The Living Bible (221 page)
Authors: Inc. Tyndale House Publishers
Tags: #BIBLES / Other Translations / Text
Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair shall not go on forever. Though soon the land of Zebulun and Naphtali will be under God’s contempt and judgment, yet in the future these very lands, Galilee and northern Transjordan, where lies the road to the sea, will be filled with glory.
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The people who walk in darkness shall see a great Light—a Light that will shine on all those who live in the land of the shadow of death.
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For Israel will again be great, filled with joy like that of reapers when the harvesttime has come, and like that of men dividing up the plunder they have won.
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For God will break the chains that bind his people and the whip that scourges them, just as he did when he destroyed the vast host of the Midianites by Gideon’s little band.
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In that glorious day of peace there will no longer be the issuing of battle gear; no more the bloodstained uniforms of war; all such will be burned.
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For unto us a child is born; unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder. These will be his royal titles: “Wonderful,” “Counselor,” “The Mighty God,” “The Everlasting Father,” “The Prince of Peace.”
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His ever-expanding, peaceful government will never end. He will rule with perfect fairness and justice from the throne of his father David. He will bring true justice and peace to all the nations of the world. This is going to happen because the Lord of heaven’s armies has dedicated himself to do it!
8-10
The Lord has spoken out against that braggart Israel who says that though our land lies in ruins now, we will rebuild it better than before. The sycamore trees are cut down, but we will replace them with cedars!
11-12
The Lord’s reply to your bragging is to bring your enemies
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against you—the Syrians on the east and the Philistines on the west. With bared fangs they will devour Israel. And even then the Lord’s anger against you will not be satisfied—his fist will still be poised to smash you.
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For after all this punishment you will not repent and turn to him, the Lord of heaven’s armies.
14-15
Therefore the Lord, in one day, will destroy the leaders of Israel and the lying prophets.
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For the leaders of his people have led them down the paths of ruin.
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That is why the Lord has no joy in their young men and no mercy upon even the widows and orphans, for they are all filthy-mouthed, wicked liars. That is why his anger is not yet satisfied, but his fist is still poised to smash them all.
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He will burn up all this wickedness, these thorns and briars; and the flames will consume the forests too, and send a vast cloud of smoke billowing up from their burning.
19-20
The land is blackened by that fire, by the wrath of the Lord of heaven’s armies. The people are fuel for the fire. Each fights against his brother to steal his food but will never have enough. Finally they will even eat their own children!
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Manasseh against Ephraim and Ephraim against Manasseh—and both against Judah. Yet even after all of this, God’s anger is not yet satisfied. His hand is still heavy upon them to crush them.
Woe to unjust judges and to those who issue unfair laws, says the Lord,
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so that there is no justice for the poor, the widows, and orphans. Yes, it is true that they even rob the widows and fatherless children.
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Oh, what will you do when I visit you in that day when I send desolation upon you from a distant land? To whom will you turn then for your help? Where will your treasures be safe?
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I will not help you; you will stumble along as prisoners or lie among the slain. And even then my anger will not be satisfied, but my fist will still be poised to strike you.
5-6
Assyria is the whip of my anger; his military strength is my weapon upon this godless nation, doomed and damned; he will enslave them and plunder them and trample them like dirt beneath his feet.
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But the king of Assyria will not know that it is I who sent him. He will merely think he is attacking my people as part of his plan to conquer the world.
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He will declare that every one of his princes will soon be a king, ruling a conquered land.
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“We will destroy Calno just as we did Carchemish,” he will say, “and Hamath will go down before us as Arpad did; and we will destroy Samaria just as we did Damascus.
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Yes, we have finished off many a kingdom whose idols were far greater than those in Jerusalem and Samaria,
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so when we have defeated Samaria and her idols, we will destroy Jerusalem with hers.”
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After the Lord has used the king of Assyria to accomplish his purpose, then he will turn upon the Assyrians and punish them too—for they are proud and haughty men.
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They boast, “We in our own power and wisdom have won these wars. We are great and wise. By our own strength we broke down the walls and destroyed the people and carried off their treasures.
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In our greatness we have robbed their nests of riches and gathered up kingdoms as a farmer gathers eggs, and no one can move a finger or open his mouth to peep against us!”
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But the Lord says, “Shall the ax boast greater power than the man who uses it? Is the saw greater than the man who saws? Can a rod strike unless a hand is moving it? Can a cane walk by itself?”
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Because of all your evil boasting, O king of Assyria, the Lord of Hosts will send a plague among your proud troops and strike them down.
17
God, the Light and Holy One of Israel, will be the fire and flame that will destroy them. In a single night he will burn those thorns and briars, the Assyrians who destroyed the land of Israel.
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18
Assyria’s vast army is like a glorious forest, yet it will be destroyed. The Lord will destroy them, soul and body, as when a sick man wastes away.
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Only a few from all that mighty army will be left; so few a child could count them!
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Then at last those left in Israel and in Judah will trust the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, instead of fearing the Assyrians.
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A remnant of them will return to the mighty God.
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But though Israel be now as many as the sands along the shore, yet only a few of them will be left to return at that time; God has rightly decided to destroy his people.
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Yes, it has already been decided by the Lord God to consume them.
24
Therefore the Lord God says, “O my people in Jerusalem, don’t be afraid of the Assyrians when they oppress you just as the Egyptians did long ago.
25
It will not last very long; in a little while my anger against you will end, and then it will rise against them to destroy them.”
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The Lord Almighty will send his angel to slay them in a mighty slaughter like the time when Gideon triumphed over Midian at the rock of Oreb or the time God drowned the Egyptian armies in the sea.
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On that day God will end the bondage of his people. He will break the yoke of slavery off their necks and destroy it as decreed.
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28-29
Look, the mighty armies of Assyria are coming! Now they are at Aiath, now at Migron; they are storing some of their equipment at Michmash and crossing over the pass; they are staying overnight at Geba. Fear strikes the city of Ramah; all the people of Gibeah—the city of Saul—are running for their lives.
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Well may you scream in terror, O people of Gallim. Shout out a warning to Laish, for the mighty army comes. O poor Anathoth, what a fate is yours!
31
There go the people of Madmenah, all fleeing, and the citizens of Gebim are preparing to run.
32
But the enemy stops at Nob for the remainder of that day. He shakes his fist at Jerusalem on Mount Zion.
33
Then, look, look! The Lord, the Lord of the armies of heaven, is chopping down the mighty tree! He is destroying all of that vast army, great and small alike, both officers and men.
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He, the Mighty One, will cut down the enemy as a woodsman’s ax cuts down the forest trees in Lebanon.
The royal line of David
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will be cut off, chopped down like a tree; but from the stump will grow a Shoot—yes, a new Branch
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from the old root.
2
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, and might; the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
3
His delight will be obedience to the Lord. He will not judge by appearance, false evidence, or hearsay,
4
but will defend the poor and the exploited. He will rule against the wicked who oppress them.
5
For he will be clothed with fairness and with truth.
6
In that day the wolf and the lamb will lie down together, and the leopard and goats will be at peace. Calves and fat cattle will be safe among lions, and a little child shall lead them all.
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The cows will graze among bears; cubs and calves will lie down together, and lions will eat grass like the cows.
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Babies will crawl safely among poisonous snakes, and a little child who puts his hand in a nest of deadly adders will pull it out unharmed.
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Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for as the waters fill the sea, so shall the earth be full of the knowledge of the Lord.
10
In that day he who created the royal dynasty of David
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will be a banner of salvation to all the world. The nations will rally to him, for the land where he lives will be a glorious place.
11
At that time the Lord will bring back a remnant of his people for the second time, returning them to the land of Israel from Assyria, Upper and Lower Egypt, Ethiopia, Elam, Babylonia, Hamath, and all the distant coastal lands.
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He will raise a flag among the nations for them to rally to; he will gather the scattered Israelites from the ends of the earth.
13
Then at last the jealousy between Israel and Judah will end; they will not fight each other anymore.
14
Together they will fly against the nations possessing their land on the east and on the west, uniting forces to destroy them, and they will occupy the nations of Edom and Moab and Ammon.
15
The Lord will dry a path through the Red Sea
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and wave his hand over the Euphrates,
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sending a mighty wind to divide it into seven streams that can easily be crossed.
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He will make a highway from Assyria for the remnant there, just as he did for all of Israel long ago when they returned from Egypt.