| New Living Translation | NET Bible |
| 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. | 1"The rebellious children are as good as dead," says the LORD, "those who make plans without consulting me, who form alliances without consulting my Spirit, and thereby compound their sin. |
| 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. | 2They travel down to Egypt without seeking my will, seeking Pharaoh's protection, and looking for safety in Egypt's protective shade. |
| 3But by trusting Pharaoh, you will be humiliated, and by depending on him, you will be disgraced. | 3But Pharaoh's protection will bring you nothing but shame, and the safety of Egypt's protective shade nothing but humiliation. |
| 4For though his power extends to Zoan and his officials have arrived in Hanes, | 4Though his officials are in Zoan and his messengers arrive at Hanes, |
| 5all who trust in him will be ashamed. He will not help you. Instead, he will disgrace you.” | 5all will be put to shame because of a nation that cannot help them, who cannot give them aid or help, but only shame and disgrace." |
| 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. | 6This is a message about the animals in the Negev: Through a land of distress and danger, inhabited by lionesses and roaring lions, by snakes and darting adders, they transport their wealth on the backs of donkeys, their riches on the humps of camels, to a nation that cannot help them. |
| 7Egypt’s promises are worthless! Therefore, I call her Rahab— the Harmless Dragon. A Warning for Rebellious Judah | 7Egypt is totally incapable of helping. For this reason I call her 'Proud one who is silenced.'" |
| 8Now go and write down these words. Write them in a book. They will stand until the end of time as a witness | 8Now go, write it down on a tablet in their presence, inscribe it on a scroll, so that it might be preserved for a future time as an enduring witness. |
| 9that these people are stubborn rebels who refuse to pay attention to the LORD’s instructions. | 9For these are rebellious people--they are lying children, children unwilling to obey the LORD's law. |
| 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. | 10They say to the visionaries, "See no more visions!" and to the seers, "Don't relate messages to us about what is right! Tell us nice things, relate deceptive messages. |
| 11Forget all this gloom. Get off your narrow path. Stop telling us about your ‘Holy One of Israel.’” | 11Turn aside from the way, stray off the path. Remove from our presence the Holy One of Israel." |
| 12This is the reply of the Holy One of Israel: “Because you despise what I tell you and trust instead in oppression and lies, | 12For this reason this is what the Holy One of Israel says: "You have rejected this message; you trust instead in your ability to oppress and trick, and rely on that kind of behavior. |
| 13calamity will come upon you suddenly— like a bulging wall that bursts and falls. In an instant it will collapse and come crashing down. | 13So this sin will become your downfall. You will be like a high wall that bulges and cracks and is ready to collapse; it crumbles suddenly, in a flash. |
| 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.” | 14It shatters in pieces like a clay jar, so shattered to bits that none of it can be salvaged. Among its fragments one cannot find a shard large enough to scoop a hot coal from a fire or to skim off water from a cistern." |
| 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. | 15For this is what the master, the LORD, the Holy One of Israel says: "If you repented and patiently waited for me, you would be delivered; if you calmly trusted in me you would find strength, but you are unwilling. |
| 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! | 16You say, 'No, we will flee on horses,' so you will indeed flee. You say, 'We will ride on fast horses,' so your pursuers will be fast. |
| 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 | 17One thousand will scurry at the battle cry of one enemy soldier; at the battle cry of five enemy soldiers you will all run away, until the remaining few are as isolated as a flagpole on a mountaintop or a signal flag on a hill." |
| 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. | 18For this reason the LORD is ready to show you mercy; he sits on his throne, ready to have compassion on you. Indeed, the LORD is a just God; all who wait for him in faith will be blessed. |
| 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. | 19For people will live in Zion; in Jerusalem you will weep no more. When he hears your cry of despair, he will indeed show you mercy; when he hears it, he will respond to you. |
| 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. | 20The sovereign master will give you distress to eat and suffering to drink; but your teachers will no longer be hidden; your eyes will see them. |
| 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. | 21You will hear a word spoken behind you, saying, "This is the correct way, walk in it," whether you are heading to the right or the left. |
| 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!” | 22You will desecrate your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away as if they were a menstrual rag, saying to them, "Get out!" |
| 23Then the LORD will bless you with rain at planting time. There will be wonderful harvests and plenty of pastureland for your livestock. | 23He will water the seed you plant in the ground, and the ground will produce crops in abundance. At that time your cattle will graze in wide pastures. |
| 24The oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat good grain, its chaff blown away by the wind. | 24The oxen and donkeys used in plowing will eat seasoned feed winnowed with a shovel and pitchfork. |
| 25In that day, when your enemies are slaughtered and the towers fall, there will be streams of water flowing down every mountain and hill. | 25On every high mountain and every high hill there will be streams flowing with water, at the time of great slaughter when the fortified towers collapse. |
| 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. | 26The light of the full moon will be like the sun's glare and the sun's glare will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, when the LORD binds up his people's fractured bones and heals their severe wound. |
| 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. | 27Look, the name of the LORD comes from a distant place in raging anger and awesome splendor. He speaks angrily and his word is like destructive fire. |
| 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. | 28His battle cry overwhelms like a flooding river that reaches one's neck. He shakes the nations in a sieve that isolates the chaff; he puts a bit into the mouth of the nations and leads them to destruction. |
| 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. | 29You will sing as you do in the evening when you are celebrating a festival. You will be happy like one who plays a flute as he goes to the mountain of the LORD, the Rock who shelters Israel. |
| 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. | 30The LORD will give a mighty shout and intervene in power, with furious anger and flaming, destructive fire, with a driving rainstorm and hailstones. |
| 31At the LORD’s command, the Assyrians will be shattered. He will strike them down with his royal scepter. | 31Indeed, the LORD's shout will shatter Assyria; he will beat them with a club. |
| 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. | 32Every blow from his punishing cudgel, with which the LORD will beat them, will be accompanied by music from the tambourine and harp, and he will attack them with his weapons. |
| 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. | 33For the burial place is already prepared; it has been made deep and wide for the king. The firewood is piled high on it. The LORD's breath, like a stream flowing with brimstone, will ignite it. |
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