Hebrew Names Version HNV
The Message Bible MSG
1 Ho, everyone who thirsts, come you to the waters, and he who has no money; come you, buy, and eat; yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
1
"Hey there! All who are thirsty, come to the water! Are you penniless? Come anyway - buy and eat! Come, buy your drinks, buy wine and milk. Buy without money - everything's free!
2 Why do you spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which doesn't satisfy? listen diligently to me, and eat you that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
2
Why do you spend your money on junk food, your hard-earned cash on cotton candy? Listen to me, listen well: Eat only the best, fill yourself with only the finest.
3 Turn your ear, and come to me; hear, and your soul shall live: and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
3
Pay attention, come close now, listen carefully to my life-giving, life-nourishing words. I'm making a lasting covenant commitment with you, the same that I made with David: sure, solid, enduring love.
4 Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples.
4
I set him up as a witness to the nations, made him a prince and leader of the nations,
5 Behold, you shall call a nation that you don't know; and a nation that didn't know you shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, and for the Holy One of Yisra'el; for he has glorified you.
5
And now I'm doing it to you: You'll summon nations you've never heard of, and nations who've never heard of you will come running to you Because of me, your God, because The Holy of Israel has honored you."
6 Seek you the LORD while he may be found; call you on him while he is near:
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Seek God while he's here to be found, pray to him while he's close at hand.
7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
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Let the wicked abandon their way of life and the evil their way of thinking. Let them come back to God, who is merciful, come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
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"I don't think the way you think. The way you work isn't the way I work." God's Decree.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the eretz, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
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"For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think.
10 For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky, and doesn't return there, but waters the eretz, and makes it bring forth and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
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Just as rain and snow descend from the skies and don't go back until they've watered the earth, Doing their work of making things grow and blossom, producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry,
11 so shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
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So will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They'll do the work I sent them to do, they'll complete the assignment I gave them.
12 For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with shalom: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing; and all the trees of the fields shall clap their hands.
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"So you'll go out in joy, you'll be led into a whole and complete life. The mountains and hills will lead the parade, bursting with song. All the trees of the forest will join the procession, exuberant with applause.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree; and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
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No more thistles, but giant sequoias, no more thornbushes, but stately pines - Monuments to me, to God, living and lasting evidence of God."
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.
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.