# verses

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For before the harvest, when the blossom is over and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the sprigs with pruning-hooks and he will take away <i>and</i> cut down the spreading branches.


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They will be left together to the ravenous birds of the mountains and to the beasts of the earth. And the ravenous birds will summer upon them and all the beasts of the earth will winter upon them.


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<pb/>In that time a present will be brought to Jehovah of hosts <i>from</i> a people tall and smooth, even from a people fearful from their beginning onward, a nation mighty and tramples down, whose land the rivers divide, to the place of the name of Jehovah of hosts, the Mount Zion.


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<pb/>  <n>The burden of Egypt. Behold, Jehovah rides upon a swift cloud and comes to Egypt. And the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence and the heart of Egypt will melt in the midst of it.</n>


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<n>And I will stir up the Egyptians against the Egyptians and they will fight each one against his brother and each one against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom. <pb/></n>


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<n>And the spirit of Egypt will fail in the midst of it and I will destroy the counsel of it. And they will seek for the idols and for the charmers and for those who have familiar spirits and for the wizards. <pb/></n>


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<n>And I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel lord. And a fierce king will rule over them, says the Lord, Jehovah of hosts. <pb/></n>


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<n>And the rivers will become foul. The streams of Egypt will be diminished and dried up. The reeds and flags will wither away.</n>


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<n>The meadows by the Nile, by the brink of the Nile and all the sown fields of the Nile, will become dry, be driven away and be no more. <pb/></n>


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<n>And the fishermen will lament and all those who cast a hook into the Nile will mourn and those who spread nets upon the waters will languish.</n>


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<n>And the pillars <i>of Egypt</i> will be broken in pieces. All those who work for hire will be grieved in soul. <pb/></n>


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<n>The rulers of Zoan are utterly foolish. The counsel of the wisest counselors of Pharaoh has become stupid. How will you* say to Pharaoh, I am the son of wise men, the son of long-ago kings?</n>


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<n>Where then are your wise men? And let them tell you now and let them know what Jehovah of hosts has purposed concerning Egypt.</n>


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<n>The rulers of Zoan have become fools. The rulers of Memphis are deceived. They have caused Egypt to go-astray, the chief of her tribes. <pb/></n>


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<n>Jehovah has mingled a spirit of perverseness in the midst of her and they have made Egypt go-astray in every work of it, as a drunken man wanders <i>around</i> in his vomit.</n>


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<n>Neither will there be for Egypt any work, which head or tail, palm-branch or rush, may do. <pb/></n>


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<n>In that day the Egyptians will be like women and they will tremble and fear because of the shaking of the hand of Jehovah of hosts, which he shakes over them. <pb/></n>


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<n>And the land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt. Everyone to whom mention is made of it will be afraid because of the purpose of Jehovah of hosts, which he purposes against it. <pb/></n>


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<n>In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear to Jehovah of hosts. One will be called The city of destruction. <pb/></n>


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<n>In that day will there be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt and a pillar to Jehovah at the border of it.</n>


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<n>And it will be for a sign and for a witness to Jehovah of hosts in the land of Egypt. For they will cry to Jehovah because of oppressors and he will send them a savior and a defender and he will deliver them. <pb/></n>


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<n>And Jehovah will be known to Egypt and the Egyptians will know Jehovah in that day. Yes, they will worship with sacrifice and oblation and will vow a vow to Jehovah and will perform it.</n>


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<n>And Jehovah will kill* Egypt, slaying and healing and they will return to Jehovah. And he will be entreated by them and will heal them. <pb/></n>


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<n>In that day there will be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria. And the Assyrian will come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.</n>


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<n>In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth,</n>


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<n>in that Jehovah of hosts has blessed them, saying, Egypt my people is blessed and Assyria the work of my hands and Israel my inheritance. <pb/></n>


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<pb/>  <n>In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him and he fought against Ashdod and took it,</n>


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<n>at that time Jehovah spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from your loins and put your shoe from your foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. <pb/></n>


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<n>And Jehovah said, Just as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder concerning Egypt and concerning Ethiopia,</n>


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<n>so will the king of Assyria lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot and with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. <pb/></n>


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<n>And they will be dismayed and confounded because of Ethiopia their confidence and of Egypt their glory.</n>


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<n>And the inhabitant of this coast will say in that day, Behold, such is our trust, where we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria. And we, how will we escape?</n>


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<pb/>The burden of the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the South sweep through, it comes from the wilderness, from a terrible land.


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A grievous vision is declared to me. The treacherous man deals treacherously and the destroyer destroys. Go up, O Elam. Besiege, O Media, all the sighing of it I have made to cease.


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<pb/>Therefore my loins are filled with anguish. Pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman in travail. I am pained so that I cannot hear. I am dismayed so that I cannot see.


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My heart wanders. Horror has frightened me. The twilight that I desired has been turned into trembling to me.


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<pb/>They prepare the table, they set the watch, they eat, they drink. Rise up, you* rulers, anoint the shield.


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and when he sees a troop, horsemen in pairs, a troop of donkeys, a troop of camels, he will listen diligently with much heed.


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<pb/>And he cried out as a lion, O Lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime and am set in my confinement whole nights,


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and behold, here comes a troop of men, horsemen in pairs. And he answered and said, Fallen, fallen is Babylon. And all the graven images of her gods are broken to the ground.


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O my threshing and the grain of my floor! What I have heard from Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you*.


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<pb/>The burden of Duma. <pb/>He calls to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?


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The watchman said, The morning comes and also the night. If you* will inquire, inquire; turn back; come.


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<pb/>The burden upon Arabia. <pb/>In the forest in Arabia you* will lodge, O you* caravans of Dedanites.


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To him who was thirsty they brought water. The inhabitants of the land of Tema met the fugitives with their bread.


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For they fled away from the swords, from the drawn sword and from the bent bow and from the grievousness of war.


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<pb/>For thus the Lord has said to me, Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Kedar will fail.


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And the residue of the number of the archers, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few. For Jehovah, the God of Israel, has spoken it.


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<pb/>The burden of the valley of vision. What troubles you now, that you have entirely gone up to the housetops?


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O you that are full of shouts, a tumultuous city, a joyous town. Your slain are not slain with the sword, nor are they dead in battle.


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All your rulers fled away together. They were bound by the archers. All who were found of you were bound together; they fled afar off.


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<pb/>Therefore I said, Look away from me. I will weep bitterly. Labor not to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people.


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For it is a day of trouble and of treading down and of perplexity, from the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, in the valley of vision, a breaking down of the walls and a crying to the mountains.


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<pb/>And Elam bore the quiver, with chariots of men <i>and</i> horsemen and Kir uncovered the shield.


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And it happened, that your choicest valleys were full of chariots and the horsemen set themselves in array at the gate.


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<pb/>And he took away the covering of Judah and you looked in that day to the armor in the house of the forest.


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And you* saw the breaches of the city of David, that they were many. And to fortify the wall, you* gathered together the waters of the lower pool,


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You* also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you* did not look to him who had done this, nor had you* respect to him who purposed it long ago.


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<pb/>And in that day the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, called for weeping and for mourning and for baldness and for girding with sackcloth.


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And behold, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine. Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die.


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And Jehovah of hosts revealed himself in my ears, Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you* till you* die, says the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.


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<pb/>The Lord says thus, Jehovah of hosts, Go, get you to this treasurer, even to Shebna, who is over the house, <i>and say</i>,


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What are you doing here? And whom have you here, that you have hewed you out here a sepulcher? Hewing him out a sepulcher on high, carving a habitation for himself in the rock!


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<pb/>Behold, Jehovah, like a <i>strong</i> man, will hurl you away violently. Yes, he will wrap you up closely.


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He will surely wind you round and round, <i>tossing</i> like a ball into a large country. There you will die and there the chariots of your glory will be, you shame of your lord's house.


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And I will clothe him with your robe and strengthen him with your belt. And I will commit your government into his hand and he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.


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And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder and he will open and none will shut and he will shut and none will open.


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<pb/>And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place and he will be for a throne of glory to his father's house.


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And they will hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the offshoot, every small vessel, from the cups even to all the flagons.


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<pb/>In that day, says Jehovah of hosts, the nail that was fastened in a sure place will give way and it will be hewn down and fall. And the burden that was upon it will be cut off, for Jehovah has spoken it.


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<pb/>The burden of Tyre. Howl, you* ships of Tarshish, for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in. It is revealed to them from the land of Kittim.


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Be still, you* inhabitants of the coast, you whom the merchants of Sidon, who pass over the sea, have replenished.


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And on great waters the seed of the Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue and she was the mart of nations.


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<pb/>Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying, I have not travailed, nor brought forth, neither have I nourished young men, nor brought up virgins.


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Is this your* joyous <i>city</i>, whose antiquity is of ancient days, whose feet carried her afar off to journey?


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<pb/>Who has purposed this against Tyre, the giver of crowns, whose merchants are rulers, whose traders are the honored of the earth?


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Jehovah of hosts has purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.


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He has stretched out his hand over the sea. He has shaken the kingdoms. Jehovah has given commandment concerning Canaan, to destroy the strongholds of it.


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And he said, You will no more rejoice, O you oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon. Arise, pass over to Kittim, even there will you have no rest.


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<pb/>Behold, the land of the Chaldeans. This people <i>once</i> was not. The Assyrian founded it for those who dwell in the wilderness. They set up their towers. They raised up the palaces of it. <i>Then</i> they made it a ruin.


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<pb/>And it will happen in that day, that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. After the end of seventy years it will be to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:


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Take a harp, go about the city, you prostitute who has been forgotten. Make sweet melody, sing many songs, that you may be remembered.


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<pb/>And it happened after the end of seventy years, that Jehovah examined Tyre and she has repented of her gift, that she play the prostitute with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.


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And her merchandise and her pay will be holiness to Jehovah. It will not be treasured nor laid up, for her merchandise will be for those who dwell before Jehovah, to eat sufficiently and for durable clothing.


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<pb/>Behold, Jehovah makes the earth empty and makes it waste and turns it upside down and scatters abroad the inhabitants of it.


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And it will be, as with the people, so with the priest, as with the servant, so with his master, as with the maid, so with her mistress, as with the buyer, so with the seller, as with the creditor, so with the debtor, as with the taker of interest, so with the giver of interest to him.


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The earth mourns and fades away. The world languishes and fades away. The lofty people of the earth languish.


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<pb/>The earth also is polluted under the inhabitants of it, because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.


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<pb/>Therefore the curse has devoured the earth and those who dwell in it are found guilty. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned and few men left.


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There is a crying in the streets because of the wine. All joy is darkened. The gladness of the land has gone.


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For thus it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples, as the shaking of an olive tree, as the gleanings when the vintage is done.


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<pb/>These will lift up their voice. They will shout. For the majesty of Jehovah they cry aloud from the sea.


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Therefore glorify you* Jehovah in the east, even the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel, in the isles of the sea.


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From the outermost part of the earth we have heard songs. Glory to the righteous. <pb/>But I said, I pine away, I pine away. Woe is me! The treacherous have dealt treacherously, yes, the treacherous have dealt very treacherously.


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And it will happen, that he who flees from the noise of the fear will fall into the pit and he who comes up out of the midst of the pit will be taken in the snare. For the windows on high are opened and the foundations of the earth tremble.


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The earth will stagger like a drunken man and will sway to and fro like a hammock. And the transgression of it will be heavy upon it and it will fall and not rise again.


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<pb/>And it will happen in that day, that Jehovah will punish the host of the high ones on high and the kings of the earth upon the earth.


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And they will be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit and will be shut up in the prison. And after many days they will be visited.


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<pb/>Then the moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed, for Jehovah of hosts will reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem. And glory will be before his elders.


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<pb/>O Jehovah, you are my God. I will exalt you. I will praise your name. For you have done wonderful things, <i>even</i> counsels of old, in faithfulness <i>and</i> truth.


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For you have made of a city a heap, of a fortified city a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city. It will not be built everlasting.


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For you have been a stronghold to a poor man, a stronghold to a needy man in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat, when the blast of the oppressors is as a storm against the wall.


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As the heat in a dry place you will bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat by the shade of a cloud, the song of the oppressors will be brought low.


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<pb/>And in this mountain Jehovah of hosts will make to all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the dregs, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the dregs well refined.


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And he will destroy on this mountain the face of the covering that covers all peoples and the veil that is spread over all nations.


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<pb/>He will swallow up death in victory and the lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from all faces. And he will take away the reproach of his people from all the earth. For Jehovah has spoken it.


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<pb/>And it will be said in that day, Behold, this is our God. We have waited for him and he will save us. This is Jehovah. We have waited for him. We will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.


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For the hand of Jehovah will rest on this mountain. <pb/>And Moab will be trodden down in his place, even as straw is trodden down in the water of the dunghill.


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And he will spread forth his hands in the midst of it as he who swims spreads forth <i>his hands</i> to swim. But <i>Jehovah</i> will humble his pride together with the craft of his hands.


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And the high fortress of your walls he has brought down, laid low and brought to the ground, even to the dust.


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<pb/>In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city. He will appoint salvation for walls and ramparts.


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You will keep <i>him</i> in perfect peace, <i>whose</i> mind <i>is</i> stayed <i>on you</i>, because he trusts in you.


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<pb/>For he has brought down those who dwell on high. The lofty city, he lays it low. He lays it low even to the ground. He brings it even to the dust.


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Yes, in the way of your judgments, O Jehovah, we have waited for you, to your name. Even to your memorial, is the desire of our soul.


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<pb/>I have desired you with my soul in the night. Yes, with my spirit within me I will seek you earnestly. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.


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<pb/>Let favor be shown to a wicked man, yet he will not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness he will deal wrongfully and will not behold the majesty of Jehovah.


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Jehovah, your hand is lifted up, yet they do not see. But they will see <i>your</i> zeal for the people and be put to shame. Yes, fire will devour your adversaries.


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O Jehovah our God, other lords besides you have had dominion over us, but by you only we will make mention of your name.


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<i>Being</i> dead, they will not live. <i>Being</i> deceased, they will not rise. Therefore you have visited and destroyed them and made all remembrance of them to perish.


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You have increased the nation, O Jehovah, you have increased the nation. You are glorified. You have enlarged all the borders of the land.


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<pb/>Jehovah, in trouble they have visited you, they poured out a prayer <i>when</i> your chastening was upon them.


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As a woman with child, who draws near the time of her delivery, is in pain and cries out in her pangs, so we have been before you, O Jehovah.


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We have been with child. We have been in pain. We have as it were brought out wind. We have not worked any deliverance in the earth, nor have the inhabitants of the world fallen.


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<pb/>Your dead will live. My dead bodies will arise. Awake and sing, you* who dwell in the dust, for your dew is <i>as</i> the dew of herbs and the earth will cast forth the dead.


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Come, my people, enter you into your chambers and shut your doors around you. Hide yourself for a little moment until the indignation have passed over.


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<pb/>For, behold, Jehovah comes forth out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also will disclose her blood and will no more cover her slain.


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<pb/>In that day Jehovah with his hard and great and strong sword will punish leviathan the swift serpent and leviathan the crooked serpent and he will kill the monster that is in the sea.


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I Jehovah am its keeper, I will water it every moment. Lest any hurt it, I will guard it night and day.


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Wrath is not in me. Would that the briers and thorns were against me in battle! I would march upon them. I would burn them together.


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Or else let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me. <i>Yes</i>, let him make peace with me.


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In days to come Jacob will take root; Israel will blossom and bud. And they will fill the face of the world with fruit.


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<pb/>Has he struck them as he killed* those who killed* them? Or are they slain according to the slaughter of those who were slain by them?


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In measure, in sending it forth, you contend with it. He has removed with his rough blast in the day of the east wind.


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<pb/>Therefore by this the iniquity of Jacob will be forgiven. And this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: that he makes all the stones of the altar like smashed chalk-stones, <i>so that</i> the Asherim   <n>{pole-images}</n>   and the sun-images will rise no more.


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<pb/>For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken like the wilderness. There the calf will feed and there he will lie down and consume the branches of it.


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When the limbs of it are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for it is a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion upon them and he who formed them will show them no favor.


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<pb/>And it will happen in that day, that Jehovah will beat off <i>his fruit</i>, from the flood of the River to the brook of Egypt. And you* will be gathered one by one, O you* sons of Israel.


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And it will happen in that day, that a great trumpet will be blown. And they will come who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria and those who were outcasts in the land of Egypt. And they will worship Jehovah in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.


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<pb/>Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley of those who are overcome with wine!


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Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one. As a tempest of hail, a destroying storm, as a tempest of mighty waters overflowing, he will cast down to the earth with the hand.


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And the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, will be as the first-ripe fig before the summer, which, when he who looks upon it sees, while it is yet in his hand, he eats it up.


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<pb/>In that day Jehovah of hosts will become a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty, to the residue of his people,


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and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.


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<pb/>And even these reel with wine and wander <i>around</i> with strong drink. The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink. They are swallowed up of wine. They wander <i>around</i> with strong drink; they reel in vision; they stumble in judgment.


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<pb/>Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those who are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts?


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<pb/>For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.


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to whom he said, This is the rest. Give rest to him who is weary. And this is the refreshing. Yet they would not hear.


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<pb/>Therefore the word of Jehovah will be to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little, that they may go and fall backward and be broken and snared and taken.


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Because you* have said, We have made a covenant with death and we are at agreement with Sheol. When the overflowing scourge will pass through it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge and we have hid ourselves under falsehood.


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<pb/>Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-<i>stone</i>, a sure foundation. He who believes in him will never be shamed.


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And I will make justice the line and righteousness the plummet. <pb/>And the hail will sweep away the refuge of lies and the waters will overflow the hiding place.


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And your* covenant with death will be annulled and your* agreement with Sheol will not stand. When the overflowing scourge will pass through, then you* will be trodden down by it.


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As often as it passes though, it will take you*. For morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night. And it will be nothing but terror to understand the report.


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For the bed is shorter than what a man can stretch himself on it and the covering narrower than what he can wrap himself in it.


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<pb/>For Jehovah will rise up as in Mount Perazim. He will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his foreign work and work his work, his alien work.


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<pb/>Now therefore be you* not scoffers, lest your* bonds be made strong. For I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, upon the whole earth.


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<pb/>Does he who plows to sow plow continually? Does he <i>continually</i> open and harrow his ground?


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When he has leveled the face of it, does he not cast abroad the chick-peas and scatter the cummin and put in the wheat in rows and the barley in the appointed place and the spelt in the border of it?


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For the chick-peas are not threshed with a sharp instrument, nor is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin, but the chick-peas are beaten out with a staff and the cummin with a rod.


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Bread <i>grain</i> is ground, for he will not be always threshing it. And though the wheel of his cart and his horses scatter it, he does not grind it.


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Then I will distress Ariel and there will be mourning and lamentation and she will be to me as Ariel.


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And I will encamp against you all around and will lay siege against you with posted troops. And I will raise siege works against you.


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<pb/>And you will be brought down and will speak out of the ground. And your speech will be low out of the dust and your voice will be as of he who has a familiar spirit, out of the ground. And your speech will whisper out of the dust.


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But the multitude of your foes will be like small dust and the multitude of the terrible ones as chaff that passes away. Yes, it will be in an instant suddenly


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<pb/>She will be visited by Jehovah of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a devouring fire.


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And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her stronghold and that distress her, will be as a dream, a vision of the night.


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<pb/>And it will be as when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he eats. But he awakes and his soul is empty. Or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he drinks. But he awakes, and behold, he is faint and his soul has appetite. So will the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion.


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<pb/>Abide and wonder, take your* pleasure and be blind. They are drunken, but not with wine. They stagger, but not with strong drink.


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For Jehovah has poured out upon you* the spirit of deep sleep and has closed your* eyes. The prophets and your* heads, the seers, he has covered.


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<pb/>And all vision has become to you* as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to a man who is learned, saying, Read this, I beseech you. And he says, I cannot, for it is sealed.


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And the book is delivered to him who is not learned, saying, Read this, I beseech you. And he says, I am not learned.


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<pb/>And the Lord said, Inasmuch as this people draw near <i>me</i> with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but have removed their heart far from me, but in vain they worship me, teaching the commandments and doctrines of men.


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<pb/>Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder. I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the understanding of their prudent men will be hidden.


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<pb/>Woe to those who hide deep their counsel from Jehovah and whose works are in the dark and who say, Who sees us? and, Who knows us?


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<pb/>You* turn things upside down! Shall the potter be esteemed as clay, that the thing made should say of him who made it, He did not make me, or the thing formed say of him who formed it, He has no understanding?


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<pb/>Is it not yet a very little while and Lebanon will be turned into a fruitful field and the fruitful field will be esteemed as a forest?


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And in that day the deaf will hear the words of the book and the eyes of the blind will see out of obscurity and out of darkness.


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The meek also will increase their joy in Jehovah and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.


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<pb/>For the terrible one is brought to nothing and the scoffer ceases. And all those who watch for wickedness are cut off,


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who make a man an offender in <i>his</i> cause and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate and turn aside the just with a thing of nothing.


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<pb/>Therefore Jehovah says thus, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: Jacob will not now be ashamed, nor will his face now grow pale.


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But when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in the midst of him, they will sanctify my name. Yes, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.


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They who also go-astray in spirit will come to understanding and those who murmur will receive instruction.


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<pb/>Woe to the rebellious sons, says Jehovah, who take counsel, but not of me and who make a league, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin,


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who set out to go down into Egypt and have not asked at my mouth, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt!


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<pb/>Therefore the strength of Pharaoh will be your* shame and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt your* confusion.


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They will all be ashamed because of a people who cannot profit them, who are not a help nor profit, but a shame and also a reproach.


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<pb/>The burden of the beasts of the South. <pb/>Through the land of trouble and anguish, from where come the lioness and the lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches upon the shoulders of young donkeys and their treasures upon the humps of camels, to a people who will not profit <i>them</i>.


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<pb/>Now go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it on a scroll, that it may be for the time to come until everlasting.


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who say to the seers, Do not see and to the prophets, Do not prophesy to us right things. Speak to us smooth things. Prophesy deceits.


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You* get out of the way. Turn aside out of the path. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.


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<pb/>Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, Because you* despise this word and trust in oppression and perverseness and rely on it,


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therefore this iniquity will be to you* as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant.


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And he will break it as a potter's vessel is broken, breaking it in pieces without sparing, so that there will not be found among the pieces of it a shard with which to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.


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<pb/>For thus said the lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, You* will be saved in returning and rest. Your* strength will be in quietness and in confidence. And you* would not,


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but you* said, No, for we will flee upon horses. Therefore you* will flee. And <i>you</i>* <i>said</i>, We will ride upon the swift. Therefore those who pursue you* will be swift.


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One thousand <i>will flee</i> at the threat of one. You* will flee at the threat of five, till you* are left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain and as an ensign on a hill


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<pb/>And therefore Jehovah will wait, that he may be gracious to you*. And therefore he will be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you*, for Jehovah is a God of justice. All those who wait for him are fortunate.


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For the people will dwell in Zion at Jerusalem. You will weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the voice of your cry. When he will hear, he will answer you.


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<pb/>And though the Lord give you* the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers will not be hidden anymore, but your eyes will see your teachers.


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And your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way, walk you* in it when you* turn to the right hand and when you* turn to the left.


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<pb/>And you* will defile the overlaying of your graven images of silver and the plating of your molten images of gold. You will cast them away as an unclean thing. You will say to it, You get away.


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<pb/>And he will give the rain for your seed, with which you will sow the ground and bread of the increase of the ground and it will be fat and plenteous. In that day your cattle will feed in large pastures.


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Likewise the oxen and the young donkeys that till the ground will eat savory fodder, which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fork.


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And there will be upon every lofty mountain and upon every high hill, brooks <i>and</i> streams of waters, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.


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<pb/>Moreover the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that Jehovah binds up the hurt of his people and heals the stroke of their wound.


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<pb/>Behold, the name of Jehovah comes from far, burning with his anger and in thick rising smoke. His lips are full of indignation and his tongue is as a devouring fire,


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and his breath is as an overflowing stream that reaches even to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction. And a bridle that makes <i>them</i> go-astray will be in the jaws of the peoples.


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<pb/>You* will have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept and gladness of heart, as he who goes with a pipe to come to the mountain of Jehovah, to the Rock of Israel.


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And Jehovah will cause his glorious voice to be heard and will show the coming down of his arm with the indignation of <i>his</i> anger and the flame of a devouring fire, with a blast and tempest and hailstones.


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<pb/>For through the voice of Jehovah the Assyrian will be dismayed. He will kill* <i>him</i> with his rod.


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And every stroke of the appointed staff, which Jehovah will lay upon him, will be with <i>the sound of</i> tambourine and harps. And he will fight with them in battles with the brandishing <i>of his arm</i>.


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For a Topheth is prepared of old, yes, it is made ready for the king. He has made it deep and large. The pile of it is fire and much wood. The breath of Jehovah kindles it, like a stream of brimstone.


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<pb/>Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses and trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek Jehovah!


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Yet he also is wise and will bring evil and will not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers and against the help of those who work wickedness.


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<pb/>Now the Egyptians are men and not God and their horses flesh and not spirit. And when Jehovah will stretch out his hand, both he who helps will stumble and he who is helped will fall and they will all be consumed together.


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<pb/>For Jehovah says thus to me, As the lion and the young lion growling over his prey, <i>even</i> if a multitude of shepherds are called forth against him, he will not be dismayed at their voice, nor dismayed for the noise of them, so Jehovah of hosts will come down to fight upon Mount Zion and upon the hill of it.


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As birds hovering, so Jehovah of hosts will protect Jerusalem. He will protect and deliver. He will pass over and preserve.


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For in that day they will cast away every man his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your* own hands have made to you* for a sin.


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<pb/>And the Assyrian will fall by the sword, not of man and the sword, not of men, will devour him. But he will flee from the sword and his young men will become subject to forced-labor.


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And his rock will pass away because of terror and his rulers will be dismayed at the ensign, says Jehovah, whose fire is in Zion and his furnace in Jerusalem.


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And a man will be as a hiding-place from the wind and a covert from the tempest, as streams of water in a dry place, as the shade of a great rock in a weary land.


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And the heart of the rash will understand knowledge and the tongue of the stammerers will be ready to speak plainly.


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<pb/>For the fool will do senselessness and his heart will work wickedness, to practice profaneness and to utter error against Jehovah, to make empty the soul of the hungry and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.


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And the instruments of the churl are evil. He devises wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaks right.


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<pb/>Rise up, you* women who are at ease. Hear my voice, you* careless daughters. Listen to my speech.


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For you* will be troubled days beyond a year, you* careless women. For the vintage will fail; the ingathering will not come.


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Tremble, women who are at ease. Be troubled, you* careless ones. Strip you* and make you* bare and gird <i>sackcloth</i> upon your* loins.


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<pb/>Thorns and briers will come up on the land of my people, yes, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city.


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For the palace will be forsaken. The populous city will be deserted. The hill and the watch-tower will be for dens everlasting, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks,


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until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field and the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest.


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And the work of righteousness will be peace and the effect of righteousness, quietness and confidence everlasting.


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And my people will abide in a peaceable habitation and in safe dwellings and in quiet resting-places.


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<pb/>Woe to you who destroys and you were not destroyed and deal treacherously and they did not deal treacherously with you! When you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed and when you have made an end of dealing treacherously, they will deal treacherously with you.


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<pb/>O Jehovah, be gracious to us, we have waited for you. Be our arm every morning, also our salvation in the time of trouble.


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At the noise of the tumult the peoples have fled. At the lifting up of yourself the nations are scattered.


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And your* spoil will be gathered as the caterpillar gathers. As locusts leap, men will leap upon it.


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And there will be stability in your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom and knowledge. The fear of Jehovah is your treasure.


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The highways lie waste. The wayfaring man ceases. <i>The enemy</i> has broken the covenant. He has despised the cities. He does not regard man.


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The land mourns and languishes. Lebanon is confounded and withers away. Sharon is like a desert and Bashan and Carmel shake off <i>their leaves</i>.


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You* will conceive chaff. You* will bring forth stubble. Your* breath is a fire that will devour you*.


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<pb/>The sinners in Zion are afraid. Trembling has seized the profane. Who among us can dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?


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He who walks righteously and speaks in uprightness. He who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes <i>away</i> his hands from taking a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of blood and shuts his eyes from looking upon evil.


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<pb/>He will dwell on high. His place of defense will be the munitions of rocks. His bread will be given. His waters will be sure.


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Your heart will meditate on the terror. Where is he who counted? Where is he who weighed <i>the tribute</i>? Where is he who counted the towers?


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You will not see the fierce people, a people of a deep speech that you cannot comprehend, of a strange tongue that you cannot understand.


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<pb/>Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities. Your eyes will see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tent that will not be removed. The stakes of which will never be plucked up, nor will any of the cords of it be broken.


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But Jehovah will be with us there in majesty. A place of broad rivers and streams, in which will go no galley with oars, nor will a gallant ship pass by it.


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Your tackles are loosed. They could not strengthen the foot of their mast. They could not spread the sail. Then the prey of a great spoil was divided. The lame took the prey.


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And the inhabitant will not say, I am sick. The people who dwell in it will be forgiven their iniquity.


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<pb/>Come near, you* nations, to hear. And listen, peoples. Let the earth hear and the fullness of it, the world and all things that come out from it.


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For Jehovah has indignation against all the nations and wrath against all their host. He has utterly destroyed them. He has delivered them to the slaughter.


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Their slain also will be cast out. And the stench of their dead bodies will come up and the mountains will be melted with their blood.


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<pb/>And all the host of heaven will be dissolved and the heavens will be rolled together as a scroll. And all their host will fade away as the leaf fades from the vine and as a fading <i>leaf</i> from the fig tree.


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<pb/>For my sword has drunk its fill in heaven. Behold, it will come down upon Edom and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.


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The sword of Jehovah is filled with blood. It is made fat with fatness, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams, for Jehovah has a sacrifice in Bozrah and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.


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And the wild oxen will come down with them and the bullocks with the bulls. And their land will be drunken with blood and their dust made fat with fatness.


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<pb/>And the streams of <i>Edom</i> will be turned into pitch and the dust of it into brimstone. And the land of it will become burning pitch.


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It will not be quenched night nor day. The smoke of it will go up everlasting. From generation to generation it will lie waste. None will pass through it forever <i>and</i> forever.


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But the pelican and the porcupine will possess it. And the owl and the raven will dwell in it. And he will stretch over it the line of confusion and the plummet of emptiness.


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They will call the nobles of it to the kingdom, but none will be there. And all its rulers will be nothing.


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<pb/>And thorns will come up in its palaces, nettles and thistles in the fortresses of it. And it will be a habitation of jackals, a court for ostriches.


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And the wild beasts of the desert will meet with the wolves. And the wild goat will cry to his fellow. Yes, the screech owl will settle there and will find her a place of rest.


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There the dart-snake will make her nest and lay and hatch and gather under her shade. Yes, there the vultures will be gathered, each one with her mate.


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<pb/>Seek out of the book of Jehovah and read. No one of these will be missing. None will want her mate. For my mouth, it has commanded and his Spirit, it has gathered them.


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And he has cast the lot for them and his hand has divided it to them by line. They will possess it everlasting. From generation to generation they will dwell in it.


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<pb/>The wilderness and the dry land will be glad. And the desert will rejoice and blossom as the rose.


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It will blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of Jehovah, the excellency of our God.


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Say to those who are of a fearful heart, Be strong, do not fear. Behold, your* God will come <i>with</i> vengeance, <i>with</i> the recompense of God. He will come and save you*.


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Then the lame man will leap as a male-deer and the tongue of the mute will sing. For waters in the wilderness will break out and streams in the desert.


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And the glowing sand will become a pool and the thirsty ground springs of water. In the habitation of jackals, where they lay, will be grass with reeds and rushes.


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<pb/>And a highway will be there and a way. And it will be called The way of holiness. The unclean will not pass over it, but it will be for <i>the redeemed</i>, the wayfaring men. Yes fools will not go-astray <i>in it</i>.


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No lion will be there, nor will any ravenous beast go up in it. They will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk <i>there</i>.


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<pb/>And the ransomed of Jehovah will return and come with singing to Zion. And everlasting joy will be upon their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy. And sorrow and sighing will flee away.


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<pb/>Now it happened in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.


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And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the launder's field.


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<pb/>Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah came out to him, who was over the household and Shebna the scribe and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder.


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<pb/>And Rabshakeh said to them, Say you* now to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: What confidence is this in which you trust?


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I say, <i>your</i> counsel and strength for the war are but vain words. Now on whom do you trust that you have rebelled against me?


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Behold, you trust upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh King of Egypt to all who trust on him.


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<pb/>But if you say to me, We trust in Jehovah our God. Is that not he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, You* will worship before this altar?


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<pb/>And have I now come up without Jehovah against this land to destroy it? Jehovah said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it.


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<pb/>Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, I beseech you, speak, to your servants in the Syrian language, for we understand it. And do not speak to us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people who are on the wall.


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<pb/>But Rabshakeh said, Has my master sent me to your master and to you, to speak these words, <i>and</i> not to the men who sit upon the wall, to eat their own manure and to drink their own urine with you*?


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<pb/>Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language and said, Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.


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Neither let Hezekiah make you* trust in Jehovah, saying, Jehovah will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.


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<pb/>Listen not to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria, Make your* peace with me and come out to me and eat you* everyone of his vine and everyone of his fig tree and drink you* everyone the waters of his own cistern,


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until I come and take you* away to a land like your* own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.


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<pb/>Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you*, saying, Jehovah will deliver us. Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?


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Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? And have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?


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<pb/>Who are they among all the gods of these countries that have delivered their country out of my hand, that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?


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<pb/>But they held their peace and answered him not a word. For the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not.


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<pb/>Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah came, who was over the household and Shebna the scribe and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of Rabshakeh.


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<pb/>And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household and Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.


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<pb/>And they said to him, Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble and of rebuke and of blasphemy, for the sons have come to the birth and there is not strength to bring forth.


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It may be Jehovah your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God and will rebuke the words which Jehovah your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.


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And Isaiah said to them, Thus you* will say to your* master, Jehovah says thus: Do not be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.


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And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He has come out to fight against you. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,


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<pb/>Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar?


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<pb/>O Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, who sit <i>above</i> the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.


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Incline your ear, O Jehovah and hear. Open your eyes, O Jehovah and see and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who has sent to defy the living God.


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and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them.


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Now therefore, O Jehovah our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are Jehovah, even you only.


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<pb/>Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Jehovah says thus, the God of Israel, Because you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria,


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this is the word which Jehovah has spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and laughed you to scorn. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.


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<pb/>Whom have you defied and blasphemed? And against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? <i>Even</i> against the Holy One of Israel.


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<pb/>You have defied the Lord by your servants and have said, I have come up to the height of the mountains with the multitude of my chariots, to the innermost parts of Lebanon. And I will cut down the tall cedars of it and the choice fir trees of it and I will enter into its farthest height, the forest of its fruitful field.


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<pb/>Have you not heard how I have done it from afar and formed it of long-ago? Now I have made it occur, that it should be your to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps.


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Therefore their inhabitants were of small power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were as the grass of the field and as the green herb. As the grass on the housetops and as a field <i>of grain</i> before it is grown up.


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<pb/>And this will be the sign to you. You* will eat this year what grows of itself and in the second year what springs of the same and in the third year sow you* and reap and plant vineyards and eat the fruit of it.


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For out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant and out of Mount Zion those who will escape. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this.


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<pb/>Therefore Jehovah says thus concerning the king of Assyria, He will not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there. Neither will he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it.


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By the way that he came, he will return by the same and he will not come to this city, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>And the messenger of Jehovah went forth and killed* in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.


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<pb/>And it happened, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons killed* him with the sword and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned instead of him.


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and said, O Jehovah, I beseech you, remember now how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart and have done what is good in your sight. And Hezekiah wept greatly.


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Go and say to Hezekiah, Jehovah says thus, the God of David your father. I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add to your days fifteen years.


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And I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria and I will defend this city.


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<pb/>And this will be the sign to you from Jehovah, that Jehovah will do this thing that he has spoken:


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Behold, I will cause the shadow on the steps, which has gone down on the dial of Ahaz with the sun, to return backward ten steps. So the sun returned ten steps on the dial on which it had gone down.


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<pb/>I said, In the noontide of my days I will go into the gates of Sheol. I am deprived of the residue of my years.


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I said, I will not see Jehovah, <i>even</i> Jehovah in the land of the living. I will behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.


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My dwelling is removed and is carried away from me as a shepherd's tent. I have rolled up, like a weaver, my life. He will cut me off from the loom. From day even to night you will make an end of me.


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I quieted <i>myself</i> until morning. As a lion, so he breaks all my bones. From day even to night will you make an end of me.


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<pb/>Like a swallow <i>or</i> a crane, so I chattered. I moaned as a dove. My eyes fail <i>with looking</i> upward. O Lord, I am oppressed, be my surety.


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<pb/>What shall I say? He has both spoken to me and himself has done it. I will go softly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.


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O Lord, by these things men live and entirely in it is the life of my spirit. Therefore recover me and make me to live.


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<pb/>Behold, for peace I had great bitterness. But you have by love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption. For you have cast all my sins behind your back.


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For Sheol cannot praise you, death cannot celebrate you. Those who go down into the pit cannot hope for your truth.


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<pb/>The living, the living, he will praise you, as I do this day. The father to the sons will make known your truth.


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Jehovah is <i>ready</i> to save me. Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of Jehovah.


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<pb/>Now Isaiah had said, Let them take a cake of figs and lay it for a plaster upon the boil and he will recover.


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<pb/>At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and was recovered.


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<pb/>And Hezekiah was glad of them and showed them the house of his precious things, the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious oil and all the house of his armor and all that was found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah did not show them.


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<pb/>Then Isaiah the prophet came to king Hezekiah and said to him, What did these men say? And from where did they come to you? And Hezekiah said, They have come from a far country to me, even from Babylon.


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Then he said, What have they seen in your house? And Hezekiah answered, They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.


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Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house and what your fathers have laid up in store until this day, will be carried to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says Jehovah.


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And of your sons who will go forth from you, whom you will beget, they will take away and they will be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.


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<pb/>Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, The word of Jehovah which you have spoken is good. He said moreover, For there will be peace and truth in my days.


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<i>Speak</i> comfortably to Jerusalem and cry to her, that her warfare has been completed, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of Jehovah's hand double for all her sins.


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<pb/>The voice of a man crying out in the wilderness, Prepare the way of Jehovah, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.


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<pb/>Every valley will be exalted and every mountain and hill will be made low. And the crooked will become straight and the rough places smooth.


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And the glory of Jehovah will be revealed and all flesh will see it together. For the mouth of Jehovah has spoken it.


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<pb/>The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass and all the goodness of it is as the flower of the field.


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The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of Jehovah blows upon it. Surely the people is grass.


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<pb/>O you who tell good news to Zion, get up on a high mountain. O you who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength. Lift it up, do not be afraid, say to the cities of Judah, Behold, your* God!


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<pb/>Behold, the lord Jehovah will come as a mighty one and his arm will rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him and his recompense before him.


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He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm and carry them in his bosom, <i>and</i> will gently lead those who have their young.


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<pb/>Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and measured out heaven with the span and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?


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He took counsel with whom. And who instructed him and taught him in the path of justice. And taught him knowledge and showed to him the way of understanding?


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<pb/>Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket and are accounted as the small dust of the balance. Behold, he takes up the isles as a very little thing.


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All the nations are as nothing before him. They are accounted by him as less than nothing and vanity.


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<pb/>The image, a workman has cast <i>it</i> and the goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts <i>for it</i> silver chains.


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He who is too impoverished for <i>such</i> an oblation chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks for him a skillful workman to set up a graven image that will not be shaken.


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<pb/>Have you* not known? Have yet not heard? Has it not been told you* from the beginning? Have you* not understood from the foundations of the earth?


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<pb/><i>It is</i> he who sits above the circle of the earth and the inhabitants of it are as grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens as a curtain and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in,


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Yes, they have not been planted. Yes, they have not been sown. Yes, their stock has not taken root in the earth. Moreover he blows upon them and they wither and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.


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Lift up your* eyes on high and see who has created these, who brings out their host by number. He calls them all by name, by the greatness of his might. And because he is strong in power, not one is lacking.


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<pb/>Why do you say, O Jacob and speak, O Israel, My way is hid from Jehovah. And the justice <i>due</i> to me is passed away from my God?


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<pb/>Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, nor is weary. There is no searching of his understanding.


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But those who wait for Jehovah will renew their strength. They will mount up with pinions like eagles. They will run and not be weary. They will walk and not faint.


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<pb/>Keep silence before me, O islands and let the peoples renew their strength. Let them come near, then let them speak. Let us come near together to judgment.


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Who raised up the righteous <i>man</i> from the east, calls him to his foot, gives nations before him and makes him rule over kings? He gives them as the dust to his sword, as the driven stubble to his bow.


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Who has worked and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, Jehovah, the first and with the last, I am he.


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<pb/>So the carpenter encourages the goldsmith, he who smooths with the hammer, he who slays the anvil, saying of the soldering, It is good and he fastens it with nails, that it should not be shaken.


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you whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth and called from the corners of it and said to you, You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you away.


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<pb/>Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.


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<pb/>1 Behold, all those who are incensed against you will be put to shame and confounded. Those who strive with you will be as nothing and will perish.


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You will seek them and will not find them, even those who contend with you. Those who war against you will be as nothing and as a thing of nothing.


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<pb/>Do not fear, you worm Jacob and you* men of Israel. I will help you, says Jehovah and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.


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Behold, I have made you <i>as</i> a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth. You will thresh the mountains and beat them small and will make the hills as chaff.


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You will winnow them and the wind will carry them away and the whirlwind will scatter them. And you will rejoice in Jehovah. You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.


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<pb/>The poor and needy seek water and there is none and their tongue fails for thirst. I, Jehovah, will answer them. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.


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I will open rivers on the bare heights and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water.


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I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia and the myrtle and the oil tree. I will set in the desert the fir tree, the pine and the box tree together,


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that they may see and know and consider and understand together, that the hand of Jehovah has done this and the Holy One of Israel has created it.


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Let them bring forth and declare to us what will happen. Declare the former things, what they are, that we may consider them and know the latter end of them, or show us things to come.


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<pb/>Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you* are gods. Yes, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed and behold it together.


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<pb/>I have raised up him from the north and he has come, he who calls upon my name from the rising of the sun. And he will come upon rulers as upon mortar and as the potter treads clay.


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<pb/>Who has declared it from the beginning, that we may know and formerly, that we may say, <i>He is</i> right? Yes, there is none who declares. Yes, there is none who shows. Yes, there is none who hears your* words.


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<pb/>And when I look, there is no man. Even among them there is no counselor, that, when I ask of them, can answer a word.


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Behold, all of them, their works are vanity <i>and</i> nothing. Their molten images are wind and confusion.


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<pb/>Behold, my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights. I have put my Spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.


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A bruised reed he will not break and a dimly burning wick he will not quench, but he will bring forth justice in truth.


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He will not fail nor be discouraged till he has set justice in the earth. And in his name Gentiles will hope.


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<pb/>Thus says God, Jehovah, he who created the heavens and stretched them forth, he who spread abroad the earth and what comes out of it, he who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it,


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I, Jehovah, have called you in righteousness and will hold your hand and will keep you and give you for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles,


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to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon and those who sit in darkness out of the prison-house.


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<pb/>I am Jehovah. That is my name and I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to graven images.


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Behold, the former things have happen and I declare new things. Before they spring forth I tell you* of them.


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Sing to Jehovah a new song and his praise from the end of the earth, you* who go down to the sea and all that is in it, the isles and the inhabitants of it.


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Let the wilderness and the cities of it lift up <i>their voice</i>, the villages that Kedar inhabits. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing. Let them shout from the top of the mountains.


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Jehovah will go forth as a mighty man. He will stir up <i>his</i> zeal like a man of war. He will cry, yes, he will shout aloud. He will do mightily against his enemies.


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<pb/>I have for a long time held my peace. I have been still and refrained myself. <i>Now</i> I will cry out like a travailing woman. I will gasp and pant together.


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I will lay waste mountains and hills and dry up all their herbs. And I will make the rivers islands and will dry up the pools.


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<pb/>And I will bring the blind by a way that they do not know. I will lead them in paths that they do not know. I will make darkness light before them and crooked places straight. These things I will do and I will not forsake them.


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<pb/>They will be turned back, they will be utterly put to shame, who trust in graven images, who say to molten images, You* are our gods.


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Who is blind, but my servant, or deaf, as my messenger that I send? Who is blind as he who is at peace <i>with me</i> and blind as Jehovah's servant?


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But this is a people robbed and plundered. They are all of them snared in holes and they are hid in prison-houses. They are for a prey and none delivers, for a spoil and none says, Restore.


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<pb/>Who is there among you* that will listen to this, that will listen and hear for the time to come?


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Who gave Jacob for a spoil and Israel to the robbers? Did not Jehovah? He against whom we have sinned and in whose ways they would not walk, nor were they obedient to his law.


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Therefore he poured upon him the fierceness of his anger and the strength of battle. And it set him on fire all around, yet he did not know. And it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.


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<pb/>But now Jehovah says thus who created you, O Jacob and he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name, You are mine.


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When you pass through the waters, I will be with you and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, nor will the flame kindle upon you.


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<pb/>For I am Jehovah your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I have given Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your stead.


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Since you have been precious in my sight <i>and</i> honorable and I have loved you, therefore I will give men instead of you and peoples instead of your life.


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<pb/>Do not fear, for I am with you. I will bring your seed from the east and gather you from the west.


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I will say to the north, Give up and to the south, Do not keep back. Bring my sons from far and my daughters from the end of the earth,


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everyone who is called by my name and whom I have created for my glory, whom I have formed, yes, whom I have made.


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<pb/>Let all the nations be gathered together and let the peoples be assembled. Who among them can declare this and show us former things? Let them bring their witnesses that they may be justified, or let them hear and say, It is truth.


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<pb/>You* are my witnesses, says Jehovah and my servant whom I have chosen, that you* may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God formed, nor will there be after me.


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I have declared and I have saved and I have shown and there was no strange <i>god</i> among you*. Therefore you* are my witnesses, says Jehovah and I am God.


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Yes, since the day was I am he and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. I will work and who can hinder it?


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus, your* Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your* sake I have sent to Babylon and I will bring down all of them as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing.


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who brings forth the chariot and horse, the army and the mighty man (they lie down together; they will not rise; they are extinct; they are quenched as a wick):


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Behold, I will do a new thing. Now it will spring forth. Shall you* not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.


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<pb/>The beasts of the field will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen,


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You have not brought me from your sheep for burnt offerings, nor have you honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, nor wearied you with frankincense.


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You have bought me no sweet cane with money, nor have you filled me with the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins. You have wearied me with your iniquities.


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<pb/>I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake and I will not remember your sins.


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Therefore I will profane the rulers of the sanctuary and I will make Jacob a curse and Israel a reviling.


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Jehovah says thus who made you and formed you from the womb, who will help you: Do not fear, O Jacob my servant and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.


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For I will pour water upon him who is thirsty and streams upon the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit upon your seed and my blessing upon your offspring.


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One will say, I am Jehovah's and another will call <i>himself</i> by the name of Jacob and another will subscribe with his hand to Jehovah and surname <i>himself</i> by the name of Israel.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts: I am the first and I am the last and besides me there is no God.


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<pb/>And who, as I, will call and will declare it and set it in order for me, since I established the people of old? And let them declare the things that are coming and that will happen.


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Do not fear, nor be afraid. Have I not declared to you of old and shown it? And you* are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? Yes, there is no Rock. I do not know any.


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<pb/>Those who fashion a graven image are all of them vanity. And the things that they delight in will not profit. And their own witnesses do not see, nor know, that they may be put to shame.


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Behold, all his fellows will be put to shame and the workmen. They are of men. Let them all be gathered together. Let them stand up. They will fear. They will be put to shame together.


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<pb/>The smith <i>makes</i> an axe and works in the coals and fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. Yes, he is hungry and his strength fails. He drinks no water and is faint.


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<pb/>The carpenter stretches out a line. He marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes. And he marks it out with the compasses and shapes it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house.


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He hews down cedars for him and takes the cypress tree and the oak and strengthens for himself one among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir tree and the rain nourishes it.


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<pb/>Then it will be for a man to burn. And he takes of it and warms himself. Yes, he kindles it and bakes bread. Yes, he makes a god and worships it. He makes it a graven image and falls down to it.


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<pb/>He burns part of it in the fire. He eats flesh with part of it. He roasts roast and is satisfied. Yes, he warms himself and says, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire.


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And the residue of it he makes a god, even his graven image. He falls down to it and worships and prays to it and says, Deliver me, for you are my god.


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<pb/>They do not know, nor do they consider. For he has shut their eyes, that they cannot see and their hearts, that they cannot understand.


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And none calls to mind, nor is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire. Yes, I have also baked bread upon the coals of it. I have roasted flesh and eaten it. And shall I make the residue of it an abomination? Shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?


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<pb/>He feeds on ashes. A deceived heart has turned him aside. And he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?


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<pb/>Remember these things, O Jacob and Israel, for you are my servant. I have formed you. You are my servant, O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.


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I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and as a cloud, your sins. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.


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<pb/>Sing, O you* heavens, for Jehovah has done it. Shout, you* lower parts of the earth. Break forth into singing, you* mountains, O forest and every tree in it. For Jehovah has redeemed Jacob and will glorify himself in Israel.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus, your Redeemer and he who formed you from the womb: I am Jehovah, who makes all things, who stretches forth the heavens alone, who spreads abroad the earth (who is with me?),


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who frustrates the signs of the liars and makes diviners mad, who turns wise men backward and makes their knowledge foolish,


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who confirms the word of his servant and performs the counsel of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, She will be inhabited and of the cities of Judah, They will be built and I will raise up the waste places of it,


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who says of Cyrus, <i>He is</i> my shepherd and will perform all my pleasure, even saying of Jerusalem, She will be built and of the temple, Your foundation will be laid.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held to subdue nations before him. And I will loose the loins of kings to open the doors before him. And the gates will not be shut.


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I will go before you and make the rough places smooth. I will break in pieces the doors of brass and cut apart the bars of iron.


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<pb/>And I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that it is I, Jehovah, who call you by your name, even the God of Israel.


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For Jacob my servant's sake and Israel my chosen, I have called you by your name. I have surnamed you, though you have not known me.


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<pb/>I am Jehovah and there is none else. Besides me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known me,


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that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me. I am Jehovah and there is none else.


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<pb/>I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I am Jehovah who does all these things.


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<pb/>Drop down, you* heavens, from above and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open that it may bring forth salvation and let it cause righteousness to spring up together. I, Jehovah, have created it.


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<pb/>Woe to him who contends with his maker, a earthen vessel among the earthen vessels of the earth! Shall the clay say to him that fashions it, What are you making? or your work, He has no hands?


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Woe to him who says to a father, What are you begetting? or to a woman, With what are you travailing?


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus, the Holy One of Israel and his maker: Ask me of the things that are to come concerning my sons. And command me concerning the work of my hands.


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I have made the earth and created man upon it. I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens and all their host I have commanded.


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<pb/>I have raised him up in righteousness and I will make straight all his ways. He will build my city and he will let my exiles go free, not for price nor reward, says Jehovah of hosts.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus: The labor of Egypt and the merchandise of Ethiopia and the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and they will be yours. They will go after you. In chains they will come over and they will fall down to you. They will make supplication to you, <i>saying</i>, Surely God is in you and there is none else, no God.


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They will be put to shame, yes, confounded, all of them. They will go into confusion together who are makers of idols.


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<i>But</i> Israel will be saved by Jehovah with an everlasting salvation. You* will not be put to shame nor confounded world without end.


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<pb/>For Jehovah says thus who created the heavens, the God who formed the earth and made it, who established it and did not create it a waste, who formed it to be inhabited: I am Jehovah and there is none else.


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I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness. I did not say to the seed of Jacob, Seek me in vain. I, Jehovah, speak righteousness, declaring uprightness.


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<pb/>Assemble yourselves and come, draw near together, you* that are escaped of the nations. They have no knowledge that carry the wood of their graven image and pray to a god that cannot save.


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Declare and bring <i>it</i> forth. Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has shown this from long-ago? Who has declared it long since? Have not I, Jehovah? And there is no other God besides me, a just God and a Savior. There is none besides me.


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<pb/>I have sworn by myself, the word has gone forth from my mouth <i>in</i> righteousness and will not return, that to me every knee will bow, every tongue will confess to God.


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<pb/>Only in Jehovah, it is said of me, is righteousness and strength. Even to him men will come and all those who were incensed against him will be put to shame.


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<pb/>Bel bows down, Nebo stoops, their idols are upon the beasts and upon the cattle. The things that you* carried about are made a load, a burden to the weary <i>beast</i>.


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They stoop, they bow down together. They could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity.


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<pb/>Listen to me, O house of Jacob and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne <i>by me</i> from their birth, who have been carried from the womb.


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And even to old age I am he and even to hoar hairs I will carry <i>you</i>*. I have made and I will bear, yes, I will carry and will deliver.


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Such as lavish gold out of the bag and weigh silver in the balance, they hire a goldsmith and he makes it a god. They fall down, yes, they worship.


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They bear it upon the shoulder. They carry it and set it in its place and it stands. From its place it will not remove. Yes, he may cry to it, yet it cannot answer, nor save him out of his trouble.


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Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is none else. <i>I am</i> God and there is none like me,


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declaring the end from the beginning and from long-ago things that are not <i>yet</i> done, saying, My counsel will stand and I will do all my pleasure,


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calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. Yes, I have spoken. I will also make it occur. I have purposed. I will also do it.


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I bring near my righteousness. It will not be far off. And my salvation will not abide and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.


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<pb/>Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans. For you will no more be called tender and delicate.


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Take the millstones and grind meal. Remove your veil, strip off the train, uncover the leg, pass through the rivers.


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Your nakedness will be uncovered, yes, your shame will be seen. I will take vengeance and will spare no man.


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<pb/>Sit you silent and get you into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans, for you will no more be called The mistress of kingdoms.


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I was angry with my people. I profaned my inheritance and gave them into your hand. You showed them no mercy. you have laid your yoke very heavily upon the aged.


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And you said, I will be a mistress everlasting, so that you did not lay these things to your heart, nor remembered the latter end of it.


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<pb/>Now therefore hear this, you who are given to pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, I am and there is none else besides me. I will not sit as a widow, nor shall I know the loss of sons.


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But these two things will come to you in a moment in one day: the loss of sons and widowhood. In their full measure they will come upon you, in the multitude of your sorceries and the great abundance of your enchantments. For you have trusted in your wickedness. You have said, None sees me.


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<pb/>Your wisdom and your knowledge, it has perverted you. And you have said in your heart, I am and there is none else besides me.


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<pb/>Therefore evil will come upon you. You will not know the dawning of it. And mischief will fall upon you. You will not be able to put it away. And desolation will come upon you suddenly, which you do not know.


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<pb/>Stand now with your enchantments and with the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth, perhaps you will be able to profit, perhaps you may prevail.


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You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Let now the astrologers, the star-gazers, the knowers from the new moons, stand up and save you from the things that will come upon you.


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<pb/>Behold, they will be as stubble. The fire will burn them. They will not deliver themselves from the power of the flame. It will not be a coal to warm at, nor a fire to sit before.


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Thus will be the things to you, in which you have labored. Those who have traded with you from your youth will wander each one to his quarter. There will be none to save you.


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<pb/>Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel and have come forth out of the waters of Judah, who swear by the name of Jehovah and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness


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(for they call themselves of the holy city and steady themselves upon the God of Israel, Jehovah of hosts is his name):


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I have declared the former things from of old. Yes, they went forth out of my mouth and I showed them. Suddenly I did them and they happened.


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therefore I have declared it to you from of old. Before it happened I showed it to you, lest you should say, My idol has done them. And my graven image and my molten image, has commanded them.


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<pb/>You have heard it, behold all this and you*, will you* not declare it? I have shown you new things from this time, even hidden things, which you have not known.


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They are created now and not from of old. And you have not heard them before this day, lest you should say, Behold, I knew them.


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Yes, you heard not. Yes, you did not know. Yes, from of old your ear was not opened. For I knew that you dealt very treacherously and were called a transgressor from the womb.


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<pb/>For my name's sake I will defer my anger and for my praise I will refrain for you, that I not cut you off.


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For my own sake, for my own sake, I will do it. For how should <i>my name</i> be profaned? And I will not give my glory to another.


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Yes, my hand has laid the foundation of the earth and my right hand has spread out the heavens. When I call to them, they stand up together.


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<pb/>Assemble yourselves, all you* and hear: Who among them has declared these things? He whom Jehovah loves will perform his pleasure on Babylon and his arm, the Chaldeans.


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I, even I, have spoken, yes, I have called him. I have brought him and he will make his way prosperous.


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<pb/>Come you* near to me, hear this: From the beginning I have not spoken in secret. From the time that it was, there I am. And now the lord Jehovah and his Spirit has sent me.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am Jehovah your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go.


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Oh that you had listened to my commandments! Then your peace would have been as a river and your righteousness as the waves of the sea.


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Your seed also would have been as the sand and the offspring of your guts like the grains of it. His name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me.


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<pb/>Go forth from Babylon. Flee from the Chaldeans. With a voice of singing declare, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth. Say you*, Jehovah has redeemed his servant Jacob.


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And they did not thirst when he led them through the deserts. He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them. He also split the rock and the waters gushed out.


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<pb/>Listen, O isles, to me and listen, you* peoples from far. Jehovah has called me from the womb. From the guts of my mother he has made mention of my name.


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And he has made my mouth like a sharp sword. He has hid me in the shadow of his hand and he has made me a polished shaft. He has kept me close in his quiver.


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But I said, I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity. Yet surely the justice <i>due</i> to me is with Jehovah and my recompense with my God.


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<pb/>And now says Jehovah who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him and that Israel be gathered to him (for I am honorable in the eyes of Jehovah and my God has become my strength),


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yes, he says, It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give you for a light to the Gentiles, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus, the Redeemer of Israel, <i>and</i> his Holy One, to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers. Kings will see and arise, rulers and they will worship, because of Jehovah who is faithful, <i>even</i> the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus, In an acceptable time I have heard you and in a day of salvation I have helped you. And I will preserve you and give you for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages,


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saying to those who are bound, Go forth; to those who are in darkness, Show yourselves. They will feed in the ways and their pasture will be on all bare heights.


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<pb/>They will not hunger nor thirst, neither will the heat nor sun kill* them. For he who has mercy on them will lead them. He will guide them even by springs of water.


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Behold, these will come from far, and behold, these from the north and from the west and these from the land of Sinim.


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<pb/>Sing, O heavens and be joyful, O earth and break forth into singing, O mountains. For Jehovah has comforted his people and will have compassion upon his afflicted.


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Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you.


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<pb/>Lift up your eyes all around and behold. All these gather themselves together and come to you. As I live, says Jehovah, you will surely clothe you with them all, as with an ornament and gird yourself with them, like a bride.


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For, as for your waste and your desolate places and your land that has been destroyed, surely now you will be too narrow for the inhabitants and those who swallowed you up will be far away.


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<pb/>The sons of your bereavement will yet say in your ears, The place is too narrow for me. Give a place to me that I may dwell.


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Then you will say in your heart, Who has fathered these for me, seeing I have been bereaved of my sons and am solitary, an exile and wandering to and fro? And who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone, these, where were they?


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<pb/>The lord Jehovah says thus: Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations and set up my ensign to the peoples. And they will bring your sons in their bosom and your daughters will be carried upon their shoulders.


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And kings will be your nursing fathers and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth and lick the dust of your feet. And you will know that I am Jehovah and those who wait for me will not be put to shame.


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But Jehovah says thus, Even the captives of the mighty will be taken away and the prey of the terrible will be delivered. <pb/>For I will contend with him who contends with you and I will save your sons.


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And I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh. And they will be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine. And all flesh will know that I, Jehovah, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus, Where is the document of your* mother's divorcement, with which I have put her away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you*? Behold, for your* iniquities you* were sold and for your* transgressions your* mother was put away.


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<pb/>Why, when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea. I make the rivers a wilderness. Their fish stink because there is no water and die for thirst.


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<pb/>The lord Jehovah has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words he who is weary. He awakens morning by morning. He awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.


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I gave my back to the strikers and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair. I did not hide my face from shame and spitting.


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For the lord Jehovah will help me. <pb/>Therefore I have not been confounded. Therefore I have set my face like a flint and I know that I will not be put to shame.


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He is near who justifies me. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me.


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Behold, the lord Jehovah will help me. Who is he who will condemn me? Behold, all they will grow old as a garment; the moth will eat them up.


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<pb/>Who is among you* that fears Jehovah, who obeys the voice of his servant? He who walks in darkness and has no light, let him trust in the name of Jehovah and rely upon his God.


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<pb/>Behold, all you* who kindle a fire, who gird yourselves about with firebrands, walk you* in the flame of your* fire and among the brands that you* have kindled. This you* will have from my hand. You* will lie down in sorrow.


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<pb/>Listen to me, you* who follow after righteousness, you* who seek Jehovah. Look to the rock from where you* were hewn and to the hold of the pit from where you* were dug.


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Look to Abraham your* father and to Sarah who bore you*. For when he was but one I called him and I blessed him and made him many.


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<pb/>For Jehovah has comforted Zion. He has comforted all her waste places and has made her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of Jehovah. Joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.


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<pb/>Attend to me, O my people and listen to me, O my nation. For a law will go forth from me and I will establish my justice for a light of the peoples.


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My righteousness is near. My salvation has gone forth and my arms will judge the peoples. The isles will wait for me and on my arm they will trust.


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<pb/>Lift up your* eyes to the heavens and look upon the earth beneath. For the heavens will vanish away like smoke and the earth will grow old like a garment and those who dwell in it will die in like manner. But my salvation will be everlasting and my righteousness will not be abolished.


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<pb/>Listen to me, you* who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law. Do not fear the reproach of men, nor be you* dismayed at their revilings.


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For the moth will eat them up like a garment and the worm will eat them like wool. But my righteousness will be everlasting and my salvation to all generations.


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<pb/>Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of Jehovah. Awake, as in the days of long-ago, the generations of everlasting. Is it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the monster?


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Is it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?


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<pb/>And the ransomed of Jehovah will return and come with singing to Zion and everlasting joy will be upon their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, <i>and</i> sorrow and sighing will flee away.


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<pb/>I, even I, am he who comforts you*. Who are you, that you are afraid of man who will die and of the son of man who will be made as grass,


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and have forgotten Jehovah your maker, who stretched forth the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth and fear continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he makes ready to destroy? And where is the fury of the oppressor?


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<pb/>The captive exile will speedily be loosed and he will not die in the pit, nor will his bread fail.


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For I am Jehovah your God, who stirs up the sea so that the waves of it roar. Jehovah of hosts is his name.


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<pb/>And I have put my words in your mouth and have covered you in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth and say to Zion, You are my people.


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<pb/>Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, who have drunk at the hand of Jehovah the cup of his wrath. You have drunk the bowl of the cup of staggering and drained it.


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There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she has brought forth, nor is there any who takes her by the hand among all the sons that she has brought up.


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<pb/>These two things have befallen you (Who will sympathize with you?): Desolation and destruction and the famine and the sword. How shall I comfort you?


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Your sons have fainted. They lie at the head of all the streets, as an antelope in a net. They are full of the wrath of Jehovah, the rebuke of your God.


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Thus says your lord Jehovah and your God who pleads the cause of his people: Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of staggering, even the bowl of the cup of my wrath. You will no more drink it again.


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And I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your soul, Bow down, that we may go over and you have laid your back as the ground and as the street, to those who go over.


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<pb/>Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion. Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city. For hereafter there will no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean.


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Shake yourself from the dust. Arise, sit up, O Jerusalem. Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.


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For thus says the lord Jehovah, My people went down at the first into Egypt to journey there. And the Assyrian has oppressed them without cause.


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<pb/>Now therefore, what do I do here, says Jehovah, seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Those who rule over them howl, says Jehovah. And because of you* my name is continually blasphemed among the Gentiles.


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<pb/>Therefore my people will know my name. Therefore they will know in that day that I am he who speaks, Behold, it is I.


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<pb/>How lovely are the feet of him who brings good news upon the mountains, who proclaims peace, who brings good news of good, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, Your God reigns!


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<pb/>The voice of your watchmen! They lift up the voice; they sing together. For they will see eye to eye, when Jehovah returns to Zion.


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Break forth into joy, sing together, you* waste places of Jerusalem, for Jehovah has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem.


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Jehovah has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.


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<pb/>Depart, depart, go out from there. Touch no unclean thing. Go out of the midst of her. Cleanse yourselves, you* who bear the vessels of Jehovah.


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For you* will not go out in haste, nor will you* go by flight. For Jehovah will go before you* and the God of Israel will be your* rearward.


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Just as many were astonished at you (his visage was so marred, more than any man and his form more than the sons of men),


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so will he sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths at him. For what had not been told them they will see and what they had not heard they will understand.


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<pb/>For he grew up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground. He has no form nor comeliness. And when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.


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<pb/>He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as him from whom men hide their face he was despised and we esteemed him not.


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<pb/>Surely he has borne our griefs and has carried our sorrows. <pb/>Yet we esteemed him stricken, struck by God and afflicted.


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But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed.


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<pb/>All we like sheep have gone-astray. We have turned every one to his own way and Jehovah has laid on him the iniquity of us all.


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<pb/>He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he opened not his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter and as a sheep that is mute before its shearers, so he opened not his mouth.


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<pb/>In his humiliation his justice was taken away. And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke <i>was due</i>?


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<pb/>And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death. Although he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.


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<pb/>Yet it pleased Jehovah to bruise him. He has put him to grief. <pb/>When you will make his soul an offering for sin, he will see <i>his</i> seed. He will prolong his days and the pleasure of Jehovah will prosper in his hand.


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<pb/>He will see of the travail of his soul, <i>and</i> <pb/>will be satisfied. By the knowledge of himself will my righteous servant justify many and he will bear their iniquities.


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<pb/>Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great and he will divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.


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<pb/>Sing, O barren, you who did not bear. Break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who did not travail with child. For more are the sons of the desolate than the sons of the married woman, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>Enlarge the place of your tent and let them stretch forth the curtains of your habitations. Spare not. Lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.


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For you will spread abroad on the right hand and on the left. And your seed will possess the nations and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.


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<pb/>Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed. Neither be confounded, for you will not be put to shame. For you will forget the shame of your youth. And the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.


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<pb/>For your maker is your husband. Jehovah of hosts is his name. And the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. He will be called the God of the whole earth.


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For Jehovah has called you as a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God.


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In overflowing wrath I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting loving kindness I will have mercy on you, says Jehovah your Redeemer.


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<pb/>For this is <i>as</i> the waters of Noah to me. For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah will no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.


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For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my loving kindness will not depart from you, nor will my covenant of peace be shaken, says Jehovah who has mercy on you.


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<pb/>O you afflicted, tossed with tempest and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in fair colors and lay your foundations with sapphires.


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And I will make your pinnacles of rubies and your gates of carbuncles and all your border of precious stones.


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You will be established in righteousness. You will be far from oppression, for you will not fear and from terror, for it will not come near you.


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<pb/>Behold, they may gather together, but not by me. Whoever will gather together against you will fall because of you.


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Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and brings forth a weapon for his work. And I have created the waster to destroy.


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No weapon that is formed against you will prosper. And every tongue that will rise against you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of Jehovah and their righteousness which is of me, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>Ho, everyone who thirsts, come you* to the waters. And he who has no money, come you*, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.


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Why do you* spend money for what is not bread and your* labor for what does not satisfy? <pb/>Listen diligently to me and eat you* what is good and let your* soul delight itself in fatness.


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Incline your* ear and come to me. Hear and your* soul will live. And I will make an everlasting covenant with you*, even the faithful holy things of David.


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<pb/>Behold, you will call a nation that you do not know. And a nation that does not know you will run to you because of Jehovah your God and for the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.


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Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him return to Jehovah and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.


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For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your* ways and my thoughts than your* thoughts.


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<pb/>For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven and returns not there, but waters the earth and makes it bring forth and bud and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater,


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so will my word be that goes forth out of my mouth. It will not return to me void, but it will accomplish what I please. And it will prosper in the thing to which I sent it.


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<pb/>For you* will go out with joy and be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills will break forth before you* into singing and all the trees of the fields will clap their hands.


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Instead of the thorn will come up the fir tree and instead of the brier will come up the myrtle tree. And it will be to Jehovah for a name, for an everlasting sign that will not be cut off.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus, Keep you* justice and do righteousness. For my salvation is near to come and my righteousness to be revealed.


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The man who does this is fortunate and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it and keeps his hand from doing any evil.


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<pb/>Neither let the foreigner, who has joined himself to Jehovah, speak, saying, Jehovah will surely separate me from his people, nor let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.


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<pb/>For Jehovah says thus of the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths and choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant:


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To them I will give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters. I will give them an everlasting name, that will not be cut off.


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<pb/>Also the foreigners who join themselves to Jehovah, to minister to him and to love the name of Jehovah, to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it and holds fast my covenant,


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even them I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted upon my altar, for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples.


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The lord Jehovah, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, Yet I will gather to him, besides his own who are gathered.


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His watchmen are blind. They are all without knowledge. They are all mute dogs. They cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.


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Yes, the dogs are greedy; they can never have enough. And these are shepherds who cannot understand. They have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, from every quarter.


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Come you*, <i>they say</i>, I will fetch wine and we will fill ourselves with strong drink. And tomorrow will be as this day, great beyond measure.


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<pb/>The righteous man perishes and no man lays it to heart. And merciful men are taken away; none considering that the righteous man is taken away from the evil.


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Against whom do you* sport yourselves, against whom you* make a wide mouth and put out the tongue? Are you* not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood,


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you* who inflame yourselves among the oaks, under every green tree, who kill the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?


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<pb/>Among the smooth <i>stones</i> of the valley is your portion. They, they are your lot, even to them you have poured a drink offering; you have offered an oblation. Shall I be appeased for these things?


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<pb/>Upon a high and lofty mountain you have set your bed. You also went up there to offer sacrifice.


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And behind the doors and the posts you have set up your memorial. For you have uncovered <i>yourself</i> to another than me and have gone up. You have enlarged your bed and made you a covenant with them. You loved their bed where you saw it.


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<pb/>And you went to the king with oil and increased your perfumes and sent your ambassadors far off and debased yourself even to Sheol.


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You were wearied with the length of your way, yet you did not say, It is in vain. You found a quickening of your strength, therefore you were not faint.


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<pb/>And of whom have you been afraid and in fear, that you lie and have not remembered me, nor laid it to your heart? Have I not held my peace even of long time and you do not fear me?


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When you cry, let those whom you have gathered deliver you. But the wind will take them; a breath will carry them all away. <pb/>But he who takes refuge in me will possess the land and will inherit my holy mountain.


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And he will say, Cast you* up, cast you* up, prepare the way. Take up the stumbling-block out of the way of my people.


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<pb/>For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, also with him who is of a crushed and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the crushed.


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<pb/>For I will not contend everlasting, nor will I always be angry, for the spirit would faint before me and the souls that I have made.


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For the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry and killed* him. I hid <i>my face</i> and was angry and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart.


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<pb/>I have seen his ways and will heal him. I will lead him also and restore comforts to him and to his mourners.


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I create the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace, to him who is far off and to him who is near, says Jehovah and I will heal him.


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<pb/>But the wicked are like the troubled sea, for it cannot rest and its waters cast up mud and dirt.


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<pb/>Cry aloud, spare not. Lift up your voice like a trumpet and declare to my people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins.


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Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways. As a nation that did righteousness and forsook not the ordinance of their God, they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God.


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<pb/>Why have we fasted, <i>they say</i> and you do not see? We have afflicted our soul and you take no knowledge. Behold, in the day of your* fast you* find pleasure and exact from all your* laborers.


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Behold, you* fast for strife and contention and to kill* with the fist of wickedness. You* do not fast this day so as to make your* voice to be heard on high.


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<pb/>Is such the fast that I have chosen, the day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a rush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast and an acceptable day to Jehovah?


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<pb/>Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke and to let the oppressed go free and that you* break every yoke?


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Is it not to deal your bread to a hungry man and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house, when you see a naked man, that you cover him and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh?


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<pb/>Then your light will break forth as the morning and your healing will spring forth speedily. And your righteousness will go before you. The glory of Jehovah will be your rearward.


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Then you will call and Jehovah will answer, you will cry and he will say, Here I am. If you take the yoke away from the midst of you, the putting forth of the finger and speaking wickedly,


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and if you draw out your soul to a hungry man and satisfy an afflicted soul, then your light will rise in darkness and your obscurity be as the noonday.


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<pb/>And Jehovah will guide you continually and satisfy your soul in dry places and make strong your bones. And you will be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.


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And those who will be of you will build the old waste places. You will raise up the foundations of generations and generations and you will be called The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.


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<pb/>If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight, <i>and</i> the holy of Jehovah honorable and will honor it, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking <i>your own</i> words:


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then you will delight yourself in Jehovah and I will make you to ride upon the high places of the earth and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. For the mouth of Jehovah has spoken it.


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<pb/>Behold, Jehovah's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.


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But your* iniquities have separated between you* and your* God and your* sins have hid his face from you* so that he will not hear.


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<pb/>For your* hands are defiled with blood and your* fingers with iniquity. Your* lips have spoken lies. Your* tongue mutters wickedness.


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No man sues in righteousness and no man pleads in truth. They trust in vanity and speak lies. They conceive mischief and bring forth wickedness.


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They hatch adders' eggs and weave the spider's web. He who eats of their eggs dies and what is crushed breaks out into a viper.


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Their webs will not become garments, nor will they cover themselves with their works. Their works are works of wickedness and the act of violence is in their hands.


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<pb/>Their feet run to evil and they make haste to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of wickedness. Desolation and destruction are in their paths.


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They do not know the way of peace and there is no justice in their goings. They have made them crooked paths. Whoever goes in it does not know peace.


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<pb/>Therefore justice is far from us, nor does righteousness overtake us. We look for light, but, behold, darkness, for brightness, but we walk in obscurity.


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We grope for the wall like the blind. Yes, we grope as those who have no eyes. We stumble at noonday as in the twilight. <i>We are</i> as dead men in desolate places.


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We all roar like bears and moan greatly like doves. We look for justice, but there is none, for salvation, but it is far off from us.


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<pb/>For our transgressions are multiplied before you and our sins testify against us. For our transgressions are with us and as for our iniquities, we know them:


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transgressing and denying Jehovah and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.


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<pb/>And justice is turned away backward and righteousness stands afar off. For truth has fallen in the street and uprightness cannot enter.


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Yes, truth is lacking and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. <pb/>And Jehovah saw it and it displeased him that there was no justice.


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And he saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore his own arm brought salvation to him. And his righteousness, it upheld him.


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And he put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation upon his head. And he put on garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with zeal as a mantle.


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<pb/>According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, wrath to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies. He will repay recompense to the islands.


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<pb/>So they will fear the name of Jehovah from the west and his glory from the rising of the sun. For he will come as a rushing stream, which the breath of Jehovah drives.


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And he who redeems will come to Zion and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says Jehovah: My Spirit that is upon you and my words which I have put in your mouth, will not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed's seed, says Jehovah, from now and until everlasting.


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For, behold, darkness will cover the earth and gross darkness the peoples. But Jehovah will arise upon you and his glory will be seen upon you.


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Lift up your eyes all around and see. They all gather themselves together. They come to you. Your sons will come from far and your daughters will be carried in the arms.


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<pb/>Then you will see and be radiant and your heart will thrill and be enlarged, because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you. The wealth of the nations will come to you.


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The multitude of camels will cover you. The dromedaries of Midian and Ephah, all those from Sheba will come. They will bring gold and frankincense and will proclaim the praises of Jehovah.


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All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered together to you. The rams of Nebaioth will minister to you. They will come up with acceptance on my altar and I will glorify the house of my glory.


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Surely the isles will wait for me and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, for the name of Jehovah your God and for the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you.


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And foreigners will build up your walls and their kings will minister to you. For in my wrath I killed* you, but in my favor I have had mercy on you.


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Your gates also will be open continually. They will not be shut day nor night, that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations and their kings led captive.


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<pb/>For that nation and kingdom that will not serve you will perish. Yes, those nations will be utterly wasted.


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The glory of Lebanon will come to you, the fir tree, the pine and the box tree together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary. And I will make the place of my feet glorious.


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And the sons of those who afflicted you will come bending to you. And all those who despised you will bow themselves down at the soles of your feet. And they will call you The city of Jehovah, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.


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<pb/>Instead you have been forsaken and hated, so that no man passed through you, I will make you an everlasting excellency, a joy of generations to generations.


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You will also suck the milk of the nations and will suck the breast of kings. And you will know that I, Jehovah, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.


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For brass I will bring gold and for iron I will bring silver and for wood brass and for stones iron. I will also make your officers peace and your overseers righteousness.


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<pb/>Violence will no more be heard in your land, desolation nor destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise.


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The sun will no more be your light by day, nor for brightness will the moon give light to you, but Jehovah will be to you an everlasting light and your God your glory.


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Your sun will no more go down, nor will your moon withdraw itself, for Jehovah will be your everlasting light. And the days of your mourning will be ended.


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<pb/>Your people also will all be righteous. They will inherit the land everlasting, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.


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The little one will become a thousand and the small one a strong nation. I, Jehovah, will hasten it in its time.


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<pb/>The Spirit of the lord Jehovah is upon me, because Jehovah has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind and the opening <i>of bonds</i> to those who are bound,


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to proclaim the acceptable year of Jehovah and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,


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to appoint to those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, that he may be glorified.


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<pb/>And they will build the old wastes. They will raise up the former desolations and they will repair the waste cities, the desolations of generations and generations.


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And strangers will stand and feed your* flocks and foreigners will be your* plowmen and your* vine-dressers.


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<pb/>But you* will be named the priests of Jehovah. Men will call you* the ministers of our God. You* will eat the wealth of the nations and in their glory you* will boast yourselves.


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Instead of your* shame <i>you</i>* <i>will have</i> double and instead of dishonor they will rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they will possess double. Everlasting joy will be to them.


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<pb/>For I, Jehovah, love justice. I hate robbery with the burnt offering. And I will give them their recompense in truth. <pb/>And I will make an everlasting covenant with them.


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And their seed will be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge them, that they are the seed which Jehovah has blessed.


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<pb/>I will greatly rejoice in Jehovah. My soul will be joyful in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.


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<pb/>For as the earth brings forth its bud and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the lord Jehovah will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.


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<pb/>For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness and her salvation as a lamp that burns.


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And the nations will see your righteousness and all kings your glory. <pb/>And you will be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah will name.


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<pb/>You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of Jehovah and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.


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<pb/>You will no more be termed Forsaken, nor will your land any more be termed Desolate. But you will be called My Delight is in Her   <n>{Hephzi-bah}</n>   and your land Married   <n>{Beulah}</n>, for Jehovah delights in you and your land will be married.


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For as a young man marries a virgin, so will your sons marry you. And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so will your God rejoice over you.


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<pb/>I have set watchmen upon your walls, O Jerusalem. They will never keep silent day nor night. You* who are Jehovah's reminders, take no rest,


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<pb/>Jehovah has sworn by his right hand and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give your grain to be food for your enemies and foreigners will not drink your new wine, for which you have labored.


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But those who have garnered it will eat it and praise Jehovah. And those who have gathered it will drink it in the courts of my sanctuary.


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<pb/>Go through, go through the gates. Prepare you* the way of the people. Cast up, cast up the highway. Gather out the stones. Lift up an ensign for the peoples.


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Behold, Jehovah has proclaimed to the end of the earth, Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your salvation comes. Behold, his reward is with him and his recompense before him.


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And they will call them The holy people, The redeemed of Jehovah. And you will be called Sought out, A city not forsaken.


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<pb/>Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, this who is glorious in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.


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I have trodden the winepress alone and of the peoples there was no man with me. Yes, I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath and their lifeblood is sprinkled upon my garments and I have stained all my garments.


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<pb/>And I looked and there was none to help. And I wondered that there was none to uphold. Therefore my own arm brought salvation to me. And my wrath, it upheld me.


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And I trod down the peoples in my anger and made them drunk in my wrath and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.


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<pb/>I will make mention of the loving kindnesses of Jehovah, <i>and</i> the praises of Jehovah, according to all that Jehovah has bestowed on us and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he has bestowed on them according to his mercies and according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.


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<pb/>For he said, Surely, they are my people, sons that will not deal falsely. So he was their Savior.


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In all their affliction he was afflicted and the messenger of his presence saved them. In his love and in his pity he redeemed them. And he bore them and carried them all the days of old.


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<pb/>But they rebelled and grieved his holy Spirit. Therefore he was turned to be their enemy, <i>and</i> himself fought against them.


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<pb/>Then he remembered the days of old, Moses <i>and</i> his people, <i>saying</i>, Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put his holy Spirit in the midst of them,


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who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them, to make himself an everlasting name,


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As the cattle that go down into the valley, the Spirit of Jehovah caused them to rest. So you led your people to make yourself a glorious name.


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<pb/>Look down from heaven and behold from the habitation of your holiness and of your glory. Where are your zeal and your mighty acts? The yearning of your heart and your compassions are restrained toward me.


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<pb/>For you are our Father, though Abraham knows us not and Israel does not acknowledge us, you, O Jehovah, are our Father, our Redeemer, from everlasting is your name.


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<pb/>O Jehovah, why do you make us wander from your ways and harden our heart from your fear? Return for your servants' sake, the tribes of your inheritance.


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Your holy people possessed <i>it</i> but a little while. Our adversaries have trodden down your sanctuary.


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<pb/>Oh that you would tear the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence,


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as when fire kindles the brushwood, <i>and</i> the fire causes the waters to boil, to make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at your presence!


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When you did fearful things which we did not look for, you came down; the mountains quaked at your presence.


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<pb/>For from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen, O God, besides you, <i>what</i> he has prepared for him who waits for him.


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You meet he who rejoices and works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. <pb/>Behold, you were angry and we sinned. In them <i>is</i> eternity, shall we be saved?


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For we have all become as unclean and all our righteous acts are as a menstruation cloth. And we all fade as a leaf. And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.


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And there is none who calls upon your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of you. For you have hid your face from us and have consumed us through our iniquities.


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<pb/>But now, O Jehovah, you are our Father. We are the clay and you our potter and we are all the work of your hand.


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Do not be angry very severely, O Jehovah, nor remember iniquity forever. Behold, look, we beseech you, we are all your people.


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<pb/>Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.


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Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised you, is burned with fire and all our pleasant places are laid waste.


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<pb/>Will you restrain yourself for these things, O Jehovah? Will you hold your peace and afflict us very severely?


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<pb/>I was manifested by those who did not ask for me. I am found by those who did not seek me. I said, Behold me, behold me, to a nation that was not called by my name.


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<pb/>I have spread out my hands all the day to a disobedient and rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, according to their own thoughts,


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a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and burning incense upon bricks,


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who sit among the graves and lodge in the secret places, who eat swine's flesh and broth of abominable things is in their vessels,


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who say, Stand by yourself, do not come near to me, for I am holier than you. <pb/>These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all the day.


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<pb/>Behold, it is written before me. I will not keep silence, but will recompense. Yes, I will recompense into their bosom


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your* own iniquities and the iniquities of your* fathers together, says Jehovah, <i>those</i> who have burned incense upon the mountains and blasphemed me upon the hills. Therefore I will measure their former work into their bosom.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus, As the new wine is found in the cluster and <i>a man</i> says, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it, so I will do for my servants' sake, that I may not destroy them all.


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And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains. And my chosen will inherit it and my servants will dwell there.


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And Sharon will be a fold of flocks and the valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down in, for my people who have sought me.


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<pb/>But you* who forsake Jehovah, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Good-fortune and who fills up mingled wine to Destiny,


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I will destine you* to the sword and you* will all bow down to the slaughter. Because when I called, you* did not answer, when I spoke, you* did not hear, but you* did what was evil in my eyes and chose that in which I did not delight.


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<pb/>Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah, Behold, my servants will eat, but you* will be hungry. Behold, my servants will drink, but you* will be thirsty. Behold, my servants will rejoice, but you* will be put to shame.


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Behold, my servants will sing for joy of heart, but you* will cry for sorrow of heart and will wail for vexation of spirit.


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And you* will leave your* name for a curse to my chosen and the lord Jehovah will kill you. <pb/>And he will call his servants by another name,


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so that he who graces himself in the earth will bless himself in the God of truth and he who swears in the earth will swear by the God of truth. Because the former troubles are forgotten and because they are hid from my eyes.


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<pb/>For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth and the former things will not be remembered, nor come into mind.


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<pb/>But be you* glad and rejoice forever in what I create. For, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy.


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And I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in my people. And there will no more be heard in her the voice of weeping and the voice of crying.


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<pb/>There will be no more from there an infant of days, nor an old man who has not filled his days. For the child will die a hundred years old and the sinner being a hundred years old will be accursed.


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<pb/>And they will build houses and inhabit them. And they will plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.


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They will not build and another inhabit. They will not plant and another eat. For as the days of a tree will be the days of my people and my chosen will long enjoy the work of their hands.


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They will not labor in vain, nor bring forth for calamity. For they are the seed of the praised of Jehovah and their offspring with them.


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<pb/>And it will happen that, before they call, I will answer and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.


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The wolf and the lamb will feed together and the lion will eat straw like the ox and dust will be the serpent's food. They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus, Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. What manner of house will you* build to me and what place will be my rest?


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For all these things my hand has made and all these things came to be, says Jehovah. <pb/>But to this man I will look, even to him who is poor and of a crushed spirit and who trembles at my word.


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<pb/>He who slaughters an ox is as he who kills a man. He who sacrifices a lamb, as he who breaks a dog's neck. He who offers an oblation, <i>as</i> swine's blood. He who burns frankincense, as he who graces an idol. <pb/>Yes, they have chosen their own ways and their soul delights in their abominations.


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I also will choose their delusions and will bring their fears upon them. Because when I called, none answered. When I spoke, they did not hear. But they did what was evil in my eyes and chose that in which I did not delight.


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<pb/>Hear the word of Jehovah, you* who tremble at his word: Your* brothers who hate you*, who cast you* out for my name's sake, have said, Let Jehovah be glorified, that we may see your* joy. But it is those who will be put to shame.


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A voice of tumult from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of Jehovah who renders recompense to his enemies.


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<pb/>Before she travailed, she brought forth. Before her pain came, she was delivered of a male-child.


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Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought out at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought out her sons.


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Shall I bring to the birth and not cause to bring forth? says Jehovah. Shall I who cause to bring forth shut <i>the womb</i>? says your God.


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<pb/>Rejoice you* with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you* who love her. Rejoice for joy with her, all you* who mourn over her,


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that you* may nurse and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations, that you* may <i>get</i> milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.


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<pb/>For Jehovah says thus, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream. And you* will nurse <i>of it</i>. You* will be borne upon the side and will be dandled upon the knees.


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And you* will see and your* heart will rejoice and your* bones will flourish like the tender grass. And the hand of Jehovah will be known toward his servants and he will have indignation against his enemies.


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<pb/>For, behold, Jehovah will come with fire and his chariots will be like the whirlwind, to render his anger with fierceness and his rebuke with flames of fire.


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For by fire Jehovah will execute judgment and by his sword, upon all flesh and the slain of Jehovah will be many.


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Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves <i>to go</i> to the gardens, behind one in the midst, eating swine's flesh and the abomination and the mouse, they will come to an end together, says Jehovah.


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For I <i>know</i> their works and their thoughts. <pb/><i>The time</i> comes, that I will gather all nations and languages and they will come and will see my glory.


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And I will set a sign among them and I will send such as escape of them to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the isles afar off, who have not heard my fame, nor have seen my glory and they will declare my glory among the nations.


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<pb/>And they will bring all your* brothers out of all the nations for an oblation to Jehovah, upon horses and in chariots and in litters and upon mules and upon dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says Jehovah, as the sons of Israel bring their oblation in a clean vessel into the house of Jehovah.


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For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, will remain before me, says Jehovah, so will your* seed and your* name remain.


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<pb/>And it will happen, that from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh will come to worship before me, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>And they will go forth and look upon the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against me. For their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched and they will be an abhorring to all flesh.


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<pb/>The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin,


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to whom the word of Jehovah came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.


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<pb/>It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the carrying away captive of Jerusalem in the fifth month.


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Before I formed you in the belly I knew you and before you came forth out of the womb I made you holy. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.


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But Jehovah said to me, Do not say, I am a child. For I will send you to whomever; you will go and whatever I will command you; you will speak.


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<pb/>Then Jehovah put forth his hand and touched my mouth. And Jehovah said to me, Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.


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See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.


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<pb/>Moreover the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Jeremiah, what do you see? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.


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<pb/>And the word of Jehovah came to me the second time, saying, What do you see? And I said, I see a boiling caldron and the face of it is from the north.


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Then Jehovah said to me, Out of the north evil will break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.


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<pb/>For behold, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says Jehovah. And they will come and they will set every one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem and against all the walls of it all around and against all the cities of Judah.


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<pb/>And I will utter my judgments against them concerning all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken me and have burned incense to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands.


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<pb/>You therefore gird up your loins and arise and speak to them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you before them.


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For, behold, I have made you this day a fortified city and an iron pillar and brazen walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the rulers of it, against the priests of it and against the people of the land.


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<pb/>And they will fight against you. But they will not prevail against you, for I am with you, says Jehovah, to deliver you.


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Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Jehovah says thus, I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your espousals, how you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.


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Israel was holiness to Jehovah, the first-fruits of his increase. All who devour him will be held guilty. Evil will come upon them, says Jehovah.


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Jehovah says thus: What unrighteousness have your* fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me and have walked after vanity and have become vain?


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<pb/>Nor did they say, Where is Jehovah who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that none passed through and where no man dwelt?


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And I brought you* into a plentiful land, to eat the fruit of it and the goodness of it. <pb/>But when you* entered, you* defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination.


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The priests did not say, Where is Jehovah? And those who handle the law did not know me. The rulers also transgressed against me. And the prophets prophesied by Baal and walked after things that do not profit.


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For pass over to the isles of Kittim and see and send to Kedar and consider diligently and see if there has been such a thing.


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Has a nation changed its gods, which yet are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for what does not profit.


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<pb/>Be astonished, O you* heavens, at this and be horribly afraid. Be you* very desolate, says Jehovah.


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For my people have committed two evils: They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.


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The young lions have roared upon him and yelled and they have made his land waste. His cities are burned up, without inhabitant.


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<pb/>Have you not procured this to yourself, in that you have forsaken Jehovah your God when he led you by the way?


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<pb/>And now what have you to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? Or what have you to do in the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?


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<pb/>Your own wickedness will discipline you and your backslidings will reprove you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that you have forsaken Jehovah your God and that my fear is not in you, says the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.


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<pb/>For from old time I have broken your yoke and burst your bonds. And you said, I will not serve, for upon every high hill and under every green tree you bowed yourself, playing the prostitute.


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Yet I had planted you a noble vine, entirely a right seed. How then have you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me?


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<pb/>For though you wash with lye and take much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me, says the lord Jehovah.


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How can you say, I am not defiled; I have not gone after the Baals   <n>{Baalim}</n>? See your way in the valley. Know what you have done, a swift dromedary traversing her ways,


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a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that sniffs up the wind in her desire. In her time of estrus who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves. In her month they will find her.


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<pb/>Withhold your foot from being unshod and your throat from thirst. But you said, It is in vain. No, for I have loved strangers and after them I will go.


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<pb/>As the thief is shamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel shamed, they, their kings, their rulers and their priests and their prophets,


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who say to a block of wood, You are my father and to a stone, You have brought me forth. For they have turned their back to me and not their face. <pb/>But in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise and save us.


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But where are your gods that you have made you? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble. For according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah.


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In vain I have struck your* sons. They received no correction. Your* own sword has devoured your* prophets like a destroying lion.


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<pb/>O generation, see you* the word of Jehovah. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness? Why do my people say, We have broken loose. We will come no more to you?


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Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.


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Also in your skirts is found the blood of the souls of the innocent poor. You did not find them breaking in. But it is because of all these things.


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<pb/>Yet you said, I am innocent. Surely his anger is turned away from me. Behold, I will enter into judgment with you because you say, I have not sinned.


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<pb/>Why do you go around so much to change your way? You will be ashamed of Egypt also, as you were ashamed of Assyria.


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You will also go forth from there with your hands upon your head. For Jehovah has rejected those in whom you trust. And you will not prosper with them.


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<pb/>They say, If a man puts away his wife and she goes from him and become another man's, will he return to her again? Will not that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers. Yet return again to me, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>Lift up your eyes to the bare heights and see. Where have you not been lain with? By the ways you have sat for them, as an Arabian in the wilderness and you have polluted the land with your prostitutions and with your wickedness.


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<pb/>Therefore the showers have been withheld and there has been no latter rain. Yet you have a prostitute's forehead; you refused to be ashamed.


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Will he retain his anger everlasting? Will he keep it to the end? Behold, you have spoken and have done evil things and have had your way.


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<pb/>Moreover Jehovah said to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree and there has played the prostitute.


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And I said after she had done all these things, She will return to me, but she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.


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<pb/>And I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a document of divorcement, yet treacherous Judah her sister did not fear, but she also went and played the prostitute.


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<pb/>And it happened through the lightness of her prostitution, that the land was polluted and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks.


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And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not returned to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>And Jehovah said to me, Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.


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Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say, Return, you backsliding Israel, says Jehovah, I will not look in anger upon you*, for I am merciful, says Jehovah. I will not keep anger everlasting.


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<pb/>Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against Jehovah your God and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree and you* have not obeyed my voice, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>Return, O backsliding sons, says Jehovah, for I am a husband to you*. And I will take you*, one of a city and two of a family and I will bring you* to Zion.


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<pb/>And I will give you* shepherds according to my heart, who will feed you* with knowledge and understanding.


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<pb/>And it will happen, when you* are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says Jehovah, they will no more say, The ark of the covenant of Jehovah, nor will it come to mind. Neither will they remember it, nor will they miss it. Neither will it be made any more.


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<pb/>At that time they will call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the name of Jehovah, to Jerusalem. Neither will they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart.


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In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel and they will come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance to your* fathers.


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<pb/>But I said, How I will put you among the sons and give you a desirable land, a pleasant heritage of the hosts of the nations! And I said, You* will call me My Father and will not turn away from following me.


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<pb/>Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so you* have dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>A voice is heard upon the bare heights, the weeping and the supplications of the sons of Israel, because they have perverted their way; they have forgotten Jehovah their God.


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<pb/>Return, you* backsliding sons, I will heal your* backslidings. Behold, we have come to you, for you are Jehovah our God.


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Truly it is in vain from the heights, the multitude on the mountains. Truly in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel.


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<pb/>But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.


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Let us lie down in our shame and let our confusion cover us, for we have sinned against Jehovah our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day and we have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God.


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<pb/>If you will return, O Israel, says Jehovah, if you will return to me and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight, then you will not be removed.


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And you will swear, As Jehovah lives, in truth, in justice and in righteousness. And the nations will bless themselves in him and in him they will glory.


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<pb/>For Jehovah says thus to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break up your* tillable ground and sow not among thorns.


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Circumcise yourselves to Jehovah and take away the foreskins of your* heart, you* men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my wrath go forth like fire and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your* practices.


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<pb/>Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem and say, Blow the trumpet in the land. Cry aloud and say, Assemble yourselves and let us go into the fortified cities.


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Set up a standard toward Zion. Flee for safety, do not stay. For I will bring evil from the north and a great destruction.


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<pb/>A lion has gone up from his thicket and a destroyer of nations. He is on his way, he has gone forth from his place, to make your land desolate, that your cities be laid waste, without inhabitant.


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For this gird you* with sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of Jehovah is not turned back from us.


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<pb/>And it will happen at that day, says Jehovah, that the heart of the king will perish and the heart of the rulers and the priests will be astonished and the prophets will wonder.


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<pb/>Then I said, Ah, lord Jehovah! Surely you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, You* will have peace, but the sword reaches to the life.


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<pb/>At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse,


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Behold, he will come up as clouds and his chariots as the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! For we are ruined.


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<pb/>O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long will your evil thoughts lodge within you?


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You* make mention to the nations. Behold, proclaim against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country and give out their voice against the cities of Judah.


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They are as keepers of a field against her all around, because she has been rebellious against me, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>Your way and your practices have procured these things to you. This is your wickedness, for it is bitter, for it reaches to your heart.


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<pb/>My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart. My heart is in an uproar in me. I cannot hold my peace, because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.


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Destruction upon destruction is cried, for the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are destroyed and my curtains in a moment.


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For my people are foolish. They do not know me. <pb/>They are foolish sons and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but they have no knowledge to do good.


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I beheld, and behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness and all the cities of it were broken down at the presence of Jehovah and before his fierce anger.


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For this the earth will mourn and the heavens above be black, because I have spoken it, I have purposed it and I have not relented, nor will I turn back from it.


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Every city flees for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen. They go into the thickets and climb up upon the rocks. Every city is forsaken and not a man dwells in it.


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<pb/>And you, when you are made desolate, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you deck you with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with paint, in vain you make yourself fair. Your lovers despise you, they seek your life.


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<pb/>For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her who brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands, saying, Woe is me now! For my soul faints before the murderers.


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<pb/>Run you* to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see now and know and seek in the broad places if it, if you* can find a man, if there is any who does justly, who seeks truth and I will pardon her.


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<pb/>O Jehovah, do not your eyes look upon truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return.


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<pb/>Then I said, Surely these are poor, they are foolish, for they do not know the way of Jehovah, nor the law of their God.


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I will go to the great men and will speak to them, for they know the way of Jehovah and the law of their God. But these with one accord have broken the yoke and burst the bonds.


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<pb/>Therefore a lion out of the forest will kill them; a wolf of the evenings will destroy them; a leopard will watch against their cities. Everyone who goes out from there will be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many and their backslidings are increased.


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<pb/>How can I pardon you? Your sons have forsaken me and sworn by those who are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery and assembled themselves in troops at the prostitutes' houses.


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<pb/>Shall I not visit for these things? says Jehovah. And will not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?


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<pb/>Go up upon her walls and destroy, but make not a full end. Take away her branches, for they are not Jehovah's.


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For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>They have denied Jehovah and said, It is not he. Neither will evil come upon us, nor will we see sword nor famine.


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<pb/>Therefore Jehovah says thus, the God of hosts: Because you* speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire and this people wood and it will devour them.


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<pb/>Behold, I will bring a nation upon you* from far, O house of Israel, says Jehovah. It is a mighty nation. It is an nation of old, a nation whose language you do not know, nor understand what they say.


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<pb/>And they will eat up your harvest and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat. They will eat up your flocks and your herds. They will eat up your vines and your fig trees. They will beat down your fortified cities, in which you trust, with the sword.


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And it will happen, when you* will say, Why has Jehovah our God done all these things to us? Then you will say to them, Just as you* have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your* land, so you* will serve strangers in a land that is not yours*.


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Hear now this, O foolish people and without understanding, who have eyes and do not see, who have ears and do not hear:


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Do you* not fear me? says Jehovah. Will you* not tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a everlasting decree, that it cannot pass it? And though the waves of it toss themselves, yet they cannot prevail, though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it.


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Neither do they say in their heart, Let us now fear Jehovah our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season, who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.


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<pb/>For among my people are found wicked men. They watch as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap; they catch men.


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As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great and grown rich.


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They have grown fat. They shine. Yes, they overflow in deeds of wickedness. They do not plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper. And they do not judge the right of the needy.


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<pb/>Shall I not visit for these things? says Jehovah. Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?


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The prophets prophesy falsely and the priests bear rule by their means. And my people love to have it so. And what will you* do in the end of it?


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<pb/>Flee for safety, you* sons of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem. And blow the trumpet in Tekoa and raise up a signal on Beth-haccherem. For evil looks forth from the north and a great destruction.


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Shepherds with their flocks will come to her. They will pitch their tents against her all around. They will feed every one in his place.


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<pb/>Prepare you* war against her. Arise and let us go up at noon. Woe to us! For the day declines; for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.


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<pb/>For thus has Jehovah of hosts said: Hew you* down trees and cast up a mound against Jerusalem. This is the city to be visited. She has oppression completely in the midst of her.


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As a well casts forth its waters, so she casts forth her wickedness. Violence and destruction is heard in her. Continually before me is sickness and wounds.


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<pb/>Be instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul be alienated from you, lest I make you a desolation, a land not inhabited.


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<pb/>Jehovah of hosts says thus: They will thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine. Turn again your hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets.


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To whom shall I speak and testify, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised and they cannot listen. Behold, the word of Jehovah has become a reproach to them; they have no delight in it.


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<pb/>Therefore I am full of the wrath of Jehovah. I am weary with holding in. Pour it out upon the sons in the street and upon the assembly of young men together. For even the husband with the wife will be taken, the aged with him who is full of days.


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And their houses will be turned to others, their fields and their wives together. For I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>For from the least of them even to the greatest of them everyone is given to covetousness. And from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely.


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<pb/>Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, nor could they blush. Therefore they will fall among those who fall. At the time that I visit them they will be cast down, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus, Stand in the ways and see. And ask for the old paths where is the good way. And walk in it and you* will find rest for your* souls. But they said, We will not walk.


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And I set watchmen over you*, saying, Listen to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not listen.


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Hear, O earth: Behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to my words. And as for my law, they have rejected it.


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<pb/>To what purpose does there come to me frankincense from Sheba and the sweet cane from a far country? Your* burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your* sacrifices pleasing to me.


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<pb/>Therefore Jehovah says thus: Behold, I will lay stumbling-blocks before this people and the fathers and the sons together will stumble against them. The neighbor and his friend will perish.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus, Behold, a people comes from the north country and a great nation will be stirred up from the outermost parts of the earth.


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They lay hold on bow and spear. They are cruel and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea and they ride upon horses. Each one set in array, as a man to the battle, against you, O daughter of Zion.


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<pb/>We have heard the report of it. Our hands grow feeble. Anguish has taken hold of us and pangs as of a woman in travail.


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Do not go forth into the field, nor walk by the way, for the sword of the enemy and terror, are on every side.


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<pb/>O daughter of my people, gird with sackcloth and wallow yourself in ashes. You make mourning, as for an only son, a most bitter lamentation. For the destroyer will suddenly come upon us.


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They are all grievous revolters, going about with slanders. They are brass and iron. They, all of them, deal corruptly.


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<pb/>The bellows blow fiercely, the lead is consumed of the fire. In vain do they go on refining, for the wicked are not plucked away.


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Stand in the gate of Jehovah's house and proclaim there this word and say, Hear the word of Jehovah, all you* of Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship Jehovah.


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<pb/>Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel: Amend your* ways and your* practices and I will cause you* to dwell in this place.


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Do not trust in lying words, saying, The temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, are these.


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<pb/>For if you* thoroughly amend your* ways and your* practices, if you* thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor,


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if you* do not oppress the traveler, the fatherless and the widow and shed not innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your* own hurt,


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then I will cause you* to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your* fathers from of old to everlasting.


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Will you* steal, murder and commit adultery and swear falsely and burn incense to Baal and walk after other gods that you* have not known,


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and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name and say, We are delivered, that you* may do all these abominations?


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<pb/>Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your* eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>But go now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.


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<pb/>And now, because you* have done all these works, says Jehovah. And I spoke to you*, rising up early and speaking, but you* heard not and I called you*, but you* answered not,


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therefore I will do to the house, which is called by my name, in which you* trust and to the place which I gave to you* and to your* fathers, as I did to Shiloh.


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<pb/>And I will cast you* out of my sight, as I have cast out all your* brothers, even the whole seed of Ephraim.


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<pb/>Therefore pray you not for this people, nor lift up cry nor prayer for them. Neither make intercession to me, for I will not hear you.


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The sons gather wood and the fathers kindle the fire and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.


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<pb/>Do they provoke me to anger? says Jehovah and not themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?


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<pb/>Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out upon this place, upon man and upon beast and upon the trees of the field and upon the fruit of the ground. And it will burn and will not be quenched.


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<pb/>Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel: Add your* burnt offerings to your* sacrifices and eat you* flesh.


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For I spoke not to your* fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.


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<pb/>But this thing I commanded them, saying, Listen to my voice and I will be your* God and you* will be my people. And walk you* in all the way that I command you*, that it may be well with you*.


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But they listened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in their own counsels, in the stubbornness of their evil heart and went backward and not forward.


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<pb/>Since the day that your* fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent to you* all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them.


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Yet they listened not to me, nor inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff. They did worse than their fathers.


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<pb/>And you will speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You will also call to them, but they will not answer you.


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<pb/>And you will say to them, This is the nation that has not listened to the voice of Jehovah their God, nor received instruction. Truth has perished and is cut off from their mouth.


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<pb/>Cut off your hair, O Jerusalem and cast it away and take up a lamentation on the bare heights. For Jehovah has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.


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<pb/>For the sons of Judah have done what is evil in my sight, says Jehovah. They have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.


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<pb/>And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.


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<pb/>Therefore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that it will no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter. For they will bury in Topheth, till there is no place to bury.


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And the dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the heavens and for the beasts of the earth and none will frighten them away.


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<pb/>Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land will become a waste.


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<pb/>At that time, says Jehovah, they will bring out the bones of the kings of Judah and the bones of his rulers and the bones of the priests and the bones of the prophets and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves.


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<pb/>And they will spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served and after which they have walked and which they have sought and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered, nor be buried. They will be for manure upon the face of the earth.


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<pb/>And death will be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places where I have driven them, says Jehovah of hosts.


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<pb/>Moreover you will say to them, Jehovah says thus: Shall men fall and not rise up again? Shall he turn away and not return?


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Why has this people of Jerusalem then slid back by a perpetual backsliding? They hold firm deceit. They refuse to return.


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I listened and heard, but they did not speak aright. No man repents of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? Everyone turns to his course as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle.


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<pb/>Yes, the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times and the turtledove and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming, but my people do not know the law of Jehovah.


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<pb/>How can you* say, We are wise and the law of Jehovah is with us? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has worked falsely.


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The wise men are put to shame. They are dismayed and taken. Behold, they have rejected the word of Jehovah and what manner of wisdom is in them?


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<pb/>Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to those who will possess them. For everyone from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness. From the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely.


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And they have lightly healed the hurt of the daughter of my people, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace.


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<pb/>Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, nor could they blush. Therefore they will fall among those who fall. In the time of their visitation they will be cast down, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>I will utterly consume them, says Jehovah. There will be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree and the leaf will fade and things I have given them will pass away from them.


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<pb/>Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves and let us enter into the fortified cities and let us be silent there. For Jehovah our God has put us to silence and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against Jehovah.


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<pb/>The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan. At the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembles. For they have come and have devoured the land and all that is in it, the city and those who dwell in it.


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<pb/>For, behold, I will send serpents, adders, among you*, which will not be charmed and they will bite you*, says Jehovah.


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Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land that is very far off: Is not Jehovah in Zion? Is not her King in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images and with foreign vanities?


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<pb/>Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?


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<pb/>Oh that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!


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<pb/>Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men, that I might leave my people and go from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.


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And they bend their tongue — their bow — for falsehood and they have grown strong in the land, but not for truth. For they proceed from evil to evil and they do not know me, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>You* take heed each one of his neighbor and trust you* not in any brother, for every brother will utterly supplant and every neighbor will go about with gossipers.


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And they will deceive each one his neighbor and will not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies. They inwardly set up an ambush.


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<pb/>Therefore Jehovah of hosts says thus: Behold, I will melt them and try them, for how else should I do, because of the daughter of my people?


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Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit. He speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lies wait for him.


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<pb/>Shall I not visit them for these things? says Jehovah. Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?


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<pb/>For the mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing and for the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none passes through, nor can men hear the voice of the cattle. Both the birds of the heavens and the beasts have fled; they are gone.


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And I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling-place of jackals. And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.


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<pb/>Who is the wise man, who may understand this and he to whom the mouth of Jehovah has spoken, that he may declare it? Why has the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that none passes through?


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<pb/>And Jehovah says, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them and have not obeyed my voice, nor walked in it,


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but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart and after the Baals   <n>{Baalim}</n>, which their fathers taught them.


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<pb/>Therefore Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood and give them water of gall to drink.


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I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. And I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them.


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<pb/>Jehovah of hosts says thus, Consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come and send for the skillful women, that they may come.


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And let them make haste and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids gush out with waters.


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For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How we are ruined! We are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.


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<pb/>Yet hear the word of Jehovah, O you* women and let your* ear receive the word of his mouth and teach your* daughters wailing and each one her neighbor lamentation.


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<pb/>For death has come up into our windows. It has entered into our palaces, to cut off the sons from outside, the young men from the streets.


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Speak, Jehovah says thus: The dead bodies of men will fall as manure upon the open field and as the handful after the harvestman and none will gather.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus: Do not let the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor let the mighty man glory in his might. Do not let the rich man glory in his riches,


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but let he who boasts boast in this, that he has understanding and knows me, that I am Jehovah who exercises loving kindness, justice and righteousness, in the earth. For in these things I delight, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will punish all those who are circumcised in their uncircumcision:


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Egypt and Judah and Edom and the sons of Ammon and Moab and all who have the corners of their hair cut off, who dwell in the wilderness. For all the nations are uncircumcised and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.


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Jehovah says thus: Learn not the way of the nations and do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the nations are dismayed at them.


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For the customs of the peoples are vanity. <pb/>For a man cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe.


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They deck it with silver and with gold. They fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it not move.


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They are like a palm tree, of turned work and do not speak. They must be carried, because they cannot go. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor is it in them to do good.


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Who should not fear you, O King of the nations? For to you it is befitting, inasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations and in all their royal estate, there is none like you.


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There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz, the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith, blue and purple for their clothing. They are all the work of skillful men.


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<pb/>But Jehovah is the true God. He is the living God and an everlasting King. At his wrath the earth trembles and the nations are not able to abide his indignation.


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Thus you* will say to them: The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, these will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.


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<pb/>He has made the earth by his power. He has established the world by his wisdom and by his understanding he has stretched out the heavens.


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When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind out of his treasuries.


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<pb/>Every man has become stupid, without knowledge. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven image. For his molten image is falsehood and there is no breath in them.


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<pb/>The portion of Jacob is not like these. For he is the former of all things and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. Jehovah of hosts is his name.


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For Jehovah says thus, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time and will distress them, that they may feel it.


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<pb/>Woe is me because of my hurt! My wound is grievous, but I said, Truly this is my grief and I must bear it.


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My tent is destroyed and all my cords are broken. My sons have gone forth from me and they are not. There is none to spread my tent any more and to set up my curtains.


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<pb/>For the shepherds have become stupid and have not inquired of Jehovah. Therefore they have not prospered and all their flocks are scattered.


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<pb/>The voice of news. Behold, it comes and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a dwelling place of jackals.


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<pb/>O Jehovah, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man who walks to direct his steps.


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<pb/>Pour out your wrath upon the nations that does not know you and upon the families that do not call on your name. For they have devoured Jacob. Yes, they have devoured him and consumed him and have laid waste his habitation.


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and you say to them, Jehovah says thus, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man who does not hear the words of this covenant,


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which I commanded your* fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice and do them, according to all which I command you*, so you* will be my people and I will be your* God,


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that I may establish the oath which I swore to your* fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day. Then I answered and said, Truly, O Jehovah.


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<pb/>And Jehovah said to me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear the words of this covenant and do them.


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For I earnestly protested to your* fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice.


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<pb/>Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked each one in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did them not.


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<pb/>And Jehovah said to me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


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They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words and they have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers.


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<pb/>Therefore Jehovah says thus, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they will not be able to escape. And they will cry to me, but I will not listen to them.


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<pb/>Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to which they offer incense, but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble.


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For according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem you* have set up altars to the shameful thing, even altars to burn incense to Baal.


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<pb/>Therefore do not pray you for this people, nor lift up cry nor prayer for them, for I will not hear them in the time that they cry to me on behalf of their trouble.


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<pb/>What has my beloved to do in my house, seeing she has worked lewdness with many and the holy flesh has passed from you? When you do evil, then you rejoice.


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<pb/>Jehovah called your name, A green olive tree, fair with fruit. With the noise of a great tumult he has kindled fire upon it and the branches of it are broken.


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For Jehovah of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have worked for themselves in provoking me to anger by offering incense to Baal.


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But I was like a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter. And I did not know that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit of it. And let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may no more be remembered.


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<pb/>But, O Jehovah of hosts, who judges righteously, who tries the heart and the mind, I will see your vengeance on them, for to you I have revealed my case.


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<pb/>Therefore Jehovah says thus concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, saying, You will not prophesy in the name of Jehovah, that you not die by our hand.


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Therefore Jehovah of hosts says thus: Behold, I will punish them. The young men will die by the sword. Their sons and their daughters will die by famine,


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and there will be no remnant to them. For I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.


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<pb/>You are righteous, O Jehovah, when I contend with you. Yet I would reason the case with you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all those at ease who deal very treacherously?


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You have planted them. Yes, they have taken root, they grow. Yes, they bring forth fruit. You are near in their mouth and far from their heart. But you, O Jehovah, know me. You see me and try my heart toward you.


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How long will the land mourn and the herbs of whole country wither? For the wickedness of those who dwell in it, the beasts are consumed and the birds, because they said, He will not see our latter end.


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<pb/>If you have run with the footmen and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And though in a land of peace you are secure, yet how will you do in the pride of the Jordan?


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<pb/>For even your brothers and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you, even they have cried aloud after you. Believe them not, though they speak fair words to you.


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<pb/>I have forsaken my house. I have cast off my heritage. I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.


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My heritage has become to me as a lion in the forest. She has uttered her voice against me. Therefore I have hated her.


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<pb/>Is my heritage to me as a speckled bird of prey? Are the birds of prey against her all around? Go you*, assemble all the beasts of the field; bring them to devour.


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<pb/>Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard. They have trodden my portion under foot. They have made my desirable portion a desolate wilderness.


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They have made it a desolation. It mourns to me, being desolate. The whole land is made desolate, because no man lays it to heart.


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Destroyers have come upon all the bare heights in the wilderness. For the sword of Jehovah devours from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land. No flesh has peace.


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They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns. They have put themselves to pain and profit nothing. And you* will be ashamed of your* fruits, because of the fierce anger of Jehovah.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus against all my evil neighbors, who touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit: Behold, I will pluck them up from their land and will pluck up the house of Judah from among them.


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<pb/>And it will happen, after I have plucked them up, I will return and have compassion on them. And I will bring them again, each man to his heritage and each man to his land.


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<pb/>And it will happen, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, As Jehovah lives, even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they will be built up in the midst of my people.


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But if they will not hear, then I will pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus to me, Go and buy you a linen sash and put it upon your loins and do not put it in water.


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Take the sash that you have bought, which is upon your loins and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.


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<pb/>And it happened after many days, that Jehovah said to me, Arise, go to the Euphrates and take the sash from there, which I commanded you to hide there.


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Then I went to the Euphrates and dug and took the sash from the place where I had hid it. And behold, the sash was rotten. It was good for nothing.


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Jehovah says thus, After this manner I will mar the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.


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This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and to worship them, will even be as this sash, which is good for nothing.


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<pb/>For as the sash clings to the loins of a man, so I have caused to cling to me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, says Jehovah, that they may be to me for a people and for a name and for a praise and for a glory, but they would not hear.


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<pb/>Therefore you will speak to them this word. Jehovah says thus, the God of Israel: Every jug will be filled with wine. And they will say to you, Do we not certainly know that every jug will be filled with wine?


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<pb/>Then you will say to them, Jehovah says thus: Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings who sit upon David's throne and the priests and the prophets and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.


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<pb/>And I will smash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, says Jehovah. I will not pity, nor spare, nor have compassion, that I should not destroy them.


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Give glory to Jehovah your* God, before he causes darkness and before your* feet stumble upon the dark mountains. And while you* look for light, he turns it into the shadow of death and makes it gross darkness.


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<pb/>But if you* will not hear it, my soul will weep in secret for your* pride. And my eye will weep greatly and run down with tears, because Jehovah's flock is taken captive.


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<pb/>You say to the king and to the queen mother: Humble yourselves. Sit down, for your* coronets have come down, even the crown of your* glory.


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The cities of the South are shut up and there is none to open them. Judah is carried away captive, all of it. It is entirely carried away captive.


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Lift up your* eyes and behold those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful flock?


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<pb/>What will you say when he will set over you as head those whom you yourself have taught to be friends to you? Shall not sorrows take hold of you as of a woman in travail?


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<pb/>And if you say in your heart, Why have these things come upon me? For the greatness of your iniquity your skirts are uncovered and your heels suffer violence.


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<pb/>Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then you* also may do good, who are accustomed to do evil.


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<pb/>This is your lot, the portion measured to you from me, says Jehovah, because you have forgotten me and trusted in falsehood.


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<pb/>I have seen your abominations, even your adulteries and your neighings, the lewdness of your prostitution, on the hills, in the field. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! You will not be made clean. How long will it yet be?


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<pb/>Judah mourns and the gates of it languish. They sit in black upon the ground and the cry of Jerusalem has gone up.


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And their ranking men send their little ones to the waters. They come to the cisterns and find no water. They return with their vessels empty. They are put to shame and confounded and cover their heads,


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because of the ground which is cracked. Because no rain has been in the land, the plowmen are put to shame; they cover their heads.


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And the wild donkeys stand on the bare heights. They pant for air like jackals. Their eyes fail because there is no herbage.


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<pb/>Though our iniquities testify against us, work you for your name's sake, O Jehovah. For our backslidings are many. We have sinned against you.


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<pb/>O you hope of Israel, the Savior of it in the time of trouble, why should you be as a traveler in the land and as a wayfaring man who turns aside to abide for a night?


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Why should you be as a man frightened, as a mighty man who cannot save? Yet you, O Jehovah, are in the midst of us and we are called by your name. Do not leave us.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus to this people: Even so they have loved to wander. They have not restrained their feet. Therefore Jehovah does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity and visit their sins.


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When they fast, I will not hear their cry. And when they offer burnt offering and meal offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence.


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<pb/>Then I said, Ah, lord Jehovah! Behold, the prophets say to them, You* will not see the sword, nor will you* have famine, but I will give you* assured peace in this place.


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<pb/>Then Jehovah said to me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I did not send them, nor have I commanded them, nor did I speak to them. They prophesy to you* a lying vision and divination and a thing of nothing and the deceit of their own heart.


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<pb/>Therefore Jehovah says thus concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name and I did not send them, yet they say, Sword and famine will not be in this land: By sword and famine those prophets will be consumed.


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And the people to whom they prophesy will be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword and they will have none to bury them — them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters. For I will pour their wickedness upon them.


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<pb/>And you will say this word to them: Let my eyes run down with tears night and day and do not let them cease. For the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous wound.


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<pb/>If I go forth into the field, then, behold, the slain with the sword! And if I enter into the city, then, behold, those who are sick with famine! For both the prophet and the priest go about in the land and have no knowledge.


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<pb/>Have you utterly rejected Judah? Has your soul loathed Zion? Why have you struck us and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay!


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<pb/>We acknowledge, O Jehovah, our wickedness and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against you.


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Do not abhor us. For your name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of your glory. Remember, do not break your covenant with us.


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<pb/>Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are not you he, O Jehovah our God? Therefore we will wait for you, for you have made all these things.


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<pb/>Then Jehovah said to me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not be toward this people. Cast them out of my sight and let them go forth.


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<pb/>And it will happen, when they say to you, Where will we go forth? Then you will tell them, Jehovah says thus: Such as are for death, to death and such as are for the sword, to the sword and such as are for the famine, to the famine and such as are for captivity, to captivity.


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<pb/>And I will appoint over them four kinds, says Jehovah: the sword to kill and the dogs to tear and the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth, to devour and to destroy.


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<pb/>And I will cause them to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.


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For who will have pity upon you, O Jerusalem? Or who will sympathize with you? Or who will turn aside to ask of your welfare?


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<pb/>You have rejected me, says Jehovah. You have gone backward. Therefore I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you. I am weary with relenting.


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<pb/>And I have winnowed them with a fan in the gates of the land. I have bereaved them of sons. I have destroyed my people. They did not return from their ways.


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Their widows have increased to me above the sand of the seas. I have brought upon them, against the mother of the young men, a destroyer at noonday. I have caused anguish and terrors to fall upon her suddenly.


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<pb/>She who has borne seven, languishes. She has given up the spirit. Her sun has gone down while it was yet day. She has been put to shame and confounded. And the residue of them I will deliver to the sword before their enemies, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>Woe is me, my mother, that you have bore me, a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have not lent, nor have men lent to me, yet every one of them curses me.


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<pb/>Jehovah said, Truly I will strengthen you for good. Truly I will cause the enemy to make supplication to you in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.


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Your substance and your treasures I will give for a spoil without price. And that for all your sins, even in all your borders.


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And I will make them to pass with your enemies into a land which you do not know. For a fire is kindled in my anger, which will burn upon you*.


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<pb/>O Jehovah, you know. Remember me and visit me and avenge me of my persecutors. Take me not away in your longsuffering. Know that for your sake I have suffered reproach.


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<pb/>Your words were found and I ate them. And your words were to me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart. For I am called by your name, O Jehovah, God of hosts.


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<pb/>I did not sit in the assembly of those who make merry, nor did I rejoice. I sat alone because of your hand, for you have filled me with indignation.


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Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will you indeed be to me as a deceitful brook, as waters that fail?


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<pb/>Therefore Jehovah says thus: If you return, then I will bring you again that you may stand before me. And if you take forth the precious from the vile, you will be as my mouth. They will return to you, but you will not return to them.


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<pb/>And I will make you to this people a fortified brazen wall. And they will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you. For I am with you to save you and to deliver you, says Jehovah.


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And I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked and I will redeem you out of the hand of the terrible.


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<pb/>For Jehovah says thus concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place and concerning their mothers who bore them and concerning their fathers who fathered them in this land:


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They will die grievous deaths. They will not be lamented, nor will they are buried; they will be as manure upon the face of the ground. And they will be consumed by the sword and by famine. And their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the heavens and for the beasts of the earth.


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<pb/>For Jehovah says thus, Do not enter into the house of banqueting <i>for the dead</i>, nor go to lament, nor sympathize with them, for I have taken away my peace from this people, says Jehovah, even loving kindness and tender mercies.


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<pb/>Both great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried, nor will men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them,


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nor will men break bread for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead, nor will men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.


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For Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel: Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place, before your* eyes and in your* days, the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.


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<pb/>And it will happen, when you will show this people all these words and they will say to you, Why has Jehovah pronounced all this great evil against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against Jehovah our God?


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<pb/>Then you will say to them, Because your* fathers have forsaken me, says Jehovah and have walked after other gods and have served them and have worshiped them and have forsaken me and have not kept my law.


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<pb/>And you* have done evil more than your* fathers, for, behold, you* walk each one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that you* listen not to me.


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Therefore I will cast you* forth out of this land into the land that you* have not known, neither you* nor your* fathers and there you* will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you* no favor.


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<pb/>Therefore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that it will no more be said, As Jehovah lives who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,


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but, As Jehovah lives who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where he had driven them. And I will bring them again into their land that I gave to their fathers.


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<pb/>Behold, I will send for many fishermen, says Jehovah and they will fish them up. And afterward I will send for many hunters and they will hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and out of the clefts of the rocks.


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<pb/>For my eyes are upon all their ways. They are not hid from my face, nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes.


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And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable things and have filled my inheritance with their abominations.


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<pb/>O Jehovah, my strength and my stronghold and my refuge in the day of affliction, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and will say, Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, even vanity and things in which there is no profit.


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Therefore, behold, I will cause them to know, this once I will cause them to know my hand and my might and they will know that my name is Jehovah.


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<pb/>The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron and with the point of a diamond. It is engraved upon the tablet of their heart and upon the horns of your* altars,


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while their sons remember their altars and their Asherim   <n>{pole-images}</n>   by the green trees upon the high hills.


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<pb/>O my mountain in the field, I will give your substance and all your treasures for a spoil and your high places, because of sin, throughout all your borders.


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And you, even of yourself, will discontinue from your heritage that I gave you and I will cause you to serve your enemies in the land which you do not know. For you* have kindled a fire in my anger which will burn everlasting.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus: Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm and whose heart departs from Jehovah.


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For he will be like the heath in the desert and will not see when good comes, but will inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited.


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For he will be as a tree planted by the waters, that spreads out its roots by the river and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green and will not be worried in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.


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<pb/>I, Jehovah, search the mind. I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his practices.


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<pb/>As the partridge that sits on eggs which she has not laid, so is he who gets riches and not by right. In the midst of his days they will leave him and at his end he will be a fool.


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O Jehovah, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who depart from me will be written in the earth, because they have forsaken Jehovah, the fountain of living waters.


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As for me, I have not hastened from being a shepherd after you, nor have I desired the woeful day. You know. What came out of my lips was before your face.


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Let them be put to shame who persecute me, but do not let me be put to shame. Let them be dismayed, but do not let me be dismayed. Bring upon them the day of evil and destroy them with double destruction.


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<pb/>Thus Jehovah said to me, Go and stand in the gate of the sons of the people, by which the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out and in all the gates of Jerusalem.


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And say to them, Hear the word of Jehovah, you* kings of Judah and all Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter in by these gates.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus: Take heed to yourselves and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem.


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Neither carry forth a burden out of your* houses on the Sabbath day, nor do you* any work. But sanctify yourselves the Sabbath day, as I commanded your* fathers.


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But they listened not, nor inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear and might not receive instruction.


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<pb/>And it will happen, if you* diligently listen to me, says Jehovah, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but to sanctify the Sabbath day, to do no work in it,


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then there will enter in by the gates of this city kings and rulers sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their rulers, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this city will remain everlasting.


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<pb/>And they will come from the cities of Judah and from the places all around Jerusalem and from the land of Benjamin and from the lowland and from the hill-country and from the South, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices and meal offerings and frankincense and bringing things of thanksgiving, to the house of Jehovah.


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<pb/>But if you* will not listen to me to sanctify the Sabbath day and not to bear a burden and enter in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in the gates of it and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem and it will not be quenched.


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And when the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it another vessel again, as seemed good to the potter to make it.


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O house of Israel, cannot I do with you* as this potter? says Jehovah. Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are you* in my hand, O house of Israel.


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<pb/>At that instant I will speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it,


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if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from their evil, I will relent of the evil that I thought to do to them.


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<pb/>And at that instant I will speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it,


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if they do what is evil in my sight, that they obey not my voice, then I will relent of the good with which I said I would benefit them.


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<pb/>Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Jehovah says thus: Behold, I frame evil against you* and devise a device against you*. Return now everyone from his evil way and amend your* ways and your* practices.


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But they say, It is in vain. For we will walk after our own devices and we will do everyone according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.


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<pb/>Therefore Jehovah says thus: Ask you* now among the nations, Who has heard such things? The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.


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<pb/>Shall the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? Or will the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried up?


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<pb/>For my people have forgotten me. They have burned incense to false gods. And they have been made to stumble in their ways, in the paths of old, to walk in bypaths, in a way not cast up,


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to make their land an astonishment and a everlasting hissing, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and shake his head.


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I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy. I will show them the back and not the face, in the day of their calamity.


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<pb/>Then they said, Come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah. For the law will not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us kill* him with the tongue and let us not give heed to any of his words.


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Shall evil be recompensed for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them.


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<pb/>Therefore deliver up their sons to the famine and give them over to the power of the sword and let their wives become childless and widows and let their men be slain of death and their young men struck of the sword in battle.


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Let a cry be heard from their houses when you will bring a troop suddenly upon them, for they have dug a pit to take me and hid snares for my feet.


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<pb/>Yet, Jehovah, you know all their counsel against me to kill me. Do not forgive their iniquity, nor blot out their sin from your sight, but let them be overthrown before you. Deal with them in the time of your anger.


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<pb/>Thus said Jehovah: Go and buy a potter's earthenware and take of the elders of the people and of the elders of the priests,


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and go forth to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the Earthen Vessels Gate and proclaim there the words that I will tell you.


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And say, Hear the word of Jehovah, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. <pb/>Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, which whoever hears, his ears will tingle.


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<pb/>Because they have forsaken me and have estranged this place and have burned incense in it to other gods that they did not know, they and their fathers and the kings of Judah and have filled this place with the blood of innocents,


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and have built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I commanded not, nor spoke it, neither did it come into my mind,


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therefore behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that this place will no more be called Topheth, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of Slaughter.


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<pb/>And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place. And I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life. And I will give their dead bodies to be food for the birds of the heavens and for the beasts of the earth.


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<pb/>And I will make this city an astonishment and a hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues of it.


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<pb/>And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters. And they will eat each one the flesh of his friend, in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life, will distress them.


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and will say to them, Jehovah of hosts says thus: Even so I will break this people and this city, as a potter's vessel is broken, that cannot be made whole again. And they will bury in Topheth till there is no place to bury.


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<pb/>Thus I will do to this place, says Jehovah and to the inhabitants of it, even making this city as Topheth.


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And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, will be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven and have poured out drink offerings to other gods.


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<pb/>Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where Jehovah had sent him to prophesy and he stood in the court of Jehovah's house and said to all the people,


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Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have made their neck stiff, that they may not hear my words.


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<pb/>Now Pashhur, the son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer in the house of Jehovah, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.


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Then Pashhur killed* Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in the house of Jehovah.


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And it happened on the morrow, that Pashhur brought out Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, Jehovah has not called your name Pashhur, but Magor-missabib.


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<pb/>For Jehovah says thus, Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. And they will fall by the sword of their enemies and your eyes will behold it. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon and he will carry them captive to Babylon and will kill them with the sword.


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<pb/>Moreover I will give all the riches of this city and all the gains of it and all the precious things of it, yes, all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of their enemies. And they will make them a prey and take them and carry them to Babylon.


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<pb/>And you, Pashhur and all who dwell in your house will go into captivity. And you will come to Babylon and there you will die and there you will be buried, you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.


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<pb/>O Jehovah, you have persuaded me and I was persuaded. You are stronger than I and have prevailed. I have become a laughing-stock all the day; everyone mocks me.


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For as often as I speak, I cry out. I cry, Violence and destruction! Because the word of Jehovah is made a reproach to me and a ridicule, all the day.


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<pb/>And if I say, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones and I am weary with forbearing and I cannot.


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<pb/>For I have heard the defaming of many, terror on every side. Denounce and we will denounce him, say all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall. Perhaps he will be persuaded and we will prevail against him and we will take our revenge on him.


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<pb/>But Jehovah is with me as an awesome mighty one. Therefore my persecutors will stumble and they will not prevail. They will be utterly put to shame, because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor which will never be forgotten.


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<pb/>But, O Jehovah of hosts, who tries the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for to you I have revealed my cause.


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<pb/>Sing to Jehovah. Praise Jehovah, for he has delivered the soul of the needy man from the hand of evildoers.


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<pb/>Cursed be the day in which I was born. Do not let the day in which my mother bore me be blessed.


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Cursed be the man who brought news to my father, saying, A male-child is born to you, making him very glad.


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And let that man be as the cities which Jehovah overthrew and did not relent. And let him hear a cry in the morning and shouting at noontime,


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because he did not kill me from the womb and so my mother would have been my grave and her womb always   <n>{Lit: everlasting}</n>   great.


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<pb/>Why did I come forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?


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<pb/>The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, when king Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malchijah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, saying,


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I beseech you, inquire of Jehovah on our behalf. For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon makes war against us. Perhaps Jehovah will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us.


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Jehovah says thus, the God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your* hands, with which you* fight against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans who besiege you*, outside the walls. And I will gather them into the midst of this city.


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<pb/>And I myself will fight against you* with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger and in wrath and in great indignation.


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And I will kill* the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast. They will die of a great pestilence.


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<pb/>And afterward, says Jehovah, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people, even such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life and he will kill* them with the edge of the sword. He will not spare them, nor have pity, nor have mercy.


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<pb/>And you will say to this people, Jehovah says thus: Behold, I set before you* the way of life and the way of death.


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He who abides in this city will die by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence. But he who goes out and passes over to the Chaldeans who besiege you*, he will live and his life will be to him for a prey.


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<pb/>For I have set my face upon this city for evil and not for good, says Jehovah. It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon and he will burn it with fire.


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O house of David, Jehovah says thus: Execute justice in the morning and deliver he who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my wrath go forth like fire and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your* practices.


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<pb/>Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley and of the rock of the plain, says Jehovah, you* who say, Who will come down against us? Or who will enter into our habitations?


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And I will punish you* according to the fruit of your* practices, says Jehovah. And I will kindle a fire in her forest and it will devour all that is all around her.


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and say, Hear the word of Jehovah, O king of Judah, who sits upon the throne of David, you and your servants and your people who enter in by these gates.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus: Execute you* justice and righteousness. And deliver he who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor. And do no wrong. Do no violence to the traveler, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.


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<pb/>For if you* do this thing indeed, then there will enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he and his servants and his people.


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<pb/>But if you* will not hear these words, I swear by myself, says Jehovah, that this house will become a desolation.


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For Jehovah says thus concerning the house of the king of Judah: You are Gilead to me and the head of Lebanon, yet surely I will make you a wilderness, cities which are not inhabited.


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And I will prepare destroyers against you, each one with his weapons and they will cut down your choice cedars and cast them into the fire.


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<pb/>And many nations will pass by this city and they will say each man to his neighbor, Why has Jehovah done thus to this great city?


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Then they will answer, Because they forsook the covenant of Jehovah their God and worshiped other gods and served them.


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<pb/>Weep you* not for him who is dead, nor sympathize with him. But weep greatly for him who goes away, for he will return no more, nor see his native country.


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<pb/>For Jehovah says thus concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father and who went forth out of this place: He will not return there any more.


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But in the place where they have led him captive, there he will die and he will see this land no more.


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<pb/>Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness and his chambers by injustice, who uses his neighbor's service without wages and gives him not his hire,


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who says, I will build me a wide house and spacious chambers and cuts out windows for himself and it is overlaid with cedar and painted with vermilion.


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<pb/>Shall you reign, because you strive to excel in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him.


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He judged the cause of the poor and needy man, then it was well. Was not this to know me? says Jehovah.


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But your eyes and your heart are not but for your covetousness and for shedding innocent blood and for oppression and for violence, to do it.


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<pb/>Therefore Jehovah says thus concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah. They will not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! They will not lament for him, saying Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!


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<pb/>Go up to Lebanon and cry. And lift up your voice in Bashan and cry from Abarim. For all your lovers are destroyed.


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I spoke to you in your prosperity, but you said, I will not hear. This has been your manner from your youth, that you obeyed not my voice.


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The wind will feed all your shepherds and your loved ones will go into captivity. Surely then you will be ashamed and confounded for all your wickedness.


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<pb/>O inhabitant of Lebanon, who makes your nest in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied you will be when pangs come upon you, the pain as of a woman in travail!


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<pb/>As I live, says Jehovah, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet I would pluck you from there,


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and I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life and into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans.


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<pb/>And I will cast you out and your mother who bore you, into another country where you* were not born and there you* will die.


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<pb/>Is this man Coniah a despised broken vessel? Is he a vessel in which none delights? Why are they cast out, he and his seed and are cast into the land which they do not know?


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Jehovah says thus: Write this man <i>as</i> childless, a man who will not prosper in his days. For no more will a man of his seed prosper, sitting upon the throne of David and ruling in Judah.


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Therefore Jehovah says thus, the God of Israel, against the shepherds who feed my people: You* have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not visited them. Behold, I will visit upon you* the evil of your* practices, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them again to their folds and they will be fruitful and multiply.


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And I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them. And they will fear no more, nor be dismayed. Neither will any be lacking, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch and he will reign as king and deal wisely and will execute justice and righteousness in the land.


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In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell safely. And this is his name by which he will be called: Jehovah our righteousness.


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<pb/>Therefore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that they will no more say, As Jehovah lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,


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but, As Jehovah lives, who brought up and who led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them. And they will dwell in their own land.


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<pb/>Concerning the prophets: My heart within me is broken. All my bones shake. I am like a drunken man and like a man whom wine has overcome, because of Jehovah and because of his holy words.


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<pb/>For the land is full of adulterers. For because of swearing the land mourns. The pastures of the wilderness are dried up. And their course is evil and their might is not right.


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For both prophet and priest are profane. Yes, in my house I have found their wickedness, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>Therefore their way will be to them as slippery places in the darkness. They will be driven on and fall in it. For I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>And I have seen foolishness in the prophets of Samaria. They prophesied by Baal and made my people Israel go-astray.


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In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen a horrible thing. They commit adultery and walk in lies. And they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that none returns from his wickedness. They have all of them become to me as Sodom and the inhabitants of it as Gomorrah.


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<pb/>Therefore Jehovah of hosts says thus concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them with wormwood and make them drink the water of gall. For from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone forth into all the land.


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<pb/>Jehovah of hosts says thus: Listen not to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you*. They teach you* vanity. They speak a vision of their own heart and not out of the mouth of Jehovah.


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They say continually to those who despise me, Jehovah has said, You* will have peace. And to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, No evil will come upon you*.


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<pb/>For who has stood in the council of Jehovah, that he should perceive and hear his word? Who has marked my word and heard it?


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Behold, the tempest of Jehovah, wrath, has gone forth, yes, a whirling tempest. It will burst upon the head of the wicked.


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The anger of Jehovah will not return until he has executed and till he has performed the intents of his heart. In the latter days you* will understand it perfectly.


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But if they had stood in my council, then they would have caused my people to hear my words and would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their practices.


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Can any man hide himself in secret places so that I will not see him? says Jehovah. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says Jehovah.


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<pb/>I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.


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How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart?


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Who think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers forgot my name for Baal.


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<pb/>The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream. And he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat? says Jehovah.


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<pb/>Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, says Jehovah, who steal my words each one from his neighbor.


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Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, says Jehovah and tell them. And make my people go-astray by their lies and by their vain boasting. Yet I sent them not, nor commanded them, neither do they profit this people at all, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, will ask you, saying, What is the burden of Jehovah? Then you will say to them, What burden? <pb/>I will cast you* off, says Jehovah.


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And as for the prophet and the priest and the people, who will say, The burden of Jehovah, I will even punish that man and his house.


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<pb/>Thus you* will say each one to his neighbor and each one to his brother, What has Jehovah answered? and, What has Jehovah spoken?


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And the burden of Jehovah you* will mention no more, for every man's own word will be his burden. For you* have perverted the words of the living God, of Jehovah of hosts our God.


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But if you* say, The burden of Jehovah, therefore Jehovah says thus: Because you* say this word, The burden of Jehovah and I have sent to you*, saying, You* will not say, The burden of Jehovah,


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therefore, behold, I will utterly forget you*. And I will cast you* off and the city that I gave to you* and to your* fathers, away from my presence.


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And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you* and a perpetual shame, which will not be forgotten.


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<pb/>Jehovah showed me, and behold, two baskets of figs set before the temple of Jehovah, after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah   <n>{Jehoiachin}</n>   the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah and the rulers of Judah, with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon.


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<pb/>One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten they were so bad.


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<pb/>Then Jehovah said to me, What do you see, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs. The good figs, very good and the bad, very bad, that cannot be eaten they are so bad.


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Jehovah says thus, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good.


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<pb/>For I will set my eyes upon them for good and I will bring them again to this land. And I will build them and not pull them down and I will plant them and not pluck them up.


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And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am Jehovah. And they will be my people and I will be their God, for they will return to me with their whole heart.


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<pb/>And as the bad figs, which cannot be eaten they are so bad, surely Jehovah says thus: So will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah and his rulers and the residue of Jerusalem, who remain in this land and those who dwell in the land of Egypt.


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<pb/>I will even give them up to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I will drive them.


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And I will send the sword, the famine and the pestilence, among them, till they are consumed from the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.


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<pb/>The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (what was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),


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which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,


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From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years, the word of Jehovah has come to me and I have spoken to you*, rising up early and speaking. But you* have not listened.


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<pb/>And Jehovah has sent to you* all his servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, (but you* have not listened, nor inclined your* ear to hear),


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saying, Return now each one from his evil way and from the evil of your* practices and dwell in the land that Jehovah has given to you* and to your* fathers, from everlasting even to everlasting.


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And do not go after other gods to serve them and to worship them and provoke me not to anger with the work of your* hands. And I will do you* no hurt.


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<pb/>Yet you* have not listened to me, says Jehovah, that you* may provoke me to anger with the work of your* hands to your* own hurt.


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behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, says Jehovah and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant and will bring them against this land and against the inhabitants of it and against all these nations all around. And I will utterly destroy them and make them an astonishment and a hissing and everlasting desolations.


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<pb/>Moreover I will take from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.


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And this whole land will be a desolation and an astonishment. And these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.


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<pb/>And it will happen, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, says Jehovah, for their iniquity and the land of the Chaldeans and I will make it desolate everlasting.


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<pb/>And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.


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For many nations and great kings will make bondmen of them, even of them and I will recompense them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands.


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<pb/>For Jehovah says thus, the God of Israel, to me: Take this cup of the wine of wrath at my hand and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it.


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And they will drink and reel to and fro and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.


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<pb/>Then I took the cup at Jehovah's hand and made all the nations to drink, to whom Jehovah had sent me:


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Jerusalem and the cities of Judah and the kings of it and the rulers of it, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing and a curse, as it is this day,


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and all the mixed people and all the kings of the land of the Uz and all the kings of the Philistines and Ashkelon and Gaza and Ekron and the remnant of Ashdod,


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and all the kings of Tyre and all the kings of Sidon and the kings of the isle which is beyond the sea,


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and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth. And the king of Sheshach will drink after them.


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<pb/>And you will say to them, Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel: Drink you* and be drunken and spew and fall and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you*.


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<pb/>And it will be, if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then you will say to them, Jehovah of hosts says thus: You* will surely drink.


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For behold, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name and should you* be utterly unpunished? You* will not be unpunished. For I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, says Jehovah of hosts.


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<pb/>Therefore prophesy you against them all these words and say to them, Jehovah will roar from on high and utter his voice from his holy habitation. He will mightily roar against his fold. He will give a shout, as those who tread grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.


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<pb/>A noise will come even to the end of the earth, for Jehovah has a controversy with the nations. He will enter into judgment with all flesh. As for the wicked, he will give them to the sword, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>Jehovah of hosts says thus: Behold, evil will go forth from nation to nation and a great tempest will be raised up from the outermost parts of the earth.


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And the slain of Jehovah will be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They will not be lamented, nor gathered, nor buried; they will be manure upon the face of the ground.


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<pb/>Wail, you* shepherds and cry. And wallow, principal men of the flock. For the days of your* slaughter and of your* dispersions have fully come and you* will fall like a desirable vessel.


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A voice of the cry of the shepherds and the wailing of the principal men of the flock! <pb/>For Jehovah lays waste their pasture.


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He has left his covering as the lion. For their land has become an astonishment because of the fierceness of the oppressing sword and because of his fierce anger.


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<pb/>In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word from Jehovah came, saying,


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Jehovah says thus: Stand in the court of Jehovah's house and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in Jehovah's house, all the words that I command you to speak to them, diminish not a word.


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<pb/>It may be they will listen and turn every man from his evil way, that I may relent of the evil which I purpose to do to them because of the evil of their practices.


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<pb/>And you will say to them, Jehovah says thus: If you* will not listen to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you*,


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to listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I send to you*, even rising up early and sending them, but you* have not listened,


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then I will make this house like Shiloh and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.


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<pb/>And the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of Jehovah.


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<pb/>And it happened, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that Jehovah had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold on him, saying, You will surely die.


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Why have you prophesied in the name of Jehovah, saying, This house will be like Shiloh and this city will be desolate, without inhabitant? <pb/>And all the people were gathered to Jeremiah in the house of Jehovah.


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And when the rulers of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house to the house of Jehovah and they sat in the entry of the new gate of Jehovah's house.


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<pb/>Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the rulers and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy of death, for he has prophesied against this city, as you* have heard with your* ears.


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<pb/>Then Jeremiah spoke to all the rulers and to all the people, saying, Jehovah sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you* have heard.


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Now therefore amend your* ways and your* practices and obey the voice of Jehovah your* God and Jehovah will relent of the evil that he has pronounced against you*.


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Only know for certain that, if you* put me to death, you* will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and upon the inhabitants of it. For of a truth Jehovah has sent me to you* to speak all these words in your* ears.


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<pb/>Then the rulers and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets. This man is not worthy of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of Jehovah our God.


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<pb/>Then certain of the elders of the land rose up and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying,


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Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, Jehovah of hosts says thus: Zion will be plowed as a field and Jerusalem will become heaps and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.


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<pb/>Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear Jehovah and entreat the favor of Jehovah. And Jehovah relented of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus might we commit great evil against our own souls.


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<pb/>And there was also a man who prophesied in the name of Jehovah, Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kiriath-jearim. And he prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah.


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And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men and all the rulers, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death, but when Uriah heard it, he was afraid and fled and went into Egypt.


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<pb/>And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor and certain men with him, into Egypt,


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and they fetched forth Uriah out of Egypt and brought him to Jehoiakim the king, who killed him with the sword and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.


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<pb/>But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.


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<pb/>In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,


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And send them to the king of Edom and to the king of Moab and to the king of the sons of Ammon and to the king of Tyre and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.


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<pb/>And give them a charge to their masters, saying, Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel: Thus you* will say to your* masters:


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I have made the earth, the men and the beasts that are upon the face of the earth, by my great power and by my outstretched arm and I give it to whom it seems right to me.


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<pb/>And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant. And the beasts of the field I have also given him to serve him.


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And all the nations will serve him and his son and his son's son, until the time of his own land comes. And then many nations and great kings will make him their bondman.


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<pb/>And it will happen, that the nation and the kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish, says Jehovah, with the sword and with the famine and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.


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<pb/>But as for you*, do not listen to your* prophets, nor to your* diviners, nor to your* dreams, nor to your* soothsayers, nor to your* sorcerers, who speak to you*, saying, You* will not serve the king of Babylon.


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For they prophesy a lie to you*, to remove you* far from your* land and that I should drive you* out and you* should perish.


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<pb/>But the nation that will bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, that nation I will let remain in their own land, says Jehovah and they will till it and dwell in it.


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<pb/>And I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your* necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people and live.


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Why will you* die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine and by the pestilence, as Jehovah has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?


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<pb/>And listen not to the words of the prophets who speak to you*, saying, You* will not serve the king of Babylon, for they prophesy a lie to you*.


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For I have not sent them, says Jehovah, but they prophesy falsely in my name, that I may drive you* out and that you* may perish, you* and the prophets who prophesy to you*.


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<pb/>Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, Jehovah says thus: Listen not to the words of your* prophets who prophesy to you*, saying, Behold, the vessels of Jehovah's house will now shortly be brought again from Babylon, for they prophesy a lie to you*.


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<pb/>But if they are prophets and if the word of Jehovah is with them, let them now make intercession to Jehovah of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of Jehovah and in the house of the king of Judah and at Jerusalem, not go to Babylon.


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<pb/>For Jehovah of hosts says thus concerning the pillars and concerning the sea and concerning the stands and concerning the residue of the vessels that are left in this city,


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which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he carried away captive Jeconiah   <n>{Jehoiachin}</n>   the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem.


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Yes, Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the house of Jehovah and in the house of the king of Judah and at Jerusalem:


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They will be carried to Babylon and there they will be until the day that I visit them, says Jehovah. Then I will bring them up and restore them to this place.


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<pb/>And it happened the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet, who was of Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of Jehovah, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,


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Thus speaks Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.


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<pb/>Within two full years I will bring again into this place all the vessels of Jehovah's house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon.


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And I will bring again to this place Jeconiah   <n>{Jehoiachin}</n>   the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, who went to Babylon, says Jehovah, for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.


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<pb/>Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and in the presence of all the people who stood in the house of Jehovah,


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even the prophet Jeremiah said, Truly! Jehovah do so. Jehovah perform your words which you have prophesied, to bring again the vessels of Jehovah's house and all those of the captivity, from Babylon to this place.


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The prophets who have been before me and before you of old prophesied against many countries and against great kingdoms, of war and of evil and of pestilence.


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The prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet will happen, then the prophet will be known that Jehovah has truly sent him.


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And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, Jehovah says thus: Even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon within two full years from the neck of all the nations. And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.


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<pb/>Then the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah after Hananiah the prophet had broken the bar from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying,


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Go and tell Hananiah, saying, Jehovah says thus: You have broken the bars of wood, but I have made in their stead bars of iron.


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For Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel: I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and they will serve him. And I have given him the beasts of the field also.


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<pb/>Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah. Jehovah has not sent you, but you make this people to trust in a lie.


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Therefore Jehovah says thus, Behold, I will send you away from the face of the earth. This year you will die because you have spoken rebellion against Jehovah.


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<pb/>Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of the captivity and to the priests and to the prophets and to all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon,


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(after Jeconiah   <n>{Jehoiachin}</n>   the king and the queen-mother and the eunuchs and the rulers of Judah and Jerusalem and the craftsmen and the smiths, were departed from Jerusalem),


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by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), saying,


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Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel, to all the captivity whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon:


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You* take wives and beget sons and daughters. And take wives for your* sons and give your* daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters and <i>will</i> multiply you* there and do not be diminished.


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And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you* to be carried away captive and pray to Jehovah on behalf of it, for in the peace of it you* will have peace.


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<pb/>For Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel: Do not let your* prophets who are in the midst of you* and your* diviners, deceive you*, nor listen to your* dreams which you* cause to be dreamed.


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<pb/>For Jehovah says thus, After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you* and perform my good word toward you* in causing you* to return to this place.


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For I know the thoughts that I think toward you*, says Jehovah, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you* hope in your* latter end.


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And I will be found by you*, says Jehovah and I will turn again your* captivity. And I will gather you* from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you*, says Jehovah and I will bring you* again to the place from where I caused you* to be carried away captive.


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Jehovah says thus concerning the king who sits upon the throne of David and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your* brothers who have not gone forth with you* into captivity,


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Jehovah of hosts says thus: Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine and the pestilence and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten they are so bad.


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<pb/>And I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine and with the pestilence and will deliver them to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an execration and an astonishment and a hissing and a reproach, among all the nations where I have driven them,


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because they have not listened to my words, says Jehovah, with which I sent to them my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them. But you* would not hear, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>Hear therefore the word of Jehovah, all you* of the captivity whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.


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Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you* in my name. Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and he will kill them before your* eyes.


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<pb/>And of them will be taken up a curse by all the captives of Judah that are in Babylon, saying, Jehovah make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,


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because they have done senselessness in Israel and have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives and have spoken words in my name falsely, which I did not command them. And I am he who knows and am witness, says Jehovah.


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Thus speaks Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, <pb/>Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are at Jerusalem and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest and to all the priests, saying,


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Jehovah has made you priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest, that there may be officers in the house of Jehovah, for every man who is mad and makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in the stocks and in shackles.


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inasmuch as he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, It is long. Build you* houses and dwell in them and plant gardens and eat the fruit of them?


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Send to all those of the captivity, saying, Jehovah says thus concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you* and I did not send him and he has caused you* to trust in a lie,


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therefore Jehovah says thus: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his seed. He will not have a man to dwell among this people, nor will he behold the good that I will do to my people, says Jehovah, because he has spoken rebellion against Jehovah.


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Thus speaks Jehovah, the God of Israel, saying, Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book.


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<pb/>For behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will turn again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, says Jehovah and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers and they will possess it.


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Ask you* now and see whether a man travails with child. Why do I see every man with his hands on his loins as a woman in travail and all faces are turned into paleness?


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Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it. It is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he will be saved out of it.


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<pb/>And it will happen in that day, says Jehovah of hosts, that I will break his yoke from your neck and will burst your bonds. And strangers will no more make him their bondman,


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<pb/>Therefore do not fear, O Jacob my servant, says Jehovah, nor be dismayed, O Israel. For behold, I will save you from afar and your seed from the land of their captivity and Jacob will return and will be quiet and at ease and none will make him afraid.


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For I am with you, says Jehovah, to save you. For I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not make a full end of you. But I will discipline you in measure and will in no way leave you unpunished.


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All who love you have forgotten you; they do not seek you. For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins were increased.


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<pb/>Why do you cry for your hurt? Your pain is incurable, for the greatness of your iniquity. Because your sins were increased, I have done these things to you.


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<pb/>Therefore all those who devour you will be devoured and all your adversaries, every one of them, will go into captivity. And those who despoil you will be a spoil and all who prey upon you I will give for a prey.


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For I will restore health to you and I will heal you of your wounds, says Jehovah, because they have called you an outcast, saying, It is Zion, whom no man seeks after.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus: Behold, I will turn again the captivity of Jacob's tents and have compassion on his dwelling-places. And the city will be built upon its own hill and the palace will be inhabited after its own manner.


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<pb/>And out of them will proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry. And I will multiply them and they will not be few. I will also glorify them and they will not be small.


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Their sons also will be as before and their congregation will be established in front of me. And I will punish all who oppress them.


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<pb/>And their prince will be of themselves and their ruler will proceed from the midst of them. And I will cause him to draw near and he will approach to me. For who is he who has had boldness to approach to me? says Jehovah.


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<pb/>Behold, the tempest of Jehovah — wrath — has gone forth, a sweeping tempest. It will burst upon the head of the wicked.


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The fierce anger of Jehovah will not return until he has executed and till he has performed the intents of his heart. In the latter days you* will understand it.


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<pb/>At that time, says Jehovah, I will be the God of all the families of Israel and they will be my people.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus: The people who were left of the sword found favor in the wilderness, even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.


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Jehovah appeared of old to me, saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore with loving kindness I have drawn you.


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<pb/>Again I will build you and you will be built, O virgin of Israel. Again you will be adorned with your tambourine and will go forth in the dances of those who make merry.


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Again you will plant vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria. The planters will plant and will enjoy it.


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For there will be a day that the watchmen upon the hills of Ephraim will cry, Arise and let us go up to Zion to Jehovah our God.


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<pb/>For Jehovah says thus: Sing with gladness for Jacob and shout for the chief of the nations. Proclaim, praise and say, O Jehovah, save your people, the remnant of Israel.


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Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the outermost parts of the earth and with them the blind man and the lame man, the woman with child and she who travails with child together. They will return here a great company.


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<pb/>They will come with weeping. And I will lead them with supplications. I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they will not stumble. For I am a father to Israel and Ephraim is my firstborn.


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<pb/>Hear the word of Jehovah, O you* nations and declare it in the isles afar off and say, He who scattered Israel will gather him and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.


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And they will come and sing in the height of Zion and will flow to the goodness of Jehovah, to the grain and to the new wine and to the oil and to the young of the flock and of the herd. And their soul will be as a watered garden and they will not sorrow any more at all.


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<pb/>Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance and the young men and the old together, for I will turn their mourning into joy and will comfort them and make them rejoice from their sorrow.


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And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness and my people will be satisfied with my goodness, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel weeping for her children, she refused to be comforted for her children, because they are not.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus: Refrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded, says Jehovah and they will come again from the land of the enemy.


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And there is hope for your latter end, says Jehovah and your sons will come again to their own border.


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<pb/>I have surely heard Ephraim sympathize withing himself saying, You have disciplined me and I was disciplined as a calf unaccustomed to the yoke. Turn me back and I will be turned back, for you are Jehovah my God.


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<pb/>Surely after that I was turned back. I repented and after I was instructed, I killed* upon my thigh. I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.


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<pb/>Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do earnestly remember him still. Therefore my heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy upon him, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>Set up road marks. You make guideposts. Set your heart toward the highway, even the way by which you went. Turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these your cities.


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How long will you go here and there, O you backsliding daughter? For Jehovah has created a new thing in the earth: a woman will encompass a man.


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<pb/>Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel: Yet again they will use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities of it when I will bring again their captivity: Jehovah bless you, O habitation of righteousness, O mountain of holiness.


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<pb/>And Judah and all the cities of it will dwell in there together, the farmer and those who go about with flocks.


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<pb/>Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast.


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And it will happen that, just as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>In those days they will no more say, The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the son's teeth are set on edge.


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But everyone will die for his own iniquity. Every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge.


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<pb/>Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,


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not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant and I disregarded them, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Jehovah: I will give my laws into their mind and I will write them on their hearts. And I will be their God and they will be my people.


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<pb/>And they will teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah, for they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says Jehovah. For I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus, who gives the sun for a light by day and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, so that the waves of it roar. Jehovah of hosts is his name.


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If these ordinances depart from before me, says Jehovah, then the seed of Israel also will cease from being a nation before me forever.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus: If heaven above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that the city will be built to Jehovah from the tower of Hananel to the gate of the corner.


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And the measuring line will go out further straight onward to the hill Gareb and will turn about to Goah   <n>{Goath}</n>.


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<pb/>And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes and all the fields, to the brook Kidron, to the corner of the horse gate toward the east, will be holy to Jehovah. It will not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more everlasting.


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<pb/>The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah in the tenth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.


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<pb/>Now at that time the king of Babylon's army was besieging Jerusalem and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the king of Judah's house.


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<pb/>For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Why do you prophesy and say, Jehovah says thus: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon and he will take it.


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And Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but will surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon and will speak with him mouth to mouth and his eyes will behold his eyes.


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And he will bring Zedekiah to Babylon and there he will be until I visit him, says Jehovah. Though you* fight with the Chaldeans, you* will not prosper?


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Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you, saying, Buy my field that is in Anathoth. For the right of redemption is your to buy it.


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<pb/>So Hanamel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of Jehovah and said to me, I beseech you, buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin. For the right of inheritance is your and the redemption is your. Buy it for yourself. Then I knew that this was the word of Jehovah.


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<pb/>And I bought the field that was in Anathoth of Hanamel my uncle's son and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver.


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<pb/>So I took the deed of the purchase, both what was sealed, according to the law and custom and what was open,


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and I delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle's son and in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of the purchase, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the guard.


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Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, this deed of the purchase which is sealed and this deed which is open and put them in an earthen vessel that they may continue many days.


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For Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards will yet again be bought in this land.


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<pb/>Now after I had delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to Jehovah, saying,


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Ah lord Jehovah! Behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for you,


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who show loving kindness to thousands and recompense the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their sons after them, the great, the mighty God. Jehovah of hosts is his name,


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great in counsel and mighty in work, whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his practices,


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who set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even to this day, both in Israel and among other men and made you a name, as at this day,


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and brought out your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and with wonders and with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terror,


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and gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.


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<pb/>And they came in and possessed it, but they obeyed not your voice, nor walked in your law. They have done nothing of all that you commanded them to do. <pb/>Therefore you have caused all this evil to come upon them.


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Behold, the mounds. They have come to the city to take it. And the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword and of the famine and of the pestilence. And what you have spoken has happen, and behold, you see it.


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<pb/>And you have said to me, O lord Jehovah, Buy you the field for money and call witnesses, because the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.


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Therefore Jehovah says thus: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and he will take it.


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And the Chaldeans, who fight against this city, will come and set this city on fire and burn it, with the houses upon whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.


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<pb/>For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have done only what was evil in my sight from their youth. For the sons of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>For this city has been to me a provocation of my anger and of my wrath from the day that they built it even to this day, that I should remove it from before my face,


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because of all the evil of the sons of Israel and of the sons of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their rulers, their priests and their prophets and the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


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<pb/>And they have turned the back to me and not the face. And though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction.


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And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I did not command them, nor did it come into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.


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<pb/>And now therefore Jehovah says thus, the God of Israel, concerning this city, of which you* say, It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence:


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Behold, I will gather them out of all the countries where I have driven them in my anger and in my wrath and in great indignation. And I will bring them again to this place and I will cause them to dwell safely.


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And I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for the good of them and of their sons after them.


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<pb/>And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from following them, to do them good. And I will put my fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from me.


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Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good. And I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.


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<pb/>For Jehovah says thus: Just as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I have promised them.


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And fields will be bought in this land, of which you* say, It is desolate, without man or beast. It is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.


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<pb/>Men will buy fields for money and sign the deeds and seal them and call witnesses, in the land of Benjamin and in the places around Jerusalem and in the cities of Judah and in the cities of the hill-country and in the cities of the lowland and in the cities of the South. For I will cause their captivity to return, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>Moreover the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the guard, saying,


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Call to me and I will answer you and will show you great things and difficult, which you do not know.


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<pb/>For Jehovah says thus, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are broken down to defend against the mounds and against the sword,


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while men come to fight with the Chaldeans and to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in my anger and in my wrath and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city:


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Behold, I will bring it health and cure and I will cure them. And I will reveal to them abundance of peace and truth.


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<pb/>And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return and will build them as at the first.


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And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against me. And I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against me and by which they have transgressed against me.


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<pb/>And this city will be to me for a name of joy, for a praise and for a glory, before all the nations of the earth, which will hear all the good that I do to them and will fear and tremble for all the good and for all the peace that I procure to it.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus: Yet again there will be heard in this place — of which you* say, It is waste, without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast–


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the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, Give thanks to Jehovah of hosts, for Jehovah is good, for his loving kindness is everlasting and of those who bring thanksgiving into the house of Jehovah. For I will cause the captivity of the land to return as at the first, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>Jehovah of hosts says thus: Yet again there will be in this place, which is waste, without man and without beast and in all the cities of it, a habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.


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<pb/>In the cities of the hill-country, in the cities of the lowland and in the cities of the South and in the land of Benjamin and in the places around Jerusalem and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hands of him who numbers them, says Jehovah.


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Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will perform that good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and concerning the house of Judah.


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<pb/>In those days and at that time, I will cause a Branch of righteousness to grow up to David and he will execute justice and righteousness in the land.


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In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name whereby she will be called: Jehovah our righteousness.


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<pb/>For Jehovah says thus: David will never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel,


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neither will the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings and to burn meal offerings and to do sacrifice continually.


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Jehovah says thus: If you* can break my covenant of the day and my covenant of the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season,


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then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he will not have a son to reign upon his throne and with the Levites the priests, my ministers.


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<pb/>As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured, so I will multiply the seed of David my servant and the Levites that minister to me.


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Do you not consider what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which Jehovah chose, he has cast them off? Thus they despise my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus: If my covenant of day and night stand not, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth,


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then I will also cast away the seed of Jacob and of David my servant, so that I will not take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For I will cause their captivity to return and will have mercy on them.


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<pb/>The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the kingdoms of the earth that were under his dominion and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of it, saying,


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Jehovah says thus, the God of Israel: Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him, Jehovah says thus: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon and he will burn it with fire.


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<pb/>And you will not escape out of his hand, but will surely be taken and delivered into his hand. And your eyes will behold the eyes of the king of Babylon and he will speak with you mouth to mouth and you will go to Babylon.


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<pb/>Yet hear the word of Jehovah, O Zedekiah king of Judah. Jehovah says thus concerning you, You will not die by the sword;


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you will die in peace. And with the burnings of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so will they make a burning for you. And they will lament you, saying, Ah lord! For I have spoken the word, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>when the king of Babylon's army was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and against Azekah, for these alone remained of the cities of Judah, fortified cities.


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<pb/>The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, after the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them,


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that every man should let his man-servant and every man his maid-servant, who is a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, go free, that none should make bondmen of them, namely, of a Jew his brother.


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<pb/>And all the rulers and all the people obeyed, who had entered into the covenant, that everyone should let his man-servant and everyone his maid-servant, go free, that none should make bondmen of them any more. They obeyed and let them go.


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<pb/>But afterwards they turned and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.


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Jehovah says thus, the God of Israel: I made a covenant with your* fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying,


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At the end of seven years you* will let go every man his brother who is a Hebrew, who has been sold to you and has served you six years. You will let him go free from you. But your* fathers listened not to me, nor inclined their ear.


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<pb/>And you* were now turned and had done what is right in my eyes, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbor. And you* had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name.


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<pb/>But you* turned and profaned my name and caused every man his servant and every man his handmaid, whom you* had let go free at their pleasure, to return. And you* brought them into subjection, to be to you* for servants and for handmaids.


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<pb/>Therefore Jehovah says thus: You* have not listened to me, to proclaim liberty, every man to his brother and every man to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim to you* a liberty, says Jehovah — to the sword, to the pestilence and to the famine. And I will make you* to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth.


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<pb/>And I will give the men who have transgressed my covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts of it,


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the rulers of Judah and the rulers of Jerusalem, the eunuchs and the priests and all the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf,


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I will even give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. And their dead bodies will be for food to the birds of the heavens and to the beasts of the earth.


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<pb/>And I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his rulers, into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life and into the hand of the king of Babylon's army that has gone away from you*.


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Behold, I will command, says Jehovah and cause them to return to this city. And they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire. And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.


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<pb/>The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying,


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Go to the house of the Rechabites and speak to them and bring them into the house of Jehovah, into one of the chambers and give them wine to drink.


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<pb/>Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah and his brothers and all his sons and the whole house of the Rechabites.


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And I brought them into the house of Jehovah, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was by the chamber of the rulers, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the threshold.


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<pb/>And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine and cups and I said to them, Drink wine.


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But they said, We will drink no wine. For Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, You* will drink no wine, neither you*, nor your* sons, everlasting.


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<pb/>Neither will you* build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any, but all your* days you* will dwell in tents, that you* may live many days in the land in which you* journey.


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<pb/>And we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters,


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but we have dwelt in tents and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.


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<pb/>But it happened, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and for fear of the army of the Syrians. So we dwell at Jerusalem.


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Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel: Go and say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will you* not receive instruction to listen to my words? says Jehovah.


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The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed. And to this day they drink none, for they obey their father's commandment. <pb/>But I have spoken to you*, rising up early and speaking and you* have not listened to me.


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I have also sent to you* all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return now every man from his evil way and amend your* practices and do not go after other gods to serve them and you* will dwell in the land which I have given to you* and to your* fathers. But you* have not inclined your* ear, nor listened to me.


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<pb/>Inasmuch as the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father which he commanded them, but this people has not listened to me,


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therefore Jehovah says thus, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken to them, but they have not heard and I have called to them, but they have not answered.


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<pb/>And Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel: Because you* have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your* father and kept all his precepts and done according to all that he commanded you*,


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therefore Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab will not want a man to stand before me forever.


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<pb/>And it happened in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,


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You take a roll of a book and write in it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and against Judah and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, even to this day.


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<pb/>It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do to them, that they may return every man from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.


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<pb/>Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah. And Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of Jehovah, which he had spoken to him, upon a roll of a book.


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<pb/>Therefore go and read in the roll, which you have written from my mouth, the words of Jehovah in the ears of the people in Jehovah's house upon the fast-day. And also you will read them in the ears of all Judah who come out of their cities.


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It may be they will present their supplication before Jehovah and will return each one from his evil way, for great is the anger and the wrath that Jehovah has pronounced against this people.


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<pb/>And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of Jehovah in Jehovah's house.


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<pb/>Now it happened in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem, proclaimed a fast before Jehovah.


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<pb/>Then Baruch read in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of Jehovah, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan, the scribe, in the upper court, at the entry of the new gate of Jehovah's house, in the ears of all the people.


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<pb/>And when Micaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of Jehovah,


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he went down into the king's house, into the scribe's chamber. And behold, all the rulers were sitting there: Elishama the scribe and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah and Elnathan the son of Achbor and Gemariah the son of Shaphan and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah and all the rulers.


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<pb/>Then Micaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people.


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<pb/>Therefore all the rulers sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, Take in your hand the roll from which you have read in the ears of the people and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand and came to them.


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<pb/>Now it happened, when they had heard all the words, they turned in fear one toward another and said to Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words.


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Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these words to me with his mouth and I wrote them with ink in the book.


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<pb/>And they went in to the king into the court, but they had laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe and they told all the words in the ears of the king.


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So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll and he took it out of the chamber of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king and in the ears of all the rulers who stood beside the king.


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<pb/>Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month and the brazier was burning before him.


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And it happened, when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, that the king cut it with the penknife and cast it into the fire that was in the brazier, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier.


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<pb/>And they were not afraid, nor tore their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants who heard all these words.


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Moreover Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll, but he would not hear them.


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<pb/>And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king's son and Seraiah the son of Azriel and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but Jehovah hid them.


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<pb/>Then the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah after the king had burned the roll and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying,


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You take again another roll and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned.


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<pb/>And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you will say, Jehovah says thus: You have burned this roll, saying, Why have you written in it, saying, The king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land and will cause to cease from there man and beast?


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<pb/>Therefore Jehovah says thus concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have none to sit upon the throne of David. And his dead body will be cast out in the day to the heat and in the night to the frost.


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And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity. And I will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them, but they did not listen.


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<pb/>Then Jeremiah took another roll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote in it from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire and there were added besides to them many like words.


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<pb/>And Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned as king, instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.


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But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, listened to the words of Jehovah, which he spoke by the prophet Jeremiah.


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<pb/>And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now to Jehovah our God on our behalf.


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And Pharaoh's army came forth out of Egypt. And when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they broke away from Jerusalem.


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Jehovah says thus, the God of Israel, Thus you* will say to the king of Judah, who sent you* to me to inquire of me: Behold, Pharaoh's army, which has come out to help you*, will return to Egypt into their own land.


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And the Chaldeans will come again and fight against this city and they will take it and burn it with fire.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus: Do not deceive yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans will surely depart from us. For they will not depart.


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For though you* had struck the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you* and there remained but wounded men among them, yes they would rise up every man in his tent and burn this city with fire.


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<pb/>And it happened that, when the army of the Chaldeans was broken away from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army,


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then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin to receive his portion there in the midst of the people.


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<pb/>And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah. And he laid hold on Jeremiah the prophet, saying, You are falling away to the Chaldeans.


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<pb/>Then Jeremiah said, It is false. I am not falling away to the Chaldeans. But he did not listen to him. So Irijah laid hold on Jeremiah and brought him to the rulers.


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And the rulers were angry with Jeremiah and killed* him and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe, for they had made that the prison.


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<pb/>When Jeremiah came into the house in the pit and into the cells and Jeremiah had remained there many days,


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then Zedekiah the king sent and fetched him. And the king asked him secretly in his house and said, Is there any word from Jehovah? And Jeremiah said, There is. He also said, You will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.


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<pb/>Moreover Jeremiah said to king Zedekiah, How have I sinned against you, or against your servants, or against this people, that you* have put me in prison?


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Where now are your* prophets who prophesied to you*, saying, The king of Babylon will not come against you*, nor against this land?


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<pb/>And I beseech you, now hear, O my lord the king. I beseech you, let my supplication be presented before you, that you not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.


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<pb/>Then Zedekiah the king commanded and they committed Jeremiah into the court of the guard. And they gave him a loaf of bread daily out of the bakers' street, until all the bread in the city was spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.


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<pb/>And Shephatiah the son of Mattan and Gedaliah the son of Pashhur and Jucal   <n>{Jehucal}</n>   the son of Shelemiah and Pashhur the son of Malchijah, heard the words that Jeremiah spoke to all the people, saying,


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Jehovah says thus: He who abides in this city will die by the sword, by the famine and by the pestilence, but he who goes forth to the Chaldeans will live and his life will be to him for a prey and he will live.


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Jehovah says thus: This city will surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and he will take it.


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<pb/>Then the rulers said to the king, Please let this man be put to death, inasmuch as he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them. For this man seeks not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.


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<pb/>And Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your* hand, for the king is not he who can do anything against you*.


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Then they took Jeremiah and cast him into the pit of Malchijah the king's son, that was in the court of the guard. And they let Jeremiah down with cords. And in the pit there was no water, but mud and Jeremiah sank in the mud.


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<pb/>Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the pit (the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin),


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My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet whom they have cast into the pit. And he is likely to die in the place where he is because of the famine, for there is no more bread in the city.


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<pb/>Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from here thirty men with you and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the pit before he dies.


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<pb/>So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went into the house of the king under the treasury and took from there rags and worn-out garments and let them down by cords into the pit to Jeremiah.


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And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, Now put these rags and worn-out garments under your armpits under the cords. And Jeremiah did so.


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So they drew up Jeremiah with the cords and took him up out of the pit. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.


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<pb/>Then Zedekiah the king sent and took Jeremiah the prophet to him into the third entry that is in the house of Jehovah. And the king said to Jeremiah, I will ask you a thing; hide nothing from me.


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<pb/>Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.


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So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, As Jehovah lives, who made us this soul, I will not put you to death, nor will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life.


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<pb/>Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, Jehovah says thus, the God of hosts, the God of Israel. If you will go forth to the king of Babylon's rulers, then your soul will live and this city will not be burned with fire and you will live and your house.


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<pb/>But if you will not go forth to the king of Babylon's rulers, then this city will be given into the hand of the Chaldeans and they will burn it with fire and you will not escape out of their hand.


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<pb/>And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews who have fallen away to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand and they abuse me.


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But Jeremiah said, They will not deliver you. I beseech you, obey, the voice of Jehovah, in what I speak to you, so it will be well with you and your soul will live.


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Behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah's house will be brought out to the king of Babylon's rulers. And those women will say, Your familiar friends have set upon you and have prevailed over you. Since your feet are sunk in the mud, they have turned back away.


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<pb/>And they will bring out all your wives and your sons to the Chaldeans. And you will not escape out of their hand, but will be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon. And you will cause this city to be burned with fire.


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But if the rulers hear that I have talked with you and they come to you and say to you, Declare to us now what you have said to the king, hide it not from us and we will not put you to death, also what the king said to you,


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then you will say to them, I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan's house to die there.


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<pb/>Then all the rulers came to Jeremiah and asked him. And he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they left off speaking with him, for the matter was not perceived.


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<pb/>And it happened when Jerusalem was taken, in the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and besieged it.


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In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city.


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<pb/>And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in and sat in the middle gate, that is, Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim, Rab-saris, Nergal-sharezer, Rab-mag, with all the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon.


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<pb/>And it happened that, when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, then they fled and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king's garden, through the gate between the two walls and he went out toward the Arabah.


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<pb/>But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath and he gave judgment upon him.


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<pb/>Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes. Also the king of Babylon killed all the nobles of Judah.


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<pb/>And the Chaldeans burned the king's house and the houses of the people, with fire and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.


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Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the residue of the people that remained in the city, the deserters also that fell away to him and the residue of the people that remained.


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<pb/>But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, that had nothing, in the land of Judah and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.


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<pb/>Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying,


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<pb/>So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent and Nebushazban, Rab-saris and Nergal-sharezer, Rab-mag and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon.


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And they sent and took Jeremiah out of the court of the guard and committed him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should carry him home. So he dwelt among the people.


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<pb/>Now the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the guard, saying,


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Go and speak to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil and not for good and they will be accomplished before you in that day.


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<pb/>But I will deliver you in that day, says Jehovah and you will not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid.


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For I will surely save you and you will not fall by the sword, but your life will be for a prey to you, because you have put your trust in me, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him being bound in chains among all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were carried away captive to Babylon.


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<pb/>And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, Jehovah your God pronounced this evil upon this place,


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and Jehovah has brought it and done just-as he spoke. Because you* have sinned against Jehovah and have not obeyed his voice, therefore this thing has come upon you*.


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<pb/>And now, behold, I loose you this day from the chains which are upon your hand. If it seem good to you to come with me into Babylon, come and I will look well to you, but if it seems ill to you to come with me into Babylon, forbear. Behold, all the land is before you, where it seems good and right to you to go, there go.


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<pb/>Now while he was not yet gone back, he said, Go back then to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah and dwell with him among the people, or go wherever it seems right to you to go. <pb/>So the captain of the guard gave him food and a present and let him go.


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Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah and dwelt with him among the people who were left in the land.


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<pb/>Now when all the captains of the forces who were in the fields, even they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land and had committed to him men and women and sons and of the poorest of the land, of those who were not carried away captive to Babylon,


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then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, namely, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite and Jezaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men.


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<pb/>And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan swore to them and to their men, saying, Do not fear to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon and it will be well with you*.


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<pb/>As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah, to stand before the Chaldeans who will come to us. But you*, gather wine and summer fruits and oil and put them in your* vessels and dwell in your* cities that you* have taken.


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<pb/>Likewise when all the Jews that were in Moab and among the sons of Ammon and in Edom and who were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan,


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then all the Jews returned out of all places where they were driven and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, to Mizpah and gathered very much wine and summer fruits.


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<pb/>Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces who were in the fields, came to Gedaliah to Mizpah,


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and said to him, Do you know that Baalis the king of the sons of Ammon has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to take your life? But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe them.


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<pb/>Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly, saying, Let me go, I beseech you and I will kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and no man will know it. Why should he take your life, that all the Jews who are gathered to you should be scattered and the remnant of Judah perish?


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But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, You will not do this thing, for you speak falsely of Ishmael.


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<pb/>Now it happened in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal and one of the chief officers of the king and ten men with him, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah and there they ate bread together in Mizpah.


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<pb/>Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him, arose and killed* Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword and killed him, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.


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Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with him, namely, with Gedaliah, at Mizpah and the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war.


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that men came from Shechem, from Shiloh and from Samaria, even eighty men, having their beards shaven and their clothes torn and having cut themselves, with meal offerings and frankincense in their hand, to bring them to the house of Jehovah.


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<pb/>And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went forth from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all along as he went. And it happened, as he met them, he said to them, Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.


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<pb/>And it was so, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah killed them and cast them into the midst of the pit, he and the men who were with him.


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<pb/>But ten men were found among those who said to Ishmael, Kill us not, for we have stores hidden in the field, of wheat and of barley and of oil and of honey. So he held back and did not kill them among their brothers.


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<pb/>Now the pit in which Ishmael cast all the dead bodies of the men whom he had slain by the side of Gedaliah (it was what Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha King of Israel), Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with those who were slain.


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<pb/>Then Ishmael carried away captive all the residue of the people who were in Mizpah, even the king's daughters and all the people who remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive and departed to go over to the sons of Ammon.


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<pb/>But when Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces who were with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done,


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then they took all the men and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon.


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<pb/>Now it happened that, when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces who were with him, then they were glad.


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So all the people that Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned about and came back and went to Johanan the son of Kareah.


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<pb/>But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men and went to the sons of Ammon.


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<pb/>Then Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces who were with him, took all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, namely, the men of war and the women and the sons and the eunuchs, whom he had brought back from Gibeon.


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<pb/>And they departed and dwelt in Geruth   <n>{inn of}</n>   Chimham, which is by Bethlehem, to go to enter into Egypt


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because of the Chaldeans, for they were afraid of them because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor over the land.


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<pb/>Then all the captains of the forces and Johanan the son of Kareah and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah and all the people from the least even to the greatest, came near,


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and said to Jeremiah the prophet, Please let our supplication be presented before you and pray for us to Jehovah your God, even for all this remnant, for we are left but a few of many, as your eyes do behold us,


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<pb/>Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, I have heard you*. Behold, I will pray to Jehovah your* God according to your* words and it will happen that whatever thing Jehovah will answer you*, I will declare it to you*. I will keep nothing back from you*.


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<pb/>Then they said to Jeremiah, Jehovah be a true and faithful witness among us, if we do not according to all the word with which Jehovah your God will send you to us.


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Whether it is good, or whether it is evil, we will obey the voice of Jehovah our God, to whom we send you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of Jehovah our God.


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Then he called Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces who were with him and all the people from the least even to the greatest,


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and said to them, Jehovah says thus, the God of Israel, to whom you* sent me to present your* supplication before him:


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If you* will still abide in this land, then I will build you* and not pull you* down and I will plant you* and not pluck you* up, for I relent of the evil that I have done to you*.


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<pb/>Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you* are afraid. Do not be afraid of him, says Jehovah, for I am with you* to save you* and to deliver you* from his hand.


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And I will grant you* mercy, that he may have mercy upon you* and cause you* to return to your* own land.


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<pb/>But if you* say, We will not dwell in this land, so that you* do not obey the voice of Jehovah your* God,


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saying, No, but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we will see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread and we will dwell there —


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<pb/>Now therefore hear the word of Jehovah, O remnant of Judah. Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel: If you* indeed set your* faces to enter into Egypt and go to journey there,


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then it will happen, that the sword, which you* fear, will overtake you* there in the land of Egypt and the famine, of which you* are afraid, will follow hard after you* there in Egypt and there you* will die.


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<pb/>So will it be with all the men who set their faces to go into Egypt to journey there. They will die by the sword, by the famine and by the pestilence and none of them will remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them.


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<pb/>For Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel: As my anger and my wrath has been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so will my wrath be poured forth upon you* when you* will enter into Egypt. And you* will be an execration and an astonishment and a curse and a reproach. And you* will see this place no more.


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<pb/>Jehovah has spoken concerning you*, O remnant of Judah, Go not into Egypt. Know certainly that I have testified to you* this day.


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<pb/>For you* made your* own souls go-astray. For you* sent me to Jehovah your* God, saying, Pray for us to Jehovah our God and according to all that Jehovah our God will say, so declare to us and we will do it.


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And I have this day declared it to you*. But you* have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah your* God in anything for which he has sent me to you*.


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<pb/>Now therefore know certainly that you* will die by the sword, by the famine and by the pestilence, in the place where you* desire to go to journey there.


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<pb/>And it happened that, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking to all the people all the words of Jehovah their God, with which Jehovah their God had sent him to them, even all these words,


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then Azariah the son of Hoshaiah and Johanan the son of Kareah and all the proud men, spoke, saying to Jeremiah, You speak falsely. Jehovah our God has not sent you to say, You* will not go into Egypt to journey there.


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But Baruch the son of Neriah set upon you against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may put us to death and carry us away captive to Babylon.


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<pb/>So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces and all the people, did not obey the voice of Jehovah, to dwell in the land of Judah.


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<pb/>But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, who were returned from all the nations where they had been driven to journey in the land of Judah,


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the men and the women and the sons and the king's daughters and every person that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan and Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah,


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and they came into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of Jehovah. And they came to Tahpanhes.


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Take great stones in your hand and hide them in mortar in the brickwork, which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah,


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and say to them, Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid and he will spread his royal pavilion over them.


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<pb/>And he will come and will kill* the land of Egypt, such as are for death, to death and such as are for captivity, to captivity and such as are for the sword, to the sword.


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<pb/>And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt and he will burn them and carry them away captive. And he will array himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd puts on his garment and he will go forth from there in peace.


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He will also break the pillars of Beth-shemesh that is in the land of Egypt. And the houses of the gods of Egypt he will burn with fire.


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<pb/>The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who dwelt in the land of Egypt, who dwelt at Migdol and at Tahpanhes and at Memphis and in the country of Pathros, saying,


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Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel: You* have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah. And behold, this day they are a desolation. And no man dwells in it


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because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense and to serve other gods, that they did not know, neither they, nor you*, nor your* fathers.


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<pb/>However I sent all my servants the prophets to you*, rising up early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not do this abominable thing that I hate.


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But they listened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense to other gods.


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<pb/>Therefore my wrath and my anger was poured forth and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem and they are wasted and desolate, as it is this day.


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<pb/>Therefore now Jehovah says thus, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you* commit this great evil against your* own souls, to cut off from you* man and woman, infant and nursing-baby, out of the midst of Judah, to leave you* none remaining,


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in that you* provoke me to anger with the works of your* hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you* have gone to journey, that you* may be cut off and that you* may be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?


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<pb/>Have you* forgotten the wickedness of your* fathers and the wickedness of the kings of Judah and the wickedness of their wives and your* own wickedness and the wickedness of your* wives which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?


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<pb/>They are not humbled even to this day. Neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you* and before your* fathers.


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<pb/>Therefore Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set my face against you* for evil, even to cut off all Judah.


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And I will take the remnant of Judah, who have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to journey there and they will all be consumed. In the land of Egypt they will fall. They will be consumed by the sword and by the famine. They will die, from the least even to the greatest, by the sword and by the famine and they will be an execration and an astonishment and a curse and a reproach.


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<pb/>For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine and by the pestilence,


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so that none of the remnant of Judah who have gone into the land of Egypt to journey there, will escape or be left to return into the land of Judah, to which they have a desire to return to dwell there. For none will return except such as will escape.


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<pb/>Then all the men who knew that their wives burned incense to other gods and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, even all the people who dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,


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<pb/>But we will certainly perform every word that has gone forth out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our rulers, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food and were well and saw no evil.


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<pb/>But since we left off burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked all things and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.


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<pb/>And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make her cakes to worship her and pour out drink offerings to her, without our husbands?


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<pb/>Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men and to the women, even to all the people who had given him that answer, saying,


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The incense that you* burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you* and your* fathers, your* kings and your* rulers and the people of the land, did Jehovah not remember them and did it not come into his mind?


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So that Jehovah could no longer bear, because of the evil of your* practices and because of the abominations which you* have committed. Therefore your* land has become a desolation and an astonishment and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day.


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Because you* have burned incense and because you* have sinned against Jehovah and have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies, therefore this evil has happened to you*, as it is this day.


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<pb/>Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people and to all the women, Hear the word of Jehovah, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt:


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Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel, saying, You* and your* wives have both spoken with your* mouths and with your* hands have fulfilled it, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her. Establish then your* vows and perform your* vows.


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<pb/>Therefore hear the word of Jehovah, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by my great name, says Jehovah, that my name will no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, As the lord Jehovah lives.


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<pb/>Behold, I watch over them for evil and not for good. And all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there is an end of them.


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<pb/>And those who escape the sword will return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, few in number. And all the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to journey there, will know whose word will stand, mine, or theirs.


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<pb/>And this will be the sign to you*, says Jehovah, that I will punish you* in this place, that you* may know that my words will surely stand against you* for evil:


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Jehovah says thus: Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra King of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life, as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and sought his life.


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<pb/>The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these word in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying,


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You said, Woe is me now! For Jehovah has added sorrow to my pain. I am weary with my groaning and I find no rest.


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<pb/>Thus you will say to him, Jehovah says thus: Behold, what I have built I will break down and what I have planted I will pluck up and this in the whole land.


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<pb/>And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not, for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, says Jehovah, but your life I will give to you for a prey in all places where you go.


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<pb/>Of Egypt, concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco, King of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon killed* in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:


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Harness the horses and get up, you* horsemen and stand forth with your* helmets. Furbish the spears. Put on the coats of mail.


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Why have I seen it? <pb/>They are dismayed and have turned backward. And their mighty ones are beaten down and have fled in flight and do not look back. Terror is on every side, says Jehovah.


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Do not let the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape. In the north by the river Euphrates they have stumbled and fallen.


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Egypt rises up like the Nile and his waters toss themselves like the rivers. And he says, I will rise up. I will cover the earth. I will destroy cities and the inhabitants of it.


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<pb/>Go up, you* horses and rage, you* chariots. And let the mighty men go forth: Cush and Put, who handle the shield and the Ludim, who handle and bend the bow.


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For that day is a day of the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries. And the sword will devour and be satiate and will drink its fill of their blood, for the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.


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<pb/>Go up into Gilead and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt. In vain do you use many medicines; there is no healing for you.


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The nations have heard of your shame and the earth is full of your cry. For the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty; they are fallen, both of them together.


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<pb/>The word that Jehovah spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon should come and kill* the land of Egypt.


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<pb/>Declare in Egypt and proclaim in Migdol and proclaim in Memphis and in Tahpanhes. Say you*, Stand forth and prepare you, for the sword has devoured all around you.


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<pb/>He made many to stumble, yes, they fell one upon another. And they said, Arise and let us go again to our own people and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.


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<pb/>As I live, says the King, whose name is Jehovah of hosts, surely like Tabor among the mountains and like Carmel by the sea, so will he come.


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<pb/>O you daughter who dwells in Egypt, prepare yourself to go into captivity. For Memphis will become a desolation and will be burnt up, without inhabitant.


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Also her hired men in the midst of her are like calves of the stall, for they also are turned back. They have fled away together. They did not stand, for the day of their calamity has come upon them, the time of their visitation.


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Its sound will go like the serpent, for they will march with an army and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.


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<pb/>They will cut down her forest, says Jehovah, though it cannot be searched because they are more than the locusts and are innumerable.


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The daughter of Egypt will be put to shame. She will be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.


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<pb/>Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, says, Behold, I will punish Amon of No and Pharaoh and Egypt, with their gods and their kings, even Pharaoh and those who trust in him.


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And I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of his servants. And afterwards it will be inhabited, as in the days of long-ago, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>But do not fear, O Jacob my servant, nor be dismayed, O Israel. For behold, I will save you from afar and your seed from the land of their captivity. And Jacob will return and will be quiet and at ease and none will make him afraid.


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<pb/>Do not fear, O Jacob my servant, says Jehovah, for I am with you. For I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you, but I will not make a full end of you. But I will discipline you in measure and will in no way leave you unpunished.


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<pb/>The word of Jehovah that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh killed* Gaza.


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Jehovah says thus: Behold, waters rise up out of the north and will become an overflowing stream and will overflow the land and all that is in it, the city and those who dwell in it. And the men will cry and all the inhabitants of the land will wail


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at the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong ones, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels. The fathers do not look back to their sons for feebleness of hands,


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because of the day that comes to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains. For Jehovah will destroy the Philistines, the remnant of the isle of Caphtor.


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Baldness has come upon Gaza. Ashkelon is brought to nothing, the remnant of their valley. How long will you cut yourself?


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<pb/>O you sword of Jehovah, how long will you be quiet? Put up yourself into your scabbard. Rest and be still.


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How can you be quiet, since Jehovah has given you a charge against Ashkelon and against the sea-shore. He has appointed it there.


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<pb/>Of Moab. Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel: Woe to Nebo! For it is laid waste. Kiriathaim is put to shame; it is taken. The fortress is put to shame and broken down.


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The praise of Moab is no more. In Heshbon they have devised evil against her: Come and let us cut her off from being a nation. You also, O madmen, will be brought to silence. The sword will pursue you.


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For they will go up by the ascent of Luhith with continual weeping, for at the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distress of the cry of destruction.


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<pb/>For, because you have trusted in your works and in your treasures, you also will be taken. And Chemosh will go forth into captivity, his priests and his rulers together.


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And the destroyer will come upon every city and no city will escape. The valley also will perish and the plain will be destroyed, as Jehovah has spoken.


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<pb/>Give wings to Moab, that she may fly and get her away. And her cities will become a desolation, without any to dwell in it.


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Cursed be he who does the work of Jehovah negligently and cursed be he who keeps back his sword from blood.


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<pb/>Moab has been at ease from his youth and he has settled on his lees and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into captivity. Therefore his taste remains in him and his scent is not changed.


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<pb/>Therefore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will send to him those who pour off and they will pour him off. And they will empty his vessels and smash their jugs.


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Moab is laid waste and they have gone up into his cities. And his chosen young men have gone down to the slaughter, says the King, whose name is Jehovah of hosts.


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All you* who are all around him, sympathize with him and all you* who know his name, say, How the strong staff has broken, the beautiful rod!


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<pb/>O you daughter who dwells in Dibon, come down from your glory and sit in thirst, for the destroyer of Moab has come up against you. He has destroyed your strongholds.


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O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way and watch. Ask he who flees and she who escapes. Say, What has been done?


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Moab is put to shame, for it is broken down. Wail and cry, tell it by the Arnon, that Moab is laid waste.


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<pb/>And judgment has come upon the plain country: upon Holon and upon Jahzah   <n>{Jahaz}</n>   and upon Mephaath,


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<pb/>You* make him drunken, for he magnified himself against Jehovah. And Moab will wallow in his vomit and he also will be a laughing-stock.


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<pb/>For was not Israel a laughing-stock to you? Was he found among thieves? For as often as you speak of him, you wag the head.


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<pb/>O you* inhabitants of Moab, leave the cities and dwell in the rock and be like the dove that makes her nest over the mouth of the abyss.


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<pb/>We have heard of the pride of Moab, that he is very proud, his loftiness and his pride and his arrogance and the haughtiness of his heart.


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<pb/>Therefore I will wail for Moab, yes, I will cry out for all Moab. For they will mourn the men of Kir-heres.


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With more than the weeping of Jazer I will weep for you, O vine of Sibmah. Your branches passed over the sea. They reached even to the sea of Jazer. The destroyer has fallen upon your summer fruits and upon your vintage.


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And gladness and joy is taken away from the fruitful field and from the land of Moab. And I have caused wine to cease from the winepresses. None will tread with shouting. The shouting will be no shouting.


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From the cry of Heshbon even to Elealeh, even to Jahaz they have uttered their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim, to Eglath-shelishiyah. For the waters of Nimrim also will become desolate.


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<pb/>Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, says Jehovah, he who offers in the high place and he who burns incense to his gods.


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<pb/>Therefore my heart roars for Moab like pipes and my heart roars like pipes for the men of Kir-heres. Therefore the abundance that he has gotten has perished.


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For every head is bald and every beard clipped. Upon all the hands are cuttings and upon the loins sackcloth.


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On all the housetops of Moab and in the streets of it, there is lamentation everywhere. <pb/>For I have broken Moab like a vessel of which none delights, says Jehovah.


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How it is broken down! How they do wail! How Moab has turned the back with shame! So Moab will become a laughing-stock and a horror to all who are all around him.


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<pb/>For Jehovah says thus: Behold, he will fly as an eagle and will spread out his wings against Moab.


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Kerioth is taken and the strongholds are seized and the heart of the mighty men of Moab at that day will be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.


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He who flees from the fear will fall into the pit and he who gets up out of the pit will be taken in the snare. For I will bring upon him, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation, says Jehovah.


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Those who fled stand without strength under the shadow of Heshbon. For a fire has gone forth out of Heshbon and a flame from the midst of Sihon and has devoured the corner of Moab and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.


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<pb/>Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh is undone, for your sons are taken away captive and your daughters into captivity.


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Yet I will bring back the captivity of Moab in the latter days, says Jehovah. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.


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<pb/>Concerning the sons of Ammon. Jehovah says thus: Has Israel no sons? Has he no heir? Why then does Malcam possess Gad and his people dwell in the cities of it?


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Therefore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon and it will become a desolate heap and her daughters will be burned with fire. Then Israel will possess those who possessed him, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste. Cry, you* daughters of Rabbah. Gird you* with sackcloth. Lament and run to and fro among the fences. For Malcam will go into captivity, his priests and his rulers together.


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Why do you glory in the valleys, your flowing valley? O backsliding daughter, who trusted in her treasures, saying, Who will come to me?


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<pb/>Behold, I will bring a fear upon you, says the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, from all who are all around you. And you* will be driven out every man straight forth and there will be none to gather together the fugitives.


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<pb/>Of Edom. Jehovah of hosts says thus: Is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished?


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Flee you*, turn back, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Dedan. For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I will visit him.


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<pb/>If grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? If thieves by night, would they not destroy till they had enough?


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But I have made Esau bare. I have uncovered his secret places and he will not be able to hide himself. His seed is destroyed and his brothers and his neighbors and he is not.


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For Jehovah says thus: Behold, those to whom it did not pertain to drink of the cup will assuredly drink. And are you he who will go altogether unpunished? You will not go unpunished, but you will surely drink.


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For I have sworn by myself, says Jehovah, that Bozrah will become an astonishment, a reproach, a waste and a curse and all the cities of it will be everlasting wastes.


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I have heard news from Jehovah. And an ambassador is sent among the nations, saying, Gather yourselves together and come against her and rise up to the battle.


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<pb/>As for your formidableness, the pride of your heart has deceived you, O you who dwells in the clefts of the rock, who holds the height of the hill. Though you should make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>And Edom will become an astonishment. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished and will hiss at all the plagues of it.


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As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities of it, says Jehovah, no man will dwell there, nor will any son of man journey in it.


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<pb/>Behold, he will come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation. For I will suddenly make them run away from it. And he who is chosen, him I will appoint over it. For who is like me and who will appoint a time for me and who is the shepherd who will stand before me?


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<pb/>Therefore hear the counsel of Jehovah that he has taken against Edom and his purposes, that he has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely they will drag them away, even the little ones of the flock. Surely he will make their habitation desolate over them.


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<pb/>The earth trembles at the noise of their fall. There is a cry; the noise of it is heard in the Red Sea.


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Behold, he will come up and fly as the eagle and spread out his wings against Bozrah. And the heart of the mighty men of Edom at that day will be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.


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<pb/>Of Damascus. Hamath is confounded and Arpad, for they have heard evil news. They are melted away. There is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet.


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Damascus has grown feeble. She turns herself to flee and trembling has seized on her. Anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her, as of a woman in travail.


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Therefore her young men will fall in her streets and all the men of war will be brought to silence in that day, says Jehovah of hosts.


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<pb/>Of Kedar and of the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon killed*. Jehovah says thus: You*, arise. Go up to Kedar and destroy the sons of the east.


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They will take their tents and their flocks. They will carry away for themselves their curtains and all their vessels and their camels. And they will cry to them, Terror on every side!


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Flee you*. Wander far off. Dwell in the depths, O you* inhabitants of Hazor, says Jehovah. For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you* and has conceived a purpose against you*.


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<pb/>Arise, you* get up to a nation that is at ease, that dwells without worry, says Jehovah, that has neither gates nor bars, that dwells alone.


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And their camels will be a booty and the multitude of their cattle a spoil. And I will scatter to all winds those who have the corners of their hair cut off. And I will bring their calamity from every side of them, says Jehovah.


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And Hazor will be a dwelling-place of jackals, a everlasting desolation. No man will dwell there, nor will any son of man journey in it.


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<pb/>The word of Jehovah that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,


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And upon Elam I will bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven and will scatter them toward all those winds. And there will be no nation where the outcasts of Elam will not come.


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<pb/>And I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies and before those who seek their life. And I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, says Jehovah. And I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them.


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<pb/>The word that Jehovah spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet.


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<pb/>Declare among the nations and proclaim and set up a standard, proclaim and conceal not. Say, Babylon is taken. Bel is put to shame. Merodach is dismayed. Her images are put to shame; her idols are dismayed.


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For out of the north there comes up a nation against her, which will make her land desolate and none will dwell in it. They are fled. They are gone, both man and beast.


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<pb/>In those days and in that time, says Jehovah, the sons of Israel will come, they and the sons of Judah together. They will go on their way weeping and will seek Jehovah their God.


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They will inquire concerning Zion with their faces toward it, saying, Come and join yourselves to Jehovah in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.


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<pb/>My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have made them go-astray. They have turned them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill. They have forgotten their resting-place.


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All who found them have devoured them and their adversaries said, We are not guilty, because they have sinned against Jehovah, the habitation of righteousness, even Jehovah, the hope of their fathers.


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<pb/>Flee out of the midst of Babylon and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans and be as the male-goats before the flocks.


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For behold, I will stir up and cause to come up against Babylon a company of great nations from the north country and they will set themselves in array against her. From there she will be taken. Their arrows will be as of an expert mighty man; none will return in vain.


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<pb/>Because you* are glad, because you* rejoice, O you* who plunder my heritage, because you* are wanton as a heifer that treads out the grain and neigh as strong horses,


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your* mother will be utterly put to shame. She who bore you* will be confounded. Behold, she will be the hindermost of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land and a desert.


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Because of the wrath of Jehovah she will not be inhabited, but she will be entirely desolate. Everyone who goes by Babylon will be astonished and hiss at all her plagues.


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<pb/>Set yourselves in array against Babylon all around, all you* who bend the bow. Shoot at her; spare no arrows. For she has sinned against Jehovah.


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Shout against her all around. She has submitted herself. Her ramparts are fallen. Her walls are thrown down. For it is the vengeance of Jehovah. Take vengeance upon her. As she has done, do to her.


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Cut off the sower from Babylon and he who handles the sickle in the time of harvest. For fear of the oppressing sword they will turn each one to his people and they will flee each one to his own land.


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<pb/>Israel is a hunted sheep, the lions have driven him away. First, the king of Assyria devoured him and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.


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<pb/>Therefore Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel: Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.


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And I will bring Israel again to his pasture and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan and his soul will be satisfied upon the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead.


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<pb/>In those days and in that time, says Jehovah, the iniquity of Israel will be sought for and there will be none and the sins of Judah and they will not be found. For I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.


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<pb/>Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it and against the inhabitants of Pekod. Kill and utterly destroy after them, says Jehovah and do according to all that I have commanded you.


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How the hammer of the whole earth is cut apart and broken! How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!


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<pb/>I have laid a snare for you and you are also taken, O Babylon and you were not aware. You are found and also caught, because you have striven against Jehovah.


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Jehovah has opened his armory and has brought out the weapons of his indignation, for the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, has a work in the land of the Chaldeans.


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<pb/>Come against her from the utmost border. Open her store-houses. Cast her up as heaps and destroy her utterly; let nothing of her be left.


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Kill all her bullocks. Let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their visitation.


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<pb/>The voice of those who flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of Jehovah our God, the vengeance of his temple.


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Call together the archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Encamp against her all around; let none of it escape. <pb/>Recompense <i>to</i> her according to her work. According to all that she has done, do to her. For she has been proud against Jehovah, against the Holy One of Israel.


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Therefore her young men will fall in her streets and all her men of war will be brought to silence in that day, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>Behold, I am against you, O you proud one, says the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, for your day has come, the time that I will visit you.


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And the proud one will stumble and fall and none will raise him up. And I will kindle a fire in his cities and it will devour all who are all around him.


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<pb/>Jehovah of hosts says thus: The sons of Israel and the sons of Judah are oppressed together and all who took them captive hold them firm; they refuse to let them go.


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<pb/>Their Redeemer is strong. Jehovah of hosts is his name. He will thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth and shake the inhabitants of Babylon.


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<pb/>A sword is upon the Chaldeans, says Jehovah and upon the inhabitants of Babylon and upon her rulers and upon her wise men.


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A sword is upon the boasters and they will become fools. A sword is upon her mighty men and they will be dismayed.


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A sword is upon their horses and upon their chariots and upon all the mixed people who are in the midst of her and they will become as women. A sword is upon her treasures and they will be robbed.


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<pb/>A drought is upon her waters and they will be dried up. For it is a land of graven images and they are mad over idols.


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Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wolves will dwell there and the ostriches will dwell in it. And it will no more be everlasting inhabited, nor will it be dwelt in from generation to generation.


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As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities of it, says Jehovah, so will no man dwell there, nor will any son of man journey in it.


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<pb/>Behold, a people comes from the north and a great nation and many kings will be stirred up from the outermost parts of the earth.


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They lay hold on bow and spear. They are cruel and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea and they ride upon horses, each one set in array, as a man to the battle, against you, O daughter of Babylon.


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<pb/>The king of Babylon has heard the news of them and his hands grow feeble. Anguish has taken hold of him and pangs as of a woman in travail.


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Behold, the enemy will come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation. For I will suddenly make them run away from it and he who is chosen, him I will appoint over it. <pb/>For who is like me and who will appoint a time for me and who is the shepherd who can stand before me?


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<pb/>Therefore hear the counsel of Jehovah, that he has taken against Babylon and his purposes, that he has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely they will drag them away, even the little ones of the flock. Surely he will make their habitation desolate over them.


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<pb/>Jehovah says thus: Behold, I will raise up against Babylon and against those who dwell in Leb-kamai, a destroying wind.


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And I will send strangers to Babylon, who will winnow her and they will empty her land. For in the day of trouble they will be against her all around.


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<pb/>Against he who bends let the archer bend his bow and against he who lifts himself up in his coat of mail. And spare you* not her young men. Destroy utterly all her host.


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<pb/>For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, of his God, of Jehovah of hosts, though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.


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<pb/>Flee out of the midst of Babylon and save every man his life. Do not be cut off in her iniquity, for it is the time of Jehovah's vengeance; he will render to her a recompense.


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<pb/>Babylon has been a golden cup in Jehovah's hand, that made all the earth drunken. The nations have drunk of her wine, therefore the nations are mad.


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Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed. Wail for her. Take balm for her pain, perhaps she may be healed.


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We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her and let us go each one into his own country. For her judgment reaches to heaven and is lifted up even to the skies.


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<pb/>Jehovah has brought out our righteousness. Come and let us declare in Zion the work of Jehovah our God.


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Make sharp the arrows. Hold firm the shields. Jehovah has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it. For it is the vengeance of Jehovah, the vengeance of his temple.


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<pb/>Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon. Make the watch strong. Set the watchmen. Prepare the ambushes. For Jehovah has both purposed and done what he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.


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O you who dwell upon many waters, abundant in treasures, your end has come, the measure of your covetousness.


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<pb/>Jehovah of hosts has sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill you with men as with the canker-worm and they will lift up a shout against you.


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<pb/>Every man has become stupid, without knowledge. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his image, for his molten image is falsehood and there is no breath in them.


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<pb/>The portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the former of all things and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. Jehovah of hosts is his name.


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<pb/>You are my battle-axe and weapons of war. And with you I will smash the nations and with you I will destroy kingdoms,


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and with you I will smash the chariot and he who rides in it and with you I will smash man and woman and with you I will smash the old man and the youth and with you I will smash the young man and the virgin,


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and with you I will smash the shepherd and his flock and with you I will smash the farmer and his yoke of oxen and with you I will smash governors and deputies.


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<pb/>And I will render to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your* sight, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, says Jehovah, which destroys all the earth. And I will stretch out my hand upon you and roll you down from the rocks and will make you a burnt mountain.


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And they will not take from you a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations, but you will be desolate forever, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>Set up a standard in the land. Blow the trumpet among the nations. Prepare the nations against her. Call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz. Appoint a marshal against her. Cause the horses to come up as the rough canker-worm.


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Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, the governors of it and all the deputies of it and all the land of their dominion.


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<pb/>And the land trembles and is in pain, for the purposes of Jehovah against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant. <pb/>The mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting; they remain in their strongholds. Their might has failed. They have become as women.


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One post will run to meet another and one messenger to met another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter.


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And the passages are seized and the reeds they have burned with fire and the men of war are frightened.


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<pb/>For Jehovah of hosts says thus, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-floor at the time when it is trodden. Yet a little while and the time of harvest will come for her.


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<pb/>Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me. He has crushed me. He has made me an empty vessel. He has, like a monster, swallowed me up. He has filled his stomach with my delicacies. He has cast me out.


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The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, the inhabitant of Zion will say. And, My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, Jerusalem will say.


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<pb/>Therefore Jehovah says thus: Behold, I will plead your cause and take vengeance for you. And I will dry up her sea and make her fountain dry.


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And Babylon will become heaps, a dwelling-place for jackals, an astonishment and a hissing, without inhabitant.


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When they are heated, I will make their feast. And I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice and sleep an everlasting sleep and not wake, says Jehovah.


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<pb/>How Sheshach is taken and the praise of the whole earth seized! How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!


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<pb/>Her cities have become a desolation, a dry land and a desert, a land in which no man dwells, nor does any son of man pass by it.


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And I will execute judgment upon Bel in Babylon and I will bring forth out of his mouth what he has swallowed up. And the nations will not flow any more to him. Yes, the wall of Babylon will fall.


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<pb/>My people, go out of the midst of her and save yourselves each man from the fierce anger of Jehovah.


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And do not let your* heart faint. Neither fear for the news that will be heard in the land. For news will come one year and after that in another year, news and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.


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<pb/>Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will execute judgment upon the graven images of Babylon. And her whole land will be confounded and all her slain will fall in the midst of her.


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<pb/>Then the heavens and the earth and all that is in it, will sing for joy over Babylon. For the destroyers will come to her from the north, says Jehovah.


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As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon will fall the slain of all the land.


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<pb/>You* who have escaped the sword, go; do not stand still. Remember Jehovah from afar and let Jerusalem come into your* mind.


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We are confounded, because we have heard reproach. Confusion has covered our faces. For strangers have come into the sanctuaries of Jehovah's house.


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<pb/>Therefore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will execute judgment upon her graven images and through all her land the wounded will groan.


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Though Babylon should mount up to heaven and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me destroyers will come to her, says Jehovah.


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For Jehovah lays Babylon waste and destroys the great voice out of her and their waves roar like many waters; the noise of their voice is uttered.


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For the destroyer has come upon her, even upon Babylon and her mighty men are taken. Their bows are broken in pieces. <pb/>For Jehovah is a God of recompenses; he will surely reward.


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<pb/>And I will make drunk her rulers and her wise men, her governors and her deputies and her mighty men. And they will sleep a everlasting sleep and not wake, says the King, whose name is Jehovah of hosts.


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<pb/>Jehovah of hosts says thus: The broad walls of Babylon will be utterly overthrown and her high gates will be burned with fire. And the peoples will labor for vanity and the nations for the fire and they will be weary.


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<pb/>The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was a leader at rest.


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<pb/>And Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that would come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon.


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And say, O Jehovah, you have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that none will dwell in it, neither man nor beast, but that it will be everlasting desolate.


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<pb/>And it will be, when you have made an end of reading this book, that you will bind a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates.


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And you will say, Thus Babylon will sink and will not rise again because of the evil that I will bring upon her and they will be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.


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<pb/>Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.


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For it happened through the anger of Jehovah, in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.


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<pb/>And it happened in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army against Jerusalem and encamped against it. And they built forts against it all around.


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In the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.


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<pb/>Then a breach was made in the city and all the men of war fled and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden, (now the Chaldeans were against the city all around ) and they went toward the Arabah.


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But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho and all his army was scattered from him.


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<pb/>Then they took the king and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath and he gave judgment upon him.


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And the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. He also killed all the rulers of Judah in Riblah.


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And he put out the eyes of Zedekiah. And the king of Babylon bound him in fetters and carried him to Babylon and put him in prison till the day of his death.


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<pb/>Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, who stood before the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem.


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And he burned the house of Jehovah and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem. Even every great house, he burned with fire.


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And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around.


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<pb/>Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the poorest of the people and the residue of the people who were left in the city and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon and the residue of the multitude.


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But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to be vine-dressers and farmer.


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<pb/>And the pillars of brass that were in the house of Jehovah and the bases and the brazen sea that were in the house of Jehovah, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.


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The pots also and the shovels and the snuffers and the basins and the spoons and all the vessels of brass with which they ministered, they took away.


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And the cups and the censors and the basins and the pots and the lamp-stands and the spoons and the bowls — what was from gold, in gold and what was from silver, in silver — the captain of the guard took away.


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<pb/>The two pillars, the one sea and the twelve brazen bulls that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made for the house of Jehovah — the brass of all these vessels was without weight.


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And as for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits and a line of twelve cubits encompassed it and the thickness of it was four fingers; it was hollow.


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And a capital of brass was upon it. And the height of the one capital was five cubits, with lattice-work and pomegranates upon the capital all around, all of brass. And the second pillar also had like these and pomegranates.


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And there were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides. All the pomegranates were a hundred upon the lattice-work all around.


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And from the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war and seven men of those who saw the king's face, who were found in the city and the scribe of the captain of the army who mustered the people of the land and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city.


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<pb/>This is the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: In the seventh year three thousand twenty-three Jews.


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In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty-two persons.


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In the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty-five persons. All the persons were four thousand six hundred.


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<pb/>And it happened in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the twenty-fifth day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him forth out of prison.


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<pb/>And he spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon,


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And for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.


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<pb/>How the city sits solitary, that was full of people! She has become as a widow, who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become forced-labor!


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<pb/>She weeps bitterly in the night and her tears are on her cheeks. Among all her loved ones she has none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they have become her enemies.


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<pb/>Judah has gone into captivity because of affliction. And because of great servitude she dwells among the nations. She finds no rest. All her persecutors overtook her in the distress.


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<pb/>The ways of Zion mourn, because none come to the solemn assembly. All her gates are desolate. Her priests sigh. Her virgins are afflicted and she herself is in bitterness.


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<pb/>Her adversaries have become the head. Her enemies prosper. For Jehovah has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions. Her young sons have gone into captivity before the adversary.


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<pb/>And from the daughter of Zion all her majesty is departed. Her rulers have become like male-deers that find no pasture. And they have gone without strength before the pursuer.


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<pb/>Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that were from the days of long-ago. When her people fell into the hand of the adversary and none helped her, the adversaries saw her; they mocked at her desolations.


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<pb/>Jerusalem has grievously sinned, therefore she has become as an unclean thing. All who honored her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness. Yes, she sighs and turns backward.


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<pb/>Her filthiness was in her skirts. She did not think of her latter end. Therefore she has come down astonishingly. She has no comforter. <pb/>Behold, O Jehovah, my affliction, for the enemy has magnified himself.


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The adversary has spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things. For she has seen that the nations have entered into her sanctuary, concerning whom you commanded that they should not enter into your assembly.


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<pb/>All her people sigh. They seek bread. They have given their pleasant things for food to refresh the soul. See, O Jehovah, and behold, for I have become vile.


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<pb/>Is it nothing to you*, all you* who pass by? Behold and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which is brought upon me, with which Jehovah has afflicted in the day of his fierce anger.


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From on high he has sent fire into my bones and it prevails against them. He has spread a net for my feet. He has turned me back. He has made me desolate and faint all the day.


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<pb/>The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand. They are knit together. They have come up upon my neck. He has made my strength to fail. The Lord has delivered me into their hands, against whom I am not able to stand.


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<pb/>The Lord has tossed-aside all my mighty men in the midst of me. He has called a solemn assembly against me to crush my young men. The Lord has trodden the virgin daughter of Judah as in a winepress.


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<pb/>For these things I weep. My eye, my eye runs down with water, because the comforter who should refresh my soul is far from me. My sons are desolate, because the enemy has prevailed.


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<pb/>Zion spreads forth her hands. There is none to comfort her. Jehovah has commanded concerning Jacob, that those who are all around him should be his adversaries. Jerusalem is among them as an unclean thing.


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<pb/>Jehovah is righteous, for I have rebelled against his commandment. Hear, I beseech you*, all you* peoples and behold my sorrow. My virgins and my young men have gone into captivity.


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<pb/>I called for my loved ones, but they deceived me. My priests and my elders gave up the spirit in the city, while they sought food for themselves to refresh their souls.


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<pb/>Behold, O Jehovah, for I am in distress. My heart is troubled. My heart is turned within me. For I have grievously rebelled. Abroad the sword bereaves; at home there is as death.


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<pb/>They have heard that I sigh. There is none to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble. They are glad that you have done it. You will bring the day that you have proclaimed and they will be like me.


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Let all their wickedness come before you and do to them, as you have done to me for all my transgressions. For my sighs are many and my heart is faint.


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<pb/>How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger! He has cast down the beauty of Israel from heaven to the earth and has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.


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The Lord has swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob and has not pitied. In his wrath he has thrown down the strongholds of the daughter of Judah. He has brought them down to the ground. He has profaned the kingdom and the rulers of it.


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<pb/>In fierce anger he has cut off all the horn of Israel. He has drawn back his right hand from before the enemy. And he has burned up Jacob like a flaming fire which devours all around.


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He has bent his bow like an enemy. He has stood with his right hand as an adversary and has slain all who were pleasant to the eye. He has poured out his wrath like fire in the tent of the daughter of Zion.


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<pb/>The Lord has become as an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces. He has destroyed his strongholds. And he has multiplied mourning and lamentation in the daughter of Judah.


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<pb/>And he has taken away his tabernacle violently, as a garden. He has destroyed his place of assembly. Jehovah has caused solemn assembly and Sabbath to be forgotten in Zion. And in the indignation of his anger has despised the king and the priest.


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<pb/>The Lord has cast off his altar. He has spurned his sanctuary. He has given up the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy. They have made a noise in the house of Jehovah, as in the day of a solemn assembly.


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<pb/>Jehovah has purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He has stretched out the line. He has not withdrawn his hand from destroying. And he has made the rampart and wall to lament, they languish together.


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Her gates are sunk into the ground. He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her rulers are among the nations where the law is not. Yes, her prophets find no vision from Jehovah.


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<pb/>The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground. They keep silence. They have cast up dust upon their heads. They have girded themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.


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<pb/>My eyes fail with tears, my heart is troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because the young sons and the nursing-babes faint in the streets of the city.


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They say to their mothers, Where is grain and wine? when they faint as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul is poured out into their mothers' bosom.


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<pb/>What shall I testify to you? What shall I liken to you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare to you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your breach is great like the sea; who can heal you?


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<pb/>Your prophets have seen false and foolish visions for you. And they have not uncovered your iniquity, to bring back your captivity, but have seen for you false oracles and causes of banishment.


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<pb/>All who pass by clap their hands at you. They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men called The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?


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All your enemies have opened their mouth wide against you. They hiss and gnash the teeth. They say, We have swallowed her up. Certainly this is the day that we looked for. We have found, we have seen it.


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<pb/>Jehovah has done what he purposed. He has fulfilled his word that he commanded in the days of long-ago. He has thrown down and has not pitied. And he has caused the enemy to rejoice over you. He has exalted the horn of your adversaries.


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<pb/>Their heart cried to the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night. Give yourself no respite. Do not let the apple of your eye cease.


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<pb/>Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches. Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up your hands toward him for the life of your young sons, who faint for hunger at the head of every street.


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<pb/>See, O Jehovah and behold to whom you have done thus! Shall the women eat their fruit, the sons who are dandled in the hands? Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?


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The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets. My virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of your anger. You have slaughtered and not pitied.


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<pb/>You have called, as in the day of a solemn assembly, my terrors on every side. And there was none who escaped or remained in the day of Jehovah's anger. My enemy has consumed those whom I have dandled and brought up.


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For though he causes grief, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.


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<pb/>How the gold has become dim, the most pure gold changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street.


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The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how they are esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!


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<pb/>Even the jackals draw out the breast; they give suck to their young ones. The daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.


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The tongue of the sucking child clings to the roof of his mouth for thirst. The young sons ask bread and no man breaks it to them.


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<pb/>Those who fed luxuriously are desolate in the streets. Those who were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.


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For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment and no hands were laid upon her.


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<pb/>Her ranking men were purer than snow. They were whiter than milk. They were more ruddy in body than rubies. Their polishing was as of sapphire.


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Their visage is blacker than a coal. They are not known in the streets. Their skin clings to their bones. It is withered. It has become like a stick.


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<pb/>Those who are slain with the sword are better than those who are slain with hunger, for these are a flowing <i>away</i>, stricken through, for want of the fruits of the field.


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<pb/>The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children. They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.


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<pb/>Jehovah has accomplished his wrath. He has poured out his fierce anger and he has kindled a fire in Zion, which has devoured the foundations of it.


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The kings of the earth did not believe, nor all the inhabitants of the world, that the adversary and the enemy would enter into the gates of Jerusalem.


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It is because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her.


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<pb/>They wander as blind men in the streets. They are polluted with blood, so that men cannot touch their garments.


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Depart, they cried to them. Unclean! Depart, depart, do not touch! When they fled away and wandered, men said among the nations, They will no more journey here.


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<pb/>The anger of Jehovah has scattered them. He will no more regard them. They did not respect the persons of the priests. They did not favor the elders.


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<pb/>Our eyes do yet fail in looking for our vain help. In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.


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They hunt our steps, so that we cannot go in our streets. Our end is near, our days are fulfilled, for our end has come.


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Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens. They chased us upon the mountains. They laid wait for us in the wilderness.


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<pb/>The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Jehovah, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we will live among the nations.


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<pb/>Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, who dwells in the land of Uz. Yet the cup will pass through to you also. You will be drunken and will make yourself naked.


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<pb/>The punishment of your iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion. He will no more carry you away into captivity. He will visit your iniquity, O daughter of Edom. He will uncover your sins.


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<pb/>Now it happened in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river Chebar, that the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.


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the word of Jehovah came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar and the hand of Jehovah was there upon him.


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<pb/>And I looked, and behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, a great cloud, with a fire enfolding itself and a brightness all around it and out of the midst of it, as it were glowing metal, out of the midst of the fire.


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<pb/>And out of the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance. They had the likeness of a man.


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And their feet were straight feet and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot and they sparkled like burnished brass.


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And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides. And those four had their faces and their wings thus:


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Their wings were joined one to another. They did not turn when they went; they went each one straight forward.


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<pb/>As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of a man. And those four had the face of a lion on the right side and those four had the face of an ox on the left side, those four also had the face of an eagle.


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And their faces and their wings were separate above, two wings of each one were joined one to another and two covered their bodies.


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<pb/>And they went each one straight forward. Where the spirit was to go, they went. They did not turn when they went.


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<pb/>As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches. It went up and down among the living creatures and the fire was bright and out of the fire went forth lightning.


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<pb/>Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold, one wheel was upon the earth beside the living creatures, for each of the four faces of it.


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The appearance of the wheels and their work was like a beryl. And those four had one likeness and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel within a wheel.


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As for their rims, they were high and fearful. And those four had their rims full of eyes all around.


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And when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them. And when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.


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<pb/>Wherever the spirit was to go, they went; there the spirit was to go. And the wheels were lifted up beside them, for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.


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When those went, these went and when those stood, these stood and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up beside them, for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.


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<pb/>And over the head of the living creature there was the likeness of an expanse, like awesome crystal to look upon, stretched forth over their heads above.


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And under the expanse their wings were straight, the one toward the other. Each one had two which covered their bodies on this side and each one had two which covered on that side.


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<pb/>And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings like the noise of great waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a noise of tumult like the noise of a host. When they stood, they let down their wings.


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And there was a voice above the expanse that was over their heads. When they stood, they let down their wings.


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<pb/>And above the expanse that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone. And upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it above.


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<pb/>And I saw as it were glowing metal, as the appearance of fire within it all around, from the appearance of his loins and upward. And from the appearance of his loins and downward I saw as it were the appearance of fire. And there was brightness all around him.


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<pb/>As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Jehovah. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face and I heard a voice speaking.


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And the Spirit entered into me when he spoke to me and set me upon my feet. And I heard he who spoke to me.


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<pb/>And he said to me, Son of man, I send you to the sons of Israel, to nations that are rebellious, which have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me even to this very day.


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And the sons are impudent and stiff hearted. <pb/>I send you to them and you will say to them, The Lord says thus Jehovah.


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And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear (for they are a rebellious house), yet will know that there has been a prophet among them.


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<pb/>And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you dwell among scorpions. Do not be afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.


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<pb/>And you will speak my words to them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, for they are most rebellious.


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But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. <pb/>Open your mouth and eat what I give you.


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And he spread it before me and it was written inside and outside. And there were written in it lamentations and mourning and woe.


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<pb/>And he said to me, Son of man, eat what you find. Eat this roll and go, speak to the house of Israel.


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And he said to me, Son of man, cause your belly to eat and fill your guts with this roll that I give you. Then I ate it and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.


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For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel,


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not to many peoples of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words you cannot understand. <pb/>Surely, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you.


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But the house of Israel will not listen to you, for they will not listen to me. For all the house of Israel are of a hard forehead and of a stiff heart.


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<pb/>Behold, I have made your face hard against their faces and your forehead hard against their foreheads.


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As an adamant, harder than flint, I have made your forehead. Fear them not, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.


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<pb/>Moreover he said to me, Son of man, all my words that I will speak to you, receive in your heart and hear with your ears.


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And go, get to those of the captivity, to the sons of your people and speak to them and tell them, The lord Jehovah says thus, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.


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<pb/>Then the Spirit lifted me up and I heard behind me the voice of a great rushing, saying, The glory of Jehovah from his place is blessed.


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And I heard the noise of the wings of the living creatures as they touched each other and the noise of the wheels beside them, even the noise of a great rushing.


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<pb/>So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away. And I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit and the hand of Jehovah was strong upon me.


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Then I came to those of the captivity at Tel-abib, who dwelt by the river Chebar and to where they dwelt. And I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days.


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Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me.


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<pb/>When I say to a wicked man, You will surely die and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked man from his wicked way, to save his life, the same wicked man will die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at your hand.


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<pb/>Yet if you warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul.


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<pb/>Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits unrighteousness and I lay a stumbling block before him, he will die. Because you have not given him warning, he will die in his sin and his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered, but I will require his blood at your hand.


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<pb/>Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man, that the righteous man not sin and he does not sin, he will surely live, because he took warning and you have delivered your soul.


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<pb/>And the hand of Jehovah was there upon me and he said to me, Arise, go forth into the plain and I will talk with you there.


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Then I arose and went forth into the plain. And behold, the glory of Jehovah stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river Chebar and I fell on my face.


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<pb/>Then the Spirit entered into me and set me upon my feet. And he spoke with me and said to me, Go, shut yourself within your house.


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But you, son of man, behold, they will lay bands upon you and will bind you with them and you will not escape from them.


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And I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, that you will be mute and will not be a reprover to them, for they are a rebellious house.


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<pb/>But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth and you will say to them, The lord Jehovah says thus. He who hears, let him hear and he who forbears, let him forbear, for they are a rebellious house.


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<pb/>You also, son of man, take a tile and lay it before you and portray upon it a city, even Jerusalem.


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And lay siege against it and build forts against it and cast up a mound against it. Also set camps against it and plant battering rams against it all around.


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And take to you an iron pan and set it for a wall of iron between you and the city. And set your face toward it and it will be besieged and you will lay siege against it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel.


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<pb/>Moreover lie you upon your left side and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. According to the number of the days that you will lie upon it, you will bear their iniquity.


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For I have appointed the years of their iniquity to be a number of days to you, even three hundred and ninety days. So you will bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.


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<pb/>And again, when you have accomplished these, you will lie on your right side and will bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days, each day for a year. I have appointed it to you.


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And you will set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm uncovered and you will prophesy against it.


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And behold, I lay bands upon you and you will not turn from one side to the other, till you have accomplished the days of your siege.


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<pb/>Also take to you wheat and barley and beans and lentils and millet and spelt and put them in one vessel and make you bread of it, according to the number of the days that you will lie upon your side, even three hundred and ninety days, you will eat of it.


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And your food which you will eat will be by weight, twenty shekels a day. You will eat it from time to time.


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<pb/>And you will eat it as barley cakes and you will bake it in their sight with manure that comes out of man.


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And Jehovah said, Even thus will the sons of Israel eat their bread unclean among the nations where I will drive them.


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<pb/>Then I said, Ah lord Jehovah! Behold, my soul has not been polluted. For from my youth up even till now I have not eaten of what dies of itself, or is torn of beasts, neither has abominable flesh come into my mouth.


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Then he said to me, See, I have given you cow's manure for man's manure and you will prepare your bread of it.


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<pb/>Moreover he said to me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem and they will eat bread by weight and with fearfulness and they will drink water by measure and in dismay,


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that they may lack bread and water and be dismayed one with another and pine away in their iniquity.


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<pb/>And you, son of man, take a sharp sword. As a barber's razor you will take it to you and will cause it to pass upon your head and upon your beard. Then take balances to weigh and divide the hair.


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<pb/>A third part you will burn in the fire in the midst of the city when the days of the siege are fulfilled and you will take a third part and kill* with the sword all around it and a third part you will scatter to the wind. And I will draw out a sword after them.


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And of these again you will take and cast them into the midst of the fire and burn them in the fire. From there a fire will come out into all the house of Israel.


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<pb/>The lord Jehovah says thus: This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the midst of the nations and countries are all around her.


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And she has rebelled against my ordinances in doing wickedness more than the nations and against my statutes more than the countries that are all around her, for they have rejected my ordinances and as for my statutes, they have not walked in them.


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<pb/>Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: Because you* are more disorderly than the nations that are all around you* and have not walked in my statutes, nor have kept my ordinances, no, you* have not even done according to the ordinances of the nations that are all around you*,


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therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, I, even I, am against you and I will execute judgments in the midst of you in the sight of the nations.


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And I will do in you what I have not done and of which I will not do any more the like, because of all your abominations.


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<pb/>Therefore the fathers will eat the sons in the midst of you and the sons will eat their fathers. And I will execute judgments on you and I will scatter to all the winds the whole remnant of you.


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<pb/>Therefore, as I live, says the lord Jehovah, surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I also will diminish you, nor will my eye spare. And I also will have no pity.


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<pb/>A third part of you will die with the pestilence and they will be consumed with famine in the midst of you and a third part will fall by the sword all around you and a third part I will scatter to all the winds and will draw out a sword after them.


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<pb/>Thus my anger will be accomplished and I will cause my wrath toward them to rest and I will be comforted. And they will know that I, Jehovah, have spoken in my zeal, when I have accomplished my wrath upon them.


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<pb/>Moreover I will make you a desolation and a reproach among the nations that are all around you, in the sight of all who pass by.


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<pb/>So it will be a reproach and a taunt, a lesson and an astonishment, to the nations that are all around you, when I will execute judgments on you in anger and in wrath and in wrathful rebukes — I, Jehovah, have spoken it–


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when I will send upon them the evil arrows of famine that are for destruction, which I will send to destroy you*. And I will increase the famine upon you* and will break your* staff of bread.


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And I will send upon you* famine and evil beasts and they will bereave you. And pestilence and blood will pass through you. And I will bring the sword upon you. I, Jehovah, have spoken it.


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and say, You* mountains of Israel, hear the word of lord Jehovah. The lord Jehovah says thus to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you* and I will destroy your* high places.


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<pb/>And your* altars will become desolate and your* sun-images will be broken and I will cast down your* slain men before your* idols.


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And I will lay the dead bodies of the sons of Israel before their idols and I will scatter your* bones all around your* altars.


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<pb/>In all your* dwelling places the cities will be laid waste and the high places will be desolate, that your* altars may be laid waste and made desolate and your* idols may be broken and cease and your* sun-images may be hewn down and your* works may be abolished.


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<pb/>Yet I will leave a remnant, in that you* will have some who escape the sword among the nations, when you* will be scattered through the countries. <pb/>And those of you* who escape will remember me among the nations where they will be carried captive, how I have broken with their lewd heart, which has departed from me and with their eyes, which play the prostitute after their idols.


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And they will loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.


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<pb/>And they will know that I am Jehovah. <pb/>I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.


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<pb/>The lord Jehovah says thus: Strike with your hand and stamp with your foot and say, Alas! because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, for they will fall by the sword, by the famine and by the pestilence.


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He who is far off will die of the pestilence and he who is near will fall by the sword and he who remains and is besieged will die by the famine. Thus I will accomplish my wrath upon them.


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<pb/>And you* will know that I am Jehovah, when their slain men will be among their idols all around their altars, upon every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains and under every green tree and under every thick oak, the places where they offered sweet aroma to all their idols.


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<pb/>And I will stretch out my hand upon them and make the land desolate and waste, from the wilderness toward Diblah, throughout all their habitations. <pb/>And they will know that I am Jehovah.


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And you, son of man, thus says the lord Jehovah to the land of Israel: An end. The end has come upon the four corners of the land.


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Now the end is upon you and I will send my anger upon you and will judge you according to your ways. And I will bring upon you all your abominations.


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And my eye will not spare you, nor will I have pity. But I will bring your ways upon you and your abominations will be in the midst of you. <pb/>And you* will know that I am Jehovah.


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Your doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land. The time has come. The day is near, tumult and not joyful shouting, upon the mountains.


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<pb/>Now I will shortly pour out my wrath upon you and accomplish my anger against you and will judge you according to your ways. And I will bring upon you all your abominations.


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And my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. I will bring upon you according to your ways. And your abominations will be in the midst of you. <pb/>And you* will know that I, Jehovah, do kill*.


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<pb/>Behold, the day, behold, it comes. Your doom has gone forth. The rod has blossomed; pride has budded.


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Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness. None of them will remain, nor of their multitude, nor of their wealth. Neither will there be distinction among them.


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<pb/>The time has come; the day draws near. Do not let the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn, for wrath is upon all the multitude of it.


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For the seller will not return to what is sold, although they are yet alive, for the vision is concerning the whole multitude of it. None will return, nor will any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.


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<pb/>They have blown the trumpet and have made all ready, but none goes to the battle, for my wrath is upon all the multitude of it.


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<pb/>The sword is outside and the pestilence and the famine inside. He who is in the field will die with the sword and he who is in the city, famine and pestilence will devour him.


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But those of them who escape will escape and will be on the mountains like doves of the valleys. All of them moaning, each one in his iniquity.


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They will also gird themselves with sackcloth and horror will cover them. And shame will be upon all faces and baldness upon all their heads.


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<pb/>They will cast their silver in the streets and their gold will be as an unclean thing. Their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of Jehovah. They will not satisfy their souls, nor fill their guts, because it has been the stumbling block of their iniquity.


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<pb/>As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty, but they made the images of their abominations and their detestable things in it. Therefore I have made it as an unclean thing to them.


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<pb/>And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil and they will profane it.


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I will also turn my face from them and they will profane my secluded place. And robbers will enter into it and profane it.


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Therefore I will bring the worst of the nations and they will possess their houses. I will also make the pride of the strong to cease and their holy places will be profaned.


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<pb/>Mischief will come upon mischief and rumor will be upon rumor. <pb/>And they will seek a vision of the prophet, but the law will perish from the priest and counsel from the elders.


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The king will mourn and the ruler will be clothed with desolation and the hands of the people of the land will be troubled. I will do to them according to their way and according to their deserts I will judge them. <pb/>And they will know that I am Jehovah.


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<pb/>And it happened in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the lord Jehovah fell there upon me.


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<pb/>Then I beheld, and behold, a likeness as the appearance of fire, from the appearance of his loins and downward, fire and from his loins and upward, as the appearance of brightness, as it were glowing metal.


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<pb/>And he put forth the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head. And the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the gate of the inner court that looks toward the north, where the seat of the image of jealousy was, which provokes to jealousy.


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<pb/>And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the appearance that I saw in the plain.


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<pb/>Then he said to me, Son of man, lift up your eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up my eyes the way toward the north, and behold, northward of the gate of the altar was this image of jealousy in the entry.


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<pb/>And he said to me, Son of man, see what they do, even the great abominations that the house of Israel commit here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? But you will again see yet other great abominations.


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Then he said to me, Son of man, dig now in the wall. And when I had dug in the wall, behold, a door.


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<pb/>So I went in and saw, and behold, every form of creeping things and abominable beasts and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall all around.


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<pb/>And there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel. And in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, each man with his censer in his hand and the odor of the cloud of incense went up.


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<pb/>Then he said to me, Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, each man in his chambers of imagery? For they say, Jehovah does not see us. Jehovah has forsaken the land.


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<pb/>Then he brought me to the door of the gate of Jehovah's house which was toward the north. And behold, there sat the women weeping for Tammuz.


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Then he said to me, Have you seen this, O son of man? You will again see yet greater abominations than these.


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<pb/>And he brought me into the inner court of Jehovah's house. And behold, at the door of the temple of Jehovah, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of Jehovah and their faces toward the east and they were worshiping the sun toward the east.


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<pb/>Then he said to me, Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence and have turned again to provoke me to anger. And behold, they put the branch to their nose.


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<pb/>Therefore I will also deal in wrath. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them.


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<pb/>Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause those who have charge over the city to draw near, each man with his destroying weapon in his hand.


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<pb/>And behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which lies toward the north, each man with his slaughter weapon in his hand and one man in the midst of them clothed in linen, with a writer's case by his side. And they went in and stood beside the brazen altar.


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<pb/>And the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub, upon which it was, to the threshold of the house and he called to the man clothed in linen who had the writer's case by his side.


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<pb/>And Jehovah said to him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men who sigh and who cry over all the abominations that are done in the midst of it.


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<pb/>And to the others he said in my hearing, Go through the city after him and kill*. Do not let your* eye spare, nor have you* pity.


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Kill utterly the old man, the young man and the virgin and little sons and women, but do not come near any man upon whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the old men who were before the house.


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<pb/>And he said to them, Defile the house and fill the courts with the slain. Go forth. And they went forth and killed* in the city.


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<pb/>And it happened, while they were slaying and I was left, that I fell upon my face and cried and said, Ah lord Jehovah! Will you destroy all the residue of Israel in your pouring out of your wrath upon Jerusalem?


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<pb/>Then he said to me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great and the land is full of blood and the city full of perverseness. For they say, Jehovah has forsaken the land and Jehovah does not see.


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And as for me also, my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity, but I will bring their way upon their head.


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<pb/>And behold, the man clothed in linen, who had the writing case by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as you have commanded me.


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<pb/>Then I looked, and behold, in the expanse that was over the head of the cherubim there appeared above them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.


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<pb/>And he spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, Go in between the whirling wheels, even under the cherub and fill both your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim and scatter them over the city. And he entered in my sight.


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<pb/>Now the cherubim stood on the right side of the house when the man went in and the cloud filled the inner court.


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And the glory of Jehovah mounted up from the cherub, over the threshold of the house. And the house was filled with the cloud and the court was full of the brightness of Jehovah's glory.


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And the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.


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<pb/>And it happened, when he commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim, that he went in and stood beside a wheel.


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And the cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between the cherubim and took and put it into the hands of him who was clothed in linen, who took it and went out.


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And I looked, and behold, four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub and another wheel beside another cherub. And the appearance of the wheels was like a beryl stone.


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<pb/>When they went, they went in their four directions. They did not turn as they went, but to the place where the head looked they followed it. They did not turn as they went.


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<pb/>And their whole body and their backs and their hands and their wings and the wheels, were full of eyes all around, even the wheels that those four had.


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<pb/>And each one had four faces. The first face was the face of the cherub and the second face was the face of a man and the third face the face of a lion and the fourth the face of an eagle.


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And when the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them. And when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the wheels also did not turn from beside them.


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When they stood, these stood and when they mounted up, these mounted up with them, for the spirit of the living creature was in them.


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<pb/>And the glory of Jehovah went forth from over the threshold of the house and stood over the cherubim.


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And the cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight when they went forth and the wheels beside them. And they stood at the door of the east gate of Jehovah's house and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.


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<pb/>This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chebar and I knew that they were cherubim.


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Each one had four faces and each one four wings. And the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings.


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And as for the likeness of their faces, they were the faces which I saw by the river Chebar, their appearances and themselves. They went each one straight forward.


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<pb/>Moreover the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of Jehovah's house, which looks eastward. And behold, at the door of the gate twenty-five men. And I saw in the midst of them Jaazaniah the son of Azzur and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, rulers of the people.


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<pb/>And he said to me, Son of man, these are the men who devise wickedness and who give wicked counsel in this city,


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<pb/>And the Spirit of Jehovah fell upon me and he said to me, Speak, Jehovah says thus: Thus you* have said, O house of Israel, for I know the things that come into your* mind.


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You* have multiplied your* slain in this city and you* have filled the streets of it with the slain.


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<pb/>Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: Your* slain whom you* have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh and this city is the caldron, but you* will be brought forth out of the midst of it.


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And I will bring you* forth out of the midst of it and deliver you* into the hands of strangers and will execute judgments among you*.


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You* will fall by the sword. I will judge you* in the border of Israel. <pb/>And you* will know that I am Jehovah.


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<pb/>This city will not be your* caldron, nor will you* be the flesh in the midst of it. I will judge you* in the border of Israel,


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and you* will know that I am Jehovah. For you* have not walked in my statutes, nor have you* executed my ordinances, but have done according to the ordinances of the nations that are all around you*.


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<pb/>And it happened, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then I fell down upon my face and cried with a loud voice and said, Ah lord Jehovah! Will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?


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Son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, the men of your kindred and all the house of Israel, all of them, are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, You* get far from Jehovah. This land is given to us for a possession.


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<pb/>Therefore say, The lord Jehovah says thus: Though I have removed them far off among the nations and though I have scattered them among the countries, yet I will be to them a sanctuary for a little while in the countries where they have come.


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<pb/>Therefore say, The lord Jehovah says thus. I will gather you* from the peoples and assemble you* out of the countries where you* have been scattered and I will give you* the land of Israel.


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And they will come there and they will take away from there all the detestable things of it and all the abominations of it.


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<pb/>And I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within you*. And I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and will give them a heart of flesh,


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that they may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and do them. And they will be my people and I will be their God.


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<pb/>But as for those whose heart walks according to the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their way upon their own heads, says the lord Jehovah.


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<pb/>Then the cherubim lifted up their wings and the wheels were beside them and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.


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And the glory of Jehovah went up from the midst of the city and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.


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<pb/>And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to those of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me.


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Son of man, you dwell in the midst of the rebellious house, that have eyes to see and do not see, that have ears to hear and do not hear, for they are a rebellious house.


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<pb/>Therefore, you son of man, prepare stuff for moving and move by day in their sight. And you will move from your place to another place in their sight. It may be they will consider, though they are a rebellious house.


