| Berean Study Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1“Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin. | 1“What sorrow awaits my rebellious children,” says the LORD. “You make plans that are contrary to mine. You make alliances not directed by my Spirit, thus piling up your sins. |
| 2They set out to go down to Egypt without asking My advice, to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection and take refuge in Egypt’s shade. | 2For without consulting me, you have gone down to Egypt for help. You have put your trust in Pharaoh’s protection. You have tried to hide in his shade. |
| 3But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame, and the refuge of Egypt’s shade your disgrace. | 3But by trusting Pharaoh, you will be humiliated, and by depending on him, you will be disgraced. |
| 4For though their princes are at Zoan and their envoys have arrived in Hanes, | 4For though his power extends to Zoan and his officials have arrived in Hanes, |
| 5everyone will be put to shame because of a people useless to them. They cannot be of help; they are good for nothing but shame and reproach.” | 5all who trust in him will be ashamed. He will not help you. Instead, he will disgrace you.” |
| 6This is the burden against the beasts of the Negev: Through a land of hardship and distress, of lioness and lion, of viper and flying serpent, they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people of no profit to them. | 6This message came to me concerning the animals in the Negev: The caravan moves slowly across the terrible desert to Egypt— donkeys weighed down with riches and camels loaded with treasure— all to pay for Egypt’s protection. They travel through the wilderness, a place of lionesses and lions, a place where vipers and poisonous snakes live. All this, and Egypt will give you nothing in return. |
| 7Egypt’s help is futile and empty; therefore I have called her Rahab Who Sits Still. | 7Egypt’s promises are worthless! Therefore, I call her Rahab— the Harmless Dragon. A Warning for Rebellious Judah |
| 8Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence and inscribe it on a scroll; it will be for the days to come, a witness forever and ever. | 8Now go and write down these words. Write them in a book. They will stand until the end of time as a witness |
| 9These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to obey the LORD’s instruction. | 9that these people are stubborn rebels who refuse to pay attention to the LORD’s instructions. |
| 10They say to the seers, “Stop seeing visions!” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us the truth! Speak to us pleasant words; prophesy illusions. | 10They tell the seers, “Stop seeing visions!” They tell the prophets, “Don’t tell us what is right. Tell us nice things. Tell us lies. |
| 11Get out of the way; turn off the road. Rid us of the Holy One of Israel!” | 11Forget all this gloom. Get off your narrow path. Stop telling us about your ‘Holy One of Israel.’” |
| 12Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says: “Because you have rejected this message, trusting in oppression and relying on deceit, | 12This is the reply of the Holy One of Israel: “Because you despise what I tell you and trust instead in oppression and lies, |
| 13this iniquity of yours is like a breach about to fail, a bulge in a high wall, whose collapse will come suddenly—in an instant! | 13calamity will come upon you suddenly— like a bulging wall that bursts and falls. In an instant it will collapse and come crashing down. |
| 14It will break in pieces like a potter’s jar, shattered so that no fragment can be found. Not a shard will be found in the dust large enough to scoop the coals from a hearth or to skim the water from a cistern.” | 14You will be smashed like a piece of pottery— shattered so completely that there won’t be a piece big enough to carry coals from a fireplace or a little water from the well.” |
| 15For the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said: “By repentance and rest you would be saved; your strength would lie in quiet confidence—but you were not willing.” | 15This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: “Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it. |
| 16“No,” you say, “we will flee on horses.” Therefore you will flee! “We will ride swift horses,” but your pursuers will be faster. | 16You said, ‘No, we will get our help from Egypt. They will give us swift horses for riding into battle.’ But the only swiftness you are going to see is the swiftness of your enemies chasing you! |
| 17A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee, until you are left alone like a pole on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill. | 17One of them will chase a thousand of you. Five of them will make all of you flee. You will be left like a lonely flagpole on a hill or a tattered banner on a distant mountaintop.” Blessings for the LORD’s People |
| 18Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore He rises to show you compassion, for the LORD is a just God. Blessed are all who wait for Him. | 18So the LORD must wait for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion. For the LORD is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for his help. |
| 19O people in Zion who dwell in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will surely be gracious when you cry for help; when He hears, He will answer you. | 19O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will be gracious if you ask for help. He will surely respond to the sound of your cries. |
| 20The Lord will give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, but your Teacher will no longer hide Himself—with your own eyes you will see Him. | 20Though the Lord gave you adversity for food and suffering for drink, he will still be with you to teach you. You will see your teacher with your own eyes. |
| 21And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.” | 21Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left. |
| 22So you will desecrate your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, saying to them, “Be gone!” | 22Then you will destroy all your silver idols and your precious gold images. You will throw them out like filthy rags, saying to them, “Good riddance!” |
| 23Then He will send rain for the seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food that comes from your land will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures. | 23Then the LORD will bless you with rain at planting time. There will be wonderful harvests and plenty of pastureland for your livestock. |
| 24The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder, winnowed with shovel and pitchfork. | 24The oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat good grain, its chaff blown away by the wind. |
| 25And from every high mountain and every raised hill, streams of water will flow in the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall. | 25In that day, when your enemies are slaughtered and the towers fall, there will be streams of water flowing down every mountain and hill. |
| 26The light of the moon will be as bright as the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter—like the light of seven days—on the day that the LORD binds up the brokenness of His people and heals the wounds He has inflicted. | 26The moon will be as bright as the sun, and the sun will be seven times brighter—like the light of seven days in one! So it will be when the LORD begins to heal his people and cure the wounds he gave them. |
| 27Behold, the Name of the LORD comes from afar, with burning anger and dense smoke. His lips are full of fury, and His tongue is like a consuming fire. | 27Look! The LORD is coming from far away, burning with anger, surrounded by thick, rising smoke. His lips are filled with fury; his words consume like fire. |
| 28His breath is like a rushing torrent that rises to the neck. He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction; He bridles the jaws of the peoples to lead them astray. | 28His hot breath pours out like a flood up to the neck of his enemies. He will sift out the proud nations for destruction. He will bridle them and lead them away to ruin. |
| 29You will sing as on the night of a holy festival, and your heart will rejoice like one who walks to the music of a flute, going up to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel. | 29But the people of God will sing a song of joy, like the songs at the holy festivals. You will be filled with joy, as when a flutist leads a group of pilgrims to Jerusalem, the mountain of the LORD— to the Rock of Israel. |
| 30And the LORD will cause His majestic voice to be heard and His mighty arm to be revealed, striking in angry wrath with a flame of consuming fire, and with cloudburst, storm, and hailstones. | 30And the LORD will make his majestic voice heard. He will display the strength of his mighty arm. It will descend with devouring flames, with cloudbursts, thunderstorms, and huge hailstones. |
| 31For Assyria will be shattered at the voice of the LORD; He will strike them with His scepter. | 31At the LORD’s command, the Assyrians will be shattered. He will strike them down with his royal scepter. |
| 32And with every stroke of the rod of punishment that the LORD brings down on them, the tambourines and lyres will sound as He battles with weapons brandished. | 32And as the LORD strikes them with his rod of punishment, his people will celebrate with tambourines and harps. Lifting his mighty arm, he will fight the Assyrians. |
| 33For Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze. | 33Topheth—the place of burning— has long been ready for the Assyrian king; the pyre is piled high with wood. The breath of the LORD, like fire from a volcano, will set it ablaze. |
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