The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 At that time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.
1
The Lord says, "The time is coming when I will be the God of all the tribes of Israel, and they will be my people.
2 The Lord has said, Grace came in the waste land to a people kept safe from the sword, even to Israel on the way to his resting-place.
2
In the desert I showed mercy to those people who had escaped death. When the people of Israel longed for rest,
3 From far away he saw the Lord: my love for you is an eternal love: so with mercy I have made you come with me.
3
I appeared to them from far away. People of Israel, I have always loved you, so I continue to show you my constant love.
4 I will again make new your buildings, O virgin of Israel, and you will take up your place: again you will take up your instruments of music, and go out in the dances of those who are glad.
4
Once again I will rebuild you. Once again you will take up your tambourines and dance joyfully.
5 Again will your vine-gardens be planted on the hill of Samaria: the planters will be planting and using the fruit.
5
Once again you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria, and those who plant them will eat what the vineyards produce.
6 For there will be a day when those who get in the grapes on the hills of Ephraim will be crying, Up! let us go up to Zion to the Lord our God.
6
Yes, the time is coming when sentries will call out on the hills of Ephraim, "Let's go up to Zion, to the Lord our God.' "
7 For the Lord has said, Make a glad song for Jacob and give a cry on the top of the mountains: give the news, give praise, and say, The Lord has given salvation to his people, even to the rest of Israel.
7
The Lord says, "Sing with joy for Israel, the greatest of the nations. Sing your song of praise, "The Lord has saved his people; he has rescued all who are left.'
8 See, I will take them from the north country, and get them from the inmost parts of the earth, and with them the blind and the feeble-footed, the woman with child and her who is in birth-pains together: a very great army, they will come back here.
8
I will bring them from the north and gather them from the ends of the earth. The blind and the lame will come with them, pregnant women and those about to give birth. They will come back a great nation.
9 They will come with weeping, and going before them I will be their guide: guiding them by streams of water in a straight way where there is no falling: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is the first of my sons.
9
My people will return weeping, praying as I lead them back. I will guide them to streams of water, on a smooth road where they will not stumble. I am like a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my oldest son."
10 Give ear to the word of the Lord, O you nations, and give news of it in the sea-lands far away, and say, He who has sent Israel wandering will get him together and will keep him as a keeper does his flock.
10
The Lord says, "Nations, listen to me and proclaim my words on the far-off shores. I scattered my people, but I will gather them and guard them as a shepherd guards his flock.
11 For the Lord has given a price for Jacob, and made him free from the hands of him who was stronger than he.
11
I have set Israel's people free and have saved them from a mighty nation.
12 So they will come with songs on the high places, flowing together to the good things of the Lord, to the grain and the wine and the oil, to the young ones of the flock and of the herd: their souls will be like a watered garden, and they will have no more sorrow.
12
They will come and sing for joy on Mount Zion and be delighted with my gifts - gifts of grain and wine and olive oil, gifts of sheep and cattle. They will be like a well-watered garden; they will have everything they need.
13 Then the virgin will have joy in the dance, and the young men and the old will be glad: for I will have their weeping turned into joy, I will give them comfort and make them glad after their sorrow.
13
Then the young women will dance and be happy, and men, young and old, will rejoice. I will comfort them and turn their mourning into joy, their sorrow into gladness.
14 I will give the priests their desired fat things, and my people will have a full measure of my good things, says the Lord.
14
I will fill the priests with the richest food and satisfy all the needs of my people. I, the Lord, have spoken."
15 So has the Lord said: In Ramah there is a sound of crying, weeping and bitter sorrow; Rachel weeping for her children; she will not be comforted for their loss.
15
The Lord says, "A sound is heard in Ramah, the sound of bitter weeping. Rachel is crying for her children; they are gone, and she refuses to be comforted.
16 The Lord has said this: Keep your voice from sorrow and your eyes from weeping: for your work will be rewarded, says the Lord; and they will come back from the land of their hater.
16
Stop your crying and wipe away your tears. All that you have done for your children will not go unrewarded; they will return from the enemy's land.
17 And there is hope for the future, says the Lord; and your children will come back to the land which is theirs.
17
There is hope for your future; your children will come back home. I, the Lord, have spoken.
18 Certainly Ephraim's words of grief have come to my ears, You have given me training and I have undergone it like a young cow unused to the yoke: let me be turned and come back, for you are the Lord my God.
18
"I hear the people of Israel say in grief, "Lord, we were like an untamed animal, but you taught us to obey. Bring us back; we are ready to return to you, the Lord our God.
19 Truly, after I had been turned, I had regret for my ways; and after I had got knowledge, I made signs of sorrow: I was put to shame, truly, I was covered with shame, because I had to undergo the shame of my early years.
19
We turned away from you, but soon we wanted to return. After you had punished us, we hung our heads in grief. We were ashamed and disgraced because we sinned when we were young.'
20 Is Ephraim my dear son? is he the child of my delight? for whenever I say things against him, I still keep him in my memory: so my heart is troubled for him; I will certainly have mercy on him, says the Lord.
20
"Israel, you are my dearest child, the one I love best. Whenever I mention your name, I think of you with love. My heart goes out to you; I will be merciful.
21 Put up guiding pillars, make road signs for yourself: give attention to the highway, even the way in which you went: be turned again, O virgin of Israel, be turned to these your towns.
21
Set up signs and mark the road; find again the way by which you left. Come back, people of Israel, come home to the towns you left.
22 How long will you go on turning this way and that, O wandering daughter? for the Lord has made a new thing on the earth, a woman changed into a man.
22
How long will you hesitate, faithless people? I have created something new and different, as different as a woman protecting a man."
23 So the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said, Again will these words be used in the land of Judah and in its towns, when I have let their fate be changed: May the blessing of the Lord be on you, O resting-place of righteousness, O holy mountain.
23
The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says, "When I restore the people to their land, they will once again say in the land of Judah and in its towns, "May the Lord bless the sacred hill of Jerusalem, the holy place where he lives.'
24 And Judah and all its towns will be living there together; the farmers and those who go about with flocks.
24
People will live in Judah and in all its towns, and there will be farmers, and shepherds with their flocks.
25 For I have given new strength to the tired soul and to every sorrowing soul in full measure.
25
I will refresh those who are weary and will satisfy with food everyone who is weak from hunger.
26 At this, awaking from my sleep, I saw; and my sleep was sweet to me.
26
So then, people will say, "I went to sleep and woke up refreshed.'
27 See, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will have Israel and Judah planted with the seed of man and with the seed of beast.
27
"I, the Lord, say that the time is coming when I will fill the land of Israel and Judah with people and animals.
28 And it will come about that, as I have been watching over them for the purpose of uprooting and smashing down and overturning and sending destruction and causing trouble; so I will be watching over them for the purpose of building up and planting, says the Lord.
28
And just as I took care to uproot, to pull down, to overthrow, to destroy, and to demolish them, so I will take care to plant them and to build them up.
29 In those days they will no longer say, The fathers have been tasting bitter grapes and the children's teeth are put on edge.
29
When that time comes, people will no longer say, "The parents ate the sour grapes, But the children got the sour taste.'
30 But everyone will be put to death for the evil which he himself has done: whoever has taken bitter grapes will himself have his teeth put on edge.
30
Instead, those who eat sour grapes will have their own teeth set on edge; and everyone will die because of their own sin."
31 See, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new agreement with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah:
31
The Lord says, "The time is coming when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.
32 Not like the agreement which I made with their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand to be their guide out of the land of Egypt; which agreement was broken by them, and I gave them up, says the Lord.
32
It will not be like the old covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt. Although I was like a husband to them, they did not keep that covenant.
33 But this is the agreement which I will make with the people of Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will put my law in their inner parts, writing it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they will be my people.
33
The new covenant that I will make with the people of Israel will be this: I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
34 And no longer will they be teaching every man his neighbour and every man his brother, saying, Get knowledge of the Lord: for they will all have knowledge of me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord: for they will have my forgiveness for their evil-doing, and their sin will go from my memory for ever.
34
None of them will have to teach a neighbor to know the Lord, because all will know me, from the least to the greatest. I will forgive their sins and I will no longer remember their wrongs. I, the Lord, have spoken."
35 These are the words of the Lord, who has given the sun for a light by day, ordering the moon and stars for a light by night, who puts the sea in motion, causing the thunder of its waves; the Lord of armies is his name.
35
The Lord provides the sun for light by day, the moon and the stars to shine at night. He stirs up the sea and makes it roar; his name is the Lord Almighty.
36 If the order of these things before me is ever broken, says the Lord, then will the seed of Israel come to an end as a nation before me for ever.
36
He promises that as long as the natural order lasts, so long will Israel be a nation.
37 This is what the Lord has said: If the heavens on high may be measured, and the bases of the earth searched out, then I will give up the seed of Israel, because of all they have done, says the Lord.
37
If one day the sky could be measured and the foundations of the earth explored, only then would he reject the people of Israel because of all they have done. The Lord has spoken.
38 See, the days are coming, says the Lord, for the building of the Lord's town, from the tower of Hananel to the doorway of the angle.
38
"The time is coming," says the Lord, "when all of Jerusalem will be rebuilt as my city, from Hananel Tower west to the Corner Gate.
39 And the measuring-line will go out in front of it as far as the hill Gareb, going round to Goah.
39
And the boundary line will continue from there on the west to the hill of Gareb and then around to Goah.
40 And all the valley of the dead bodies, and all the field of death as far as the stream Kidron, up to the angle of the horses' doorway to the east, will be holy to the Lord; it will not again be uprooted or overturned for ever.
40
The entire valley, where the dead are buried and garbage is dumped, and all the fields above Kidron Brook as far as the Horse Gate to the east, will be sacred to me. The city will never again be torn down or destroyed."
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.