The Living Bible (227 page)
Authors: Inc. Tyndale House Publishers
Tags: #BIBLES / Other Translations / Text
Woe to those who run to Egypt for help, trusting their mighty cavalry and chariots instead of looking to the Holy One of Israel and consulting him.
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In his wisdom, he will send great evil on his people and will not change his mind. He will rise against them for the evil they have done and crush their allies too.
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For these Egyptians are mere men, not God! Their horses are puny flesh, not mighty spirits! When the Lord clenches his fist against them, they will stumble and fall among those they are trying to help. All will fail together.
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But the Lord has told me this: When a lion, even a young one, kills a sheep, he pays no attention to the shepherd’s shouts and noise. He goes right on and eats. In such manner the Lord will come and fight upon Mount Zion. He will not be frightened away! He, the Lord Almighty, will hover over Jerusalem as birds hover round their nests, and he will defend the city and deliver it.
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Therefore, O my people, though you are such wicked rebels, come, return to God.
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I know the glorious day will come when every one of you will throw away his gold idols and silver images—which in your sinfulness you have made.
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The Assyrians will be destroyed, but not by swords of men. The “sword of God” will smite them. They will panic and flee, and the strong young Assyrians will be taken away as slaves.
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Even their generals will quake with terror and flee when they see the battle flags of Israel, says the Lord. For the flame of God burns brightly in Jerusalem.
Look, a righteous King is coming, with honest princes!
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He will shelter Israel from the storm and wind. He will refresh her as a river in the desert and as the cooling shadow of a mighty rock within a hot and weary land.
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Then at last the eyes of Israel will open wide to God; his people will listen to his voice.
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Even the hotheads among them will be full of sense and understanding, and those who stammer in uncertainty will speak out plainly.
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In those days the ungodly, the atheists, will not be heroes! Wealthy cheaters will not be spoken of as generous, outstanding men!
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Everyone will recognize an evil man when he sees him, and hypocrites will fool no one at all. Their lies about God and their cheating of the hungry will be plain for all to see.
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The smooth tricks of evil men will be exposed, as will all the lies they use to oppress the poor in the courts.
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But good men will be generous to others and will be blessed of God for all they do.
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Listen, you women who loll around in lazy ease; listen to me and I will tell you your reward:
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In a short time—in just a little more than a year—suddenly you’ll care, O careless ones. For the crops of fruit will fail; the harvest will not take place.
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Tremble, O women of ease; throw off your unconcern. Strip off your pretty clothes—wear sackcloth for your grief.
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Beat your breasts in sorrow for those bountiful farms of yours that will soon be gone, and for those fruitful vines of other years.
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For your lands will thrive with thorns and briars; your joyous homes and happy cities will be gone.
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Palaces and mansions will all be deserted, the crowded cities empty. Wild herds of donkeys and goats will graze upon the mountains where the watchtowers are,
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until at last the Spirit is poured down on us from heaven. Then once again enormous crops will come.
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Then justice will rule through all the land,
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and out of justice, peace. Quietness and confidence will reign forever more.
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My people will live in safety, quietly at home,
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but the Assyrians
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will be destroyed and their cities laid low.
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And God will greatly bless his people. Wherever they plant, bountiful crops will spring up, and their flocks and herds will graze in green pastures.
Woe to you, Assyrians,
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who have destroyed everything around you but have never felt destruction for yourselves. You expect others to respect their promises to you, while you betray them! Now you, too, will be betrayed and destroyed.
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But to us, O Lord, be merciful, for we have waited for you. Be our strength each day and our salvation in the time of trouble.
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The enemy runs at the sound of your voice. When you stand up, the nations flee.
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Just as locusts strip the fields and vines, so Jerusalem will strip the fallen army of Assyria!
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The Lord is very great and lives in heaven. He will make Jerusalem the home of justice and goodness and righteousness.
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An abundance of salvation is stored up for Judah in a safe place, along with wisdom and knowledge and reverence for God.
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But now your ambassadors weep in bitter disappointment, for Assyria has refused their cry for peace.
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Your roads lie in ruins; travelers detour on back roads. The Assyrians have broken their peace pact
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and care nothing for the promises they made in the presence of witnesses—they have no respect for anyone.
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All the land of Israel is in trouble; Lebanon has been destroyed; Sharon has become a wilderness; Bashan and Carmel are plundered.
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But the Lord says: I will stand up and show my power and might.
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You Assyrians will gain nothing by all your efforts. Your own breath will turn to fire and kill you.
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Your armies will be burned to lime, like thorns cut down and tossed in the fire.
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Listen to what I have done, O nations far away! And you that are near, acknowledge my might!
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The sinners among my people shake with fear. “Which one of us,” they cry, “can live here in the presence of this all-consuming, everlasting fire?”
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I will tell you who can live here: All who are honest and fair, who reject making profit by fraud, who hold back their hands from taking bribes, who refuse to listen to those who plot murder, who shut their eyes to all enticement to do wrong.
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Such as these shall dwell on high. The rocks of the mountains will be their fortress of safety; food will be supplied to them, and they will have all the water they need.
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Your eyes will see the King in his beauty and the highlands of heaven far away.
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Your mind will think back to this time of terror when the Assyrian officers outside your walls are counting your towers and estimating how much they will get from your fallen city.
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But soon they will all be gone. These fierce, violent people with a strange, jabbering language you can’t understand will disappear.
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Instead you will see Jerusalem at peace, a place where God is worshiped, a city quiet and unmoved.
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The glorious Lord will be to us as a wide river of protection, and no enemy can cross.
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For the Lord is our Judge, our Lawgiver and our King; he will care for us and save us.
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The enemies’ sails hang loose on broken masts with useless tackle. Their treasure will be divided by the people of God; even the lame will win their share.
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The people of Israel will no longer say, “We are sick and helpless,” for the Lord will forgive them their sins and bless them.
Come here and listen, O nations of the earth; let the world and everything in it hear my words.
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For the Lord is enraged against the nations; his fury is against their armies. He will utterly destroy them and deliver them to slaughter.
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Their dead will be left unburied, and the stench of rotting bodies will fill the land; the mountains will flow with their blood.
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At that time the heavens above will melt away and disappear just like a rolled-up scroll, and the stars will fall as leaves, as ripe fruit from the trees.
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And when my sword has finished its work in the heavens, then watch, for it will fall upon Edom, the people I have doomed.
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The sword of the Lord is sated with blood; it is gorged with flesh as though used for slaying lambs and goats for sacrifice. For the Lord will slay a great sacrifice in Edom and make a mighty slaughter there.
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The strongest will perish, young boys and veterans too. The land will be soaked with blood, and the soil made rich with fat.
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For it is the day of vengeance, the year of recompense for what Edom has done to Israel.
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The streams of Edom will be filled with burning pitch, and the ground will be covered with fire.
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This judgment on Edom will never end. Its smoke will rise up forever. The land will lie deserted from generation to generation; no one will live there anymore.
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There the hawks and porcupines will live, and owls and ravens. For God will observe that land and find it worthy of destruction. He will test its nobles and find them worthy of death.
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It will be called “The Land of Nothing,” and its princes soon will all be gone.
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Thorns will overrun the palaces, nettles will grow in its forts, and it will become the haunt of jackals and a home for ostriches.
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The wild animals of the desert will mingle there with wolves and hyenas. Their howls will fill the night. There the night-monsters will scream at each other, and the demons will come there to rest.
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There the owl will make her nest and lay her eggs; she will hatch her young and nestle them beneath her wings, and the kites will come, each one with its mate.
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Search the book of the Lord and see all that he will do; not one detail will he miss; not one kite will be there without a mate, for the Lord has said it, and his Spirit will make it all come true.
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He has surveyed and subdivided the land and deeded it to those doleful creatures; they shall possess it forever, from generation to generation.