The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 Let your voice be loud in song, O woman without children; make melody and sounds of joy, you who did not give birth: for the children of her who had no husband are more than those of the married wife, says the Lord.
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Jerusalem, you have been like a childless woman, but now you can sing and shout for joy. Now you will have more children than a woman whose husband never left her.
2 Make wide the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your house be stretched out without limit: make your cords long, and your tent-pins strong.
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Make the tent you live in larger; lengthen its ropes and strengthen the pegs!
3 For I will make wide your limits on the right hand and on the left; and your seed will take the nations for a heritage, and make the waste towns full of people.
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You will extend your boundaries on all sides; your people will get back the land that the other nations now occupy. Cities now deserted will be filled with people.
4 Have no fear; for you will not be shamed or without hope: you will not be put to shame, for the shame of your earlier days will go out of your memory, and you will no longer keep in mind the sorrows of your widowed years.
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Do not be afraid - you will not be disgraced again; you will not be humiliated. You will forget your unfaithfulness as a young wife, and your desperate loneliness as a widow.
5 For your Maker is your husband; the Lord of armies is his name: and the Holy One of Israel is he who takes up your cause; he will be named the God of all the earth.
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Your Creator will be like a husband to you - the Lord Almighty is his name. The holy God of Israel will save you - he is the ruler of all the world.
6 For the Lord has made you come back to him, like a wife who has been sent away in grief of spirit; for one may not give up the wife of one's early days.
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Israel, you are like a young wife, deserted by her husband and deeply distressed. But the Lord calls you back to him and says:
7 For a short time I gave you up; but with great mercies I will take you back again.
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"For one brief moment I left you; with deep love I will take you back.
8 In overflowing wrath my face was veiled from you for a minute, but I will have pity on you for ever, says the Lord who takes up your cause.
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I turned away angry for only a moment, but I will show you my love forever." So says the Lord who saves you.
9 For this is like the days of Noah to me: for as I took an oath that the waters of Noah would never again go over the earth, so have I taken an oath that I will not again be angry with you, or say bitter words to you.
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"In the time of Noah I promised never again to flood the earth. Now I promise not to be angry with you again; I will not reprimand or punish you.
10 For the mountains may be taken away, and the hills be moved out of their places, but my love will not be taken from you, or my agreement of peace broken, says the Lord, who has had mercy on you.
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The mountains and hills may crumble, but my love for you will never end; I will keep forever my promise of peace." So says the Lord who loves you.
11 O troubled one, storm-crushed, uncomforted! see, your stones will be framed in fair colours, and your bases will be sapphires.
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The Lord says, "O Jerusalem, you suffering, helpless city, with no one to comfort you, I will rebuild your foundations with precious stones.
12 I will make your towers of rubies, and your doors of carbuncles, and the wall round you will be of all sorts of beautiful stones.
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I will build your towers with rubies, your gates with stones that glow like fire, and the wall around you with jewels.
13 And all your builders will be made wise by the Lord; and great will be the peace of your children.
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"I myself will teach your people and give them prosperity and peace.
14 All your rights will be made certain to you: have no fear of evil, and destruction will not come near you.
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Justice and right will make you strong. You will be safe from oppression and terror.
15 See, they may be moved to war, but not by my authority: all those who come together to make an attack on you, will be broken against you.
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Whoever attacks you, does it without my consent; whoever fights against you will fall.
16 See, I have made the iron-worker, blowing on the burning coals, and making the instrument of war by his work; and I have made the waster for destruction.
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"I create the blacksmith, who builds a fire and forges weapons. I also create the soldier, who uses the weapons to kill.
17 No instrument of war which is formed against you will be of any use; and every tongue which says evil against you will be judged false. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness comes from me, says the Lord.
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But no weapon will be able to hurt you; you will have an answer for all who accuse you. I will defend my servants and give them victory." The Lord has spoken.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.