The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 "Head for cover, people of Binyamin, get out of Yerushalayim! Blow the shofar in T'koa, light the beacon on Beit-Hakerem. For disaster threatens from the north, with great destruction.
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Go in flight out of Jerusalem, so that you may be safe, you children of Benjamin, and let the horn be sounded in Tekoa, and the flag be lifted up on Beth-haccherem: for evil is looking out from the north, and a great destruction.
2 Although she is beautiful and delicate, I am cutting off the daughter of Tziyon."
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The fair and delicate one, the daughter of Zion, will be cut off by my hand.
3 Shepherds advance on her with their flocks; all around her they pitch their tents, each grazing his own plot of pasture.
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Keepers of sheep with their flocks will come to her; they will put up their tents round her; everyone will get food in his place.
4 "Prepare for war against her! Get up! Let's attack at noon!" "Woe to us! for the day is waning, evening shadows are lengthening."
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Make war ready against her; up! let us go up when the sun is high. Sorrow is ours! for the day is turned and the shades of evening are stretched out.
5 "Get up! Let's attack at night! Let's destroy her palaces!"
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Up! let us go up by night, and send destruction on her great houses.
6 For ADONAI-Tzva'ot says this: "Cut down her trees, and raise a siege-ramp against Yerushalayim! This is the city to be punished; in her there is nothing but oppression.
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For this is what the Lord of armies has said: Let trees be cut down and an earthwork be placed against Jerusalem: sorrow on the false town! inside her there is nothing but cruel ways.
7 Just as a cistern keeps its water fresh, so she keeps her wickedness fresh! Violence and destruction are heard within her, always before me sickness and wounds.
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As the spring keeps its waters cold, so she keeps her evil in her: the sound of cruel and violent behaviour is in her; before me at all times are disease and wounds.
8 Accept correction, Yerushalayim, or I will be estranged from you and turn you into a desolate waste, a land without inhabitants."
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Undergo teaching, O Jerusalem, or my soul will be turned away from you, and I will make you a waste, an unpeopled land.
9 Thus says ADONAI-Tzva'ot: "They will glean the remnant of Isra'el as thoroughly as in a vineyard - one last time, like a grape-picker, pass your hand over the vines."
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This is what the Lord of armies has said: Everything will be taken from the rest of Israel as the last grapes are taken from the vine; let your hand be turned to the small branches, like one pulling off grapes.
10 To whom should I speak? Whom should I warn? Who will listen to me? Their ears are dull, they can't pay attention. For them the word of ADONAI has become unattractive, an object of scorn.
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To whom am I to give word, witnessing so that they may take note? see, their ears are stopped, and they are not able to give attention: see, the word of the Lord has been a cause of shame to them, they have no delight in it.
11 This is why I am full of ADONAI's fury; I am weary of holding it back. "Pour it out on the children in the street and on the groups of young men gathered; for husbands and wives will be taken together, seniors as well as the very old.
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For this reason I am full of the wrath of the Lord, I am tired of keeping it in: may it be let loose on the children in the street, and on the band of the young men together: for even the husband with his wife will be taken, the old man with him who is full of days.
12 Their homes will be turned over to others, their fields together with their wives. Yes, I will stretch out my hand against those who are living in the land," says ADONAI.
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And their houses will be handed over to others, their fields and their wives together: for my hand will be stretched out against the people of the land, says the Lord.
13 "For from the least to the greatest of them, all are greedy for gains; prophets and cohanim alike, they all practice fraud
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For from the least of them even to the greatest, everyone is given up to getting money; from the prophet even to the priest, everyone is working deceit.
14 they dress the wound of my people, but only superficially, saying, 'There is perfect shalom,' when there is no shalom.
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And they have made little of the wounds of my people, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
15 "They should be ashamed of their detestable deeds, but they are not ashamed at all; they don't know how to blush. Therefore when others fall, they too will fall; when I punish them, they will stumble," says ADONAI.
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Let them be put to shame because they have done disgusting things. They had no shame, they were not able to become red with shame: so they will come down with those who are falling: when my punishment comes on them, they will be made low, says the Lord.
16 Here is what ADONAI says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask about the ancient paths, 'Which one is the good way?' Take it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not take it.'
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This is what the Lord has said: Take your place looking out on the ways; make search for the old roads, saying, Where is the good way? and go in it that you may have rest for your souls. But they said, We will not go in it.
17 I appointed sentinels to direct them: 'Listen for the sound of the shofar.' But they said, 'We will not listen.'
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And I put watchmen over you, saying, Give attention to the sound of the horn; but they said, We will not give attention.
18 So hear, you nations; know, you assembly, what there is against them.
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So then, give ear, you nations, and ...
19 Hear, oh earth! I am going to bring disaster on this people; it is the consequence of their own way of thinking; for they pay no attention to my words; and as for my Torah, they reject it.
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Give ear, O earth: see, I will make evil come on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not given attention to my words, and they would have nothing to do with my law.
20 What do I care about incense from Sh'va or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are unacceptable, your sacrifices don't please me."
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To what purpose does sweet perfume come to me from Sheba, and spices from a far country? your burned offerings give me no pleasure, your offerings of beasts are not pleasing to me.
21 Therefore thus says ADONAI: "I will put obstacles in the way of this people that they will stumble over fathers and sons, neighbors and friends, all will perish together."
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For this reason the Lord has said, See, I will put stones in the way of this people: and the fathers and the sons together will go falling over them; the neighbour and his friend will come to destruction.
22 Here is what ADONAI says: "A people is coming from the land of the north, a great nation will be aroused from the ends of the earth.
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The Lord has said, See, a people is coming from the north country, a great nation will be put in motion from the inmost parts of the earth.
23 They will take hold of bow and spear; they are cruel; they have no compassion: their noise as they ride on horses is like the roaring sea; and they are equipped for battle against you, daughter of Tziyon.
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Bows and spears are in their hands; they are cruel and have no mercy; their voice is like the thunder of the sea, and they go on horses; everyone in his place like men going to the fight, against you, O daughter of Zion.
24 'We have heard the news, and our hands fall limp; anguish has seized us, pain like a mother's in childbirth.'"
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The news of it has come to our ears; our hands have become feeble: trouble has come on us and pain, like the pain of a woman in childbirth.
25 Don't go into the countryside, don't walk out on the road; for the sword of the enemy is spreading terror in every direction.
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Go not out into the field or by the way; for there is the sword of the attacker, and fear on every side.
26 Daughter of my people, put on sackcloth, roll in ashes, mourn as if for an only son, wail most bitterly; for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.
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O daughter of my people, put on haircloth, rolling yourself in the dust: give yourself to sorrow, as for an only son, with most bitter cries of grief; for he who makes waste will come on us suddenly.
27 "I have made you a refiner and tester of my people, to know and test how they behave.
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I have made you a tester among my people, so that you may have knowledge of their way and put it to the test.
28 All of them are total rebels, spreading slanderous gossip; they are bronze and iron, [inferior metals,] all of them corrupt.
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All of them are turned away, going about with false stories; they are brass and iron: they are all workers of deceit.
29 The bellows blast away; and though the lead is consumed by the fire, in vain has the smelter refined, for the wicked have not been separated.
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The blower is blowing strongly, the lead is burned away in the fire: they go on heating the metal to no purpose, for the evil-doers are not taken away.
30 They are called 'rejected silver,' because ADONAI has rejected them."
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They will be named waste silver, because the Lord has given them up.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.