New Revised Standard NRS
The Message Bible MSG
1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:
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God's Message that came to Jeremiah regarding the drought:
2 Judah mourns and her gates languish; they lie in gloom on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.
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"Judah weeps, her cities mourn. The people fall to the ground, moaning, while sounds of Jerusalem's sobs rise up, up.
3 Her nobles send their servants for water; they come to the cisterns, they find no water, they return with their vessels empty. They are ashamed and dismayed and cover their heads,
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The rich people sent their servants for water. They went to the cisterns, but the cisterns were dry. They came back with empty buckets, wringing their hands, shaking their heads.
4 because the ground is cracked. Because there has been no rain on the land the farmers are dismayed; they cover their heads.
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All the farm work has stopped. Not a drop of rain has fallen. The farmers don't know what to do. They wring their hands, they shake their heads.
5 Even the doe in the field forsakes her newborn fawn because there is no grass.
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Even the doe abandons her fawn in the field because there is no grass -
6 The wild asses stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail because there is no herbage.
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Eyes glazed over, on her last legs, nothing but skin and bones."
7 Although our iniquities testify against us, act, O Lord, for your name's sake; our apostasies indeed are many, and we have sinned against you.
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We know we're guilty. We've lived bad lives - but do something, God. Do it for your sake! Time and time again we've betrayed you. No doubt about it - we've sinned against you.
8 O hope of Israel, its savior in time of trouble, why should you be like a stranger in the land, like a traveler turning aside for the night?
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Hope of Israel! Our only hope! Israel's last chance in this trouble! Why are you acting like a tourist, taking in the sights, here today and gone tomorrow?
9 Why should you be like someone confused, like a mighty warrior who cannot give help? Yet you, O Lord, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; do not forsake us!
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Why do you just stand there and stare, like someone who doesn't know what to do in a crisis? But God, you are, in fact, here, here with us! You know who we are - you named us! Don't leave us in the lurch.
10 Thus says the Lord concerning this people: Truly they have loved to wander, they have not restrained their feet; therefore the Lord does not accept them, now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.
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Then God said of these people: "Since they loved to wander this way and that, never giving a thought to where they were going, I will now have nothing more to do with them - except to note their guilt and punish their sins." The Killing Fields
11 The Lord said to me: Do not pray for the welfare of this people.
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God said to me, "Don't pray that everything will turn out all right for this people.
12 Although they fast, I do not hear their cry, and although they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I do not accept them; but by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence I consume them.
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When they skip their meals in order to pray, I won't listen to a thing they say. When they redouble their prayers, bringing all kinds of offerings from their herds and crops, I'll not accept them. I'm finishing them off with war and famine and disease."
13 Then I said: "Ah, Lord God! Here are the prophets saying to them, "You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you true peace in this place.' "
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I said, "But Master, God! Their preachers have been telling them that everything is going to be all right - no war and no famine - that there's nothing to worry about."
14 And the Lord said to me: The prophets are prophesying lies in my name; I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds.
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Then God said, "These preachers are liars, and they use my name to cover their lies. I never sent them, I never commanded them, and I don't talk with them. The sermons they've been handing out are sheer illusion, tissues of lies, whistlings in the dark.
15 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name though I did not send them, and who say, "Sword and famine shall not come on this land": By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed.
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"So this is my verdict on them: All the preachers who preach using my name as their text, preachers I never sent in the first place, preachers who say, 'War and famine will never come here' - these preachers will die in war and by starvation.
16 And the people to whom they prophesy shall be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword. There shall be no one to bury them—themselves, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their wickedness upon them.
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And the people to whom they've been preaching will end up as corpses, victims of war and starvation, thrown out in the streets of Jerusalem unburied - no funerals for them or their wives or their children! I'll make sure they get the full brunt of all their evil.
17 You shall say to them this word: Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease, for the virgin daughter—my people—is struck down with a crushing blow, with a very grievous wound.
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"And you, Jeremiah, will say this to them: "'My eyes pour out tears. Day and night, the tears never quit. My dear, dear people are battered and bruised, hopelessly and cruelly wounded.
18 If I go out into the field, look—those killed by the sword! And if I enter the city, look—those sick with famine! For both prophet and priest ply their trade throughout the land, and have no knowledge.
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I walk out into the fields, shocked by the killing fields strewn with corpses. I walk into the city, shocked by the sight of starving bodies. And I watch the preachers and priests going about their business as if nothing's happened!'"
19 Have you completely rejected Judah? Does your heart loathe Zion? Why have you struck us down so that there is no healing for us? We look for peace, but find no good; for a time of healing, but there is terror instead.
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God, have you said your final No to Judah? Can you simply not stand Zion any longer? If not, why have you treated us like this, beaten us nearly to death? We hoped for peace - nothing good came from it; We looked for healing - and got kicked in the stomach.
20 We acknowledge our wickedness, O Lord, the iniquity of our ancestors, for we have sinned against you.
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We admit, O God, how bad we've lived, and our ancestors, how bad they were. We've sinned, they've sinned, we've all sinned against you!
21 Do not spurn us, for your name's sake; do not dishonor your glorious throne; remember and do not break your covenant with us.
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Your reputation is at stake! Don't quit on us! Don't walk out and abandon your glorious Temple! Remember your covenant. Don't break faith with us!
22 Can any idols of the nations bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Is it not you, O Lord our God? We set our hope on you, for it is you who do all this.
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Can the no-gods of the godless nations cause rain? Can the sky water the earth by itself? You're the one, O God, who does this. So you're the one for whom we wait. You made it all, you do it all.
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.