New Revised Standard NRS
The Message Bible MSG
1 The sin of Judah is written with an iron pen; with a diamond point it is engraved on the tablet of their hearts, and on the horns of their altars,
1
"Judah's sin is engraved with a steel chisel, A steel chisel with a diamond point - engraved on their granite hearts, engraved on the stone corners of their altars.
2 while their children remember their altars and their sacred poles, beside every green tree, and on the high hills,
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The evidence against them is plain to see: sex-and-religion altars and sacred sex shrines Anywhere there's a grove of trees, anywhere there's an available hill.
3 on the mountains in the open country. Your wealth and all your treasures I will give for spoil as the price of your sin throughout all your territory.
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"I'll use your mountains as roadside stands for giving away everything you have. All your 'things' will serve as reparations for your sins all over the country.
4 By your own act you shall lose the heritage that I gave you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.
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You'll lose your gift of land, The inheritance I gave you. I'll make you slaves of your enemies in a far-off and strange land. My anger is hot and blazing and fierce, and no one will put it out."
5 Thus says the Lord: Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the Lord.
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God's Message: "Cursed is the strong one who depends on mere humans, Who thinks he can make it on muscle alone and sets God aside as dead weight.
6 They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes. They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.
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He's like a tumbleweed on the prairie, out of touch with the good earth. He lives rootless and aimless in a land where nothing grows.
7 Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.
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"But blessed is the man who trusts me, God, the woman who sticks with God.
8 They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.
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They're like trees replanted in Eden, putting down roots near the rivers - Never a worry through the hottest of summers, never dropping a leaf, Serene and calm through droughts, bearing fresh fruit every season.
9 The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse— who can understand it?
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"The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out.
10 I the Lord test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings.
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But I, God, search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be."
11 Like the partridge hatching what it did not lay, so are all who amass wealth unjustly; in mid-life it will leave them, and at their end they will prove to be fools.
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Like a cowbird that cheats by laying its eggs in another bird's nest Is the person who gets rich by cheating. When the eggs hatch, the deceit is exposed. What a fool he'll look like then!
12 O glorious throne, exalted from the beginning, shrine of our sanctuary!
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From early on your Sanctuary was set high, a throne of glory, exalted!
13 O hope of Israel! O Lord! All who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be recorded in the underworld, for they have forsaken the fountain of living water, the Lord.
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O God, you're the hope of Israel. All who leave you end up as fools, Deserters with nothing to show for their lives, who walk off from God, fountain of living waters - and wind up dead!
14 Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved; for you are my praise.
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God, pick up the pieces. Put me back together again. You are my praise!
15 See how they say to me, "Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come!"
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Listen to how they talk about me: "So where's this 'Word of God'? We'd like to see something happen!"
16 But I have not run away from being a shepherd in your service, nor have I desired the fatal day. You know what came from my lips; it was before your face.
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But it wasn't my idea to call for Doomsday. I never wanted trouble. You know what I've said. It's all out in the open before you.
17 Do not become a terror to me; you are my refuge in the day of disaster;
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Don't add to my troubles. Give me some relief!
18 Let my persecutors be shamed, but do not let me be shamed; let them be dismayed, but do not let me be dismayed; bring on them the day of disaster; destroy them with double destruction!
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Let those who harass me be harassed, not me. Let them be disgraced, not me. Bring down upon them the day of doom. Lower the boom. Boom! Keep the Sabbath Day Holy
19 Thus said the Lord to me: Go and stand in the People's Gate, by which the kings of Judah enter and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem,
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God's Message to me: "Go stand in the People's Gate, the one used by Judah's kings as they come and go, and then proceed in turn to all the gates of Jerusalem.
20 and say to them: Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates.
20
Tell them: 'Listen, you kings of Judah, listen to God's Message - and all you people who go in and out of these gates, you listen!
21 Thus says the Lord: For the sake of your lives, take care that you do not bear a burden on the sabbath day or bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem.
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"'This is God's Message. Be careful, if you care about your lives, not to desecrate the Sabbath by turning it into just another workday, lugging stuff here and there.
22 And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the sabbath or do any work, but keep the sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors.
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Don't use the Sabbath to do business as usual. Keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors.
23 Yet they did not listen or incline their ear; they stiffened their necks and would not hear or receive instruction.
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They never did it, as you know. They paid no attention to what I said and went about their own business, refusing to be guided or instructed by me.
24 But if you listen to me, says the Lord, and bring in no burden by the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but keep the sabbath day holy and do no work on it,
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"'But now, take seriously what I tell you. Quit desecrating the Sabbath by busily going about your own work, and keep the Sabbath day holy by not doing business as usual.
25 then there shall enter by the gates of this city kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their officials, the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall be inhabited forever.
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Then kings from the time of David and their officials will continue to ride through these gates on horses or in chariots. The people of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem will continue to pass through them, too. Jerusalem will always be filled with people.
26 And people shall come from the towns of Judah and the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the Shephelah, from the hill country, and from the Negeb, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and frankincense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of the Lord.
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People will stream in from all over Judah, from the province of Benjamin, from the Jerusalem suburbs, from foothills and mountains and deserts. They'll come to worship, bringing all kinds of offerings - animals, grains, incense, expressions of thanks - into the Sanctuary of God.
27 But if you do not listen to me, to keep the sabbath day holy, and to carry in no burden through the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates; it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and shall not be quenched.
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"'But if you won't listen to me, won't keep the Sabbath holy, won't quit using the Sabbath for doing your own work, busily going in and out of the city gates on your self-important business, then I'll burn the gates down. In fact, I'll burn the whole city down, palaces and all, with a fire nobody will be able to put out!'"
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.