International Standard Version | NET Bible |
1This message from the LORD came to me: | 1The LORD said to me, |
2"You are not to take a wife, nor are you to have sons or daughters in this place." | 2"Do not get married and do not have children here in this land. |
3For this is what the LORD says about the sons and daughters who are born in this place, about their mothers who give birth to them, and about their fathers who father them in this land: | 3For I, the LORD, tell you what will happen to the children who are born here in this land and to the men and women who are their mothers and fathers. |
4"They'll die of deadly diseases. People won't mourn for them, nor will they be buried. They'll be dung on the surface of the ground, and they'll come to an end with the sword and with famine. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the animals of the land." | 4They will die of deadly diseases. No one will mourn for them. They will not be buried. Their dead bodies will lie like manure spread on the ground. They will be killed in war or die of starvation. Their corpses will be food for the birds and wild animals. |
5For this is what the LORD says: "Don't go to a house where there is mourning, don't go to lament, nor to express sorrow to them. For I've taken my peace away from this people," declares the LORD, "as well as gracious love and compassion. | 5"Moreover I, the LORD, tell you: 'Do not go into a house where they are having a funeral meal. Do not go there to mourn and express your sorrow for them. For I have stopped showing them my good favor, my love, and my compassion. I, the LORD, so affirm it! |
6Both the most and the least important people will die in this land, and they won't be buried. People won't mourn for them. They won't cut themselves, nor will they shave their heads for them. | 6Rich and poor alike will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned. People will not cut their bodies or shave off their hair to show their grief for them. |
7They won't break bread for the mourner to be consoled for the dead. They won't give anyone the cup of consolation to drink for his father or mother. | 7No one will take any food to those who mourn for the dead to comfort them. No one will give them any wine to drink to console them for the loss of their father or mother. |
8Don't go to a banquet to sit with people to eat and drink." | 8"'Do not go to a house where people are feasting and sit down to eat and drink with them either. |
9For this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "In this place I'm about to bring an end to the sounds of happiness and rejoicing, the sounds of the bridegroom and the bride. I'll do it in front of your eyes and in your time. | 9For I, the LORD God of Israel who rules over all, tell you what will happen. I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness, to the glad celebration of brides and grooms in this land. You and the rest of the people will live to see this happen.'" |
10"When you speak all these words to this people, they'll say to you, 'Why has the LORD pronounced all this disaster against us? What is our iniquity, and what is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?' | 10"When you tell these people about all this, they will undoubtedly ask you, 'Why has the LORD threatened us with such great disaster? What wrong have we done? What sin have we done to offend the LORD our God?' |
11Then say to them, 'It is because your ancestors abandoned me,' declares the LORD. 'They followed other gods, served them, worshipped them, abandoned me, and didn't keep my Law. | 11Then tell them that the LORD says, 'It is because your ancestors rejected me and paid allegiance to other gods. They have served them and worshiped them. But they have rejected me and not obeyed my law. |
12You have done even more evil than your ancestors, and each one of you is stubbornly following his own evil desires, refusing to listen to me. | 12And you have acted even more wickedly than your ancestors! Each one of you has followed the stubborn inclinations of your own wicked heart and not obeyed me. |
13I'll throw you out of this land into a land neither you nor your ancestors have known. There you will serve other gods day and night, and I'll show you no favor.' | 13So I will throw you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your ancestors have ever known. There you must worship other gods day and night, for I will show you no mercy.'" |
14"Therefore, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when it will no longer be said, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought up the Israelis from the land of Egypt.' | 14Yet I, the LORD, say: "A new time will certainly come. People now affirm their oaths with 'I swear as surely as the LORD lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt.' |
15Rather it will be said, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelis up from the land of the north and from all the lands to which the LORD had banished them.' I'll bring them back to their land, which I gave to their ancestors. | 15But in that time they will affirm them with 'I swear as surely as the LORD lives who delivered the people of Israel from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished them.' At that time I will bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors." |
16"I'm about to send many fishermen," declares the LORD, "and they'll catch them. Afterwards, I'll send for many hunters and they'll hunt for them on every mountain and hill and in the crevices of the rocks. | 16But for now I, the LORD, say: "I will send many enemies who will catch these people like fishermen. After that I will send others who will hunt them out like hunters from all the mountains, all the hills, and the crevices in the rocks. |
17For I am watching all their ways; they are not hidden from my sight. Their iniquity is not concealed from my eyes. | 17For I see everything they do. Their wicked ways are not hidden from me. Their sin is not hidden away where I cannot see it. |
18First I'll repay them double for their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the dead bodies of their detestable images, and they have filled my inheritance with their abominations." | 18Before I restore them I will punish them in full for their sins and the wrongs they have done. For they have polluted my land with the lifeless statues of their disgusting idols. They have filled the land I have claimed as my own with their detestable idols." |
19LORD, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in a time of difficulty, to you the nations will come, and from the ends of the earth they'll say, "Surely our ancestors inherited deception, things that are worthless, and in which there is no profit." | 19Then I said, "LORD, you give me strength and protect me. You are the one I can run to for safety when I am in trouble. Nations from all over the earth will come to you and say, 'Our ancestors had nothing but false gods--worthless idols that could not help them at all. |
20Can a person make a god for himself? They are not gods! | 20Can people make their own gods? No, what they make are not gods at all." |
21Therefore, I'm about to make them understand; this time I'll make them understand my power and strength, so they'll understand that my name is the LORD. | 21The LORD said, "So I will now let this wicked people know--I will let them know my mighty power in judgment. Then they will know that my name is the LORD." |
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