sail upon.
21
The LORD's majesty will be there for us: as a place of rivers, broad streams where no boat will go, no majestic ship will cross.
22 For the LORD is our judge, our lawgiver, and our king. He will care for us and save us.
22
The LORD is our judge; the LORD is our leader; the LORD is our king— he will deliver us.
23 The enemies’ sails hang loose on broken masts with useless tackle. Their treasure will be divided by the people of God. Even the lame will take their share!
23
Your ropes are loosened; they can't hold the mast firmly; they can't spread the sail. Then abundant spoil will be divided; even the lame will seize spoil.
24 The people of Israel will no longer say, “We are sick and helpless,” for the LORD will forgive their sins.
24
And no inhabitant will say, "I'm sick." The people living there will be forgiven their sin.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible