New Revised Standard NRS
The Message Bible MSG
1 Ah, you destroyer, who yourself have not been destroyed; you treacherous one, with whom no one has dealt treacherously! When you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed; and when you have stopped dealing treacherously, you will be dealt with treacherously.
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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 sound of tumult, peoples fled; before your majesty, nations scattered.
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You spoke in thunder and everyone ran. You showed up and nations scattered.
4 Spoil was gathered as the caterpillar gathers; as locusts leap, they leaped upon it.
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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, he dwells on high; he filled 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 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 Listen! the valiant 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 are deserted, travelers have quit the road. The treaty is broken, its oaths are despised, its obligation is disregarded.
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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 bring forth 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 away, 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 live with the devouring fire? Who among us can live with everlasting flames?"
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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 Those who walk righteously and speak uprightly, who despise the gain of oppression, who wave away a bribe instead of accepting it, who stop their ears from hearing of bloodshed and shut their 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 they will live on the heights; their refuge will be the fortresses of rocks; their food will be supplied, their water assured.
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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 see the king in his beauty; they will behold a land that stretches far away.
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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 mind will muse on the terror: "Where is the one who counted? Where is the one who weighed the tribute? Where is the one 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 No longer will you see the insolent people, the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend, stammering in a language 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 Look on Zion, the city of our appointed festivals! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet habitation, an immovable tent, whose stakes will never be pulled up, and none of whose ropes will 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 stately 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 ruler, 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 rigging hangs loose; it 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 fall to plundering.
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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 live 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.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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.