New Living Translation NLT
Common English Bible CEB
1 LORD, you always give me justice when I bring a case before you. So let me bring you this complaint: Why are the wicked so prosperous? Why are evil people so happy?
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If I took you to court, LORD, you would win. But I still have questions about your justice. Why do guilty persons enjoy success? Why are evildoers so happy?
2 You have planted them, and they have taken root and prospered. Your name is on their lips, but you are far from their hearts.
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You plant them, and they take root; they flourish and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their hearts.
3 But as for me, LORD, you know my heart. You see me and test my thoughts. Drag these people away like sheep to be butchered! Set them aside to be slaughtered!
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Yet you, LORD, you know me. You see me. You can tell that I love you. So drag them away and butcher them like sheep. Prepare them for the slaughterhouse.
4 How long must this land mourn? Even the grass in the fields has withered. The wild animals and birds have disappeared because of the evil in the land. For the people have said, “The LORD doesn’t see what’s ahead for us!”
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How long will the land mourn and the grass in the fields dry up? The animals and birds are swept away due to the evil of those in the land. The people say, "God doesn't see what we're up to!"
5 “If racing against mere men makes you tired, how will you race against horses? If you stumble and fall on open ground, what will you do in the thickets near the Jordan?
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If you have raced with people and are worn out, how will you compete with horses? If you fall down in an open field, how will you survive in the forest along the Jordan?
6 Even your brothers, members of your own family, have turned against you. They plot and raise complaints against you. Do not trust them, no matter how pleasantly they speak.
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Even your relatives, your very family, are planning to trap you. They are out to get you. So don't trust them, even if they appear to be on your side.
7 “I have abandoned my people, my special possession. I have surrendered my dearest ones to their enemies.
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I have abandoned my house; I have deserted my inheritance. I have given the one I love into the power of her enemies.
8 My chosen people have roared at me like a lion of the forest, so I have treated them with contempt.
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My inheritance has turned against me like a lion in the forest; she growls at me; therefore, I have rejected her.
9 My chosen people act like speckled vultures, but they themselves are surrounded by vultures. Bring on the wild animals to pick their corpses clean!
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My inheritance has become like a bird of prey, surrounded and attacked. Go, gather all the wild animals for the feast.
10 “Many rulers have ravaged my vineyard, trampling down the vines and turning all its beauty into a barren wilderness.
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Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard; they have trampled down my field; they have reduced my treasured field to a desolate wilderness.
11 They have made it an empty wasteland; I hear its mournful cry. The whole land is desolate, and no one even cares.
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They have devastated her; desolate, she cries out to me in distress: "The whole land is desolate, and no one seems to care."
12 On all the bare hilltops, destroying armies can be seen. The sword of the LORD devours people from one end of the nation to the other. No one will escape!
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Over all the desert roads destroyers march; for the sword of the LORD devours from one end of the land to the other; no one is safe.
13 My people have planted wheat but are harvesting thorns. They have worn themselves out, but it has done them no good. They will harvest a crop of shame because of the fierce anger of the LORD .”
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They have sown wheat and reaped weeds; they have worn themselves out for nothing. They will be ashamed of their harvest on account of the LORD's fierce anger.
14 Now this is what the LORD says: “I will uproot from their land all the evil nations reaching out for the possession I gave my people Israel. And I will uproot Judah from among them.
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The LORD proclaims: The evil nations have seized the land that I gave my people Israel. I'm going to dig them up from their own lands, and I will dig up the people of Judah from among them.
15 But afterward I will return and have compassion on all of them. I will bring them home to their own lands again, each nation to its own possession.
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And after I have dug them up, I will again have compassion on them and restore their inheritance and their land.
16 And if these nations truly learn the ways of my people, and if they learn to swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives’ (just as they taught my people to swear by the name of Baal), then they will be given a place among my people.
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And then, if they will learn the ways of my people, to make a solemn pledge in my name, "As the LORD lives," just as they once taught my people to swear to Baal, then they will be built up in the midst of my people.
17 But any nation who refuses to obey me will be uprooted and destroyed. I, the LORD, have spoken!”
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But if they don't listen, I will dig up that nation; yes, I will dig up and destroy, declares the LORD.
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