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179 lines
6.9 KiB
Plaintext
179 lines
6.9 KiB
Plaintext
\s5
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\c 6
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\q1
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\v 1 You people in Jerusalem who are from the tribe of Benjamin,
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\q2 flee from this city!
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\q1 Blow the trumpets in the city of Tekoa south of Jerusalem!
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\q1 Send up a smoke signal in the city of Beth Hakerem
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\q2 to warn the people of the coming danger!
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\q1 A powerful army will come against you from the north,
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\q2 and they will cause great destruction.
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\q1
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\v 2 Jerusalem is like a beautiful woman,
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\q2 but it will soon be destroyed.
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\q1
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\v 3 Enemy kings, the shepherds of foreign people groups, will come with their armies and set up their tents around the city,
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\q2 and each king will choose a part of the city for his soldiers to destroy as shepherds divide their pastures for their flocks of sheep.
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\b
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\s5
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\q1
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\v 4 The kings will tell their troops,
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\q2 'Make the sacrifices necessary to get ready for battle.
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\q2 We should attack them before noontime,
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\q1 but even if we arrive there late in the afternoon,
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\q1
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\v 5 we will attack them at night
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\q2 and tear down their fortresses.'"
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\s5
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\p
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\v 6 Yahweh, the commander of the armies of angels in heaven, says this,
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\q1 "I will command those soldiers to cut down the trees outside Jerusalem
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\q2 and to build ramps up to the top of the city walls!
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\q1 This city must be punished
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\q2 because everyone there continually oppresses others.
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q1
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\v 7 Its people keep doing wicked deeds,
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\q2 just as a well keeps producing water.
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\q1 The noise from people doing violent and destructive actions is heard everywhere.
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\q2 I continually see people who are suffering and wounded.
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\q1
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\v 8 Listen to what I am warning you, you people of Jerusalem,
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\q2 because if you do not listen, I will reject you
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\q1 and cause your land to become desolate,
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\q2 a land where no one lives."
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\b
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\s5
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\p
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\v 9 Yahweh, the commander of the angel armies, says this,
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\q2 "Your enemies will cause your country to become as desolate as a vineyard from which all the grapes have been completely stripped from the vines.
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\q1 Their soldiers will seize the possessions of those who remain in Israel after the others have been exiled
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\q2 like farmers go to the vines again to pick any grapes that were left.
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\b
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\q1
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\v 10 If I command you, Jeremiah, to speak to the Israelite people to warn them,
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\q2 who will listen to me?
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\q1 It is as though their ears are closed,
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\q2 and as a result they cannot hear.
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\q1 They scorn my messages;
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\q2 they do not want to listen to them at all!"
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\s5
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\q1
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\v 11 After hearing this I became very angry,
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\q2 as Yahweh is angry, and I could not hold myself back any longer.
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\b
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\q1 So Yahweh said to me,
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\q2 "Tell the children in the streets and the young men who gather together.
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\q1 Tell the men and their wives;
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\q2 tell the very old people, also.
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\q1
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\v 12 Tell the men that I will give their houses to their enemies,
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\q2 and I will give their property and their wives to them, also,
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\q1 when I punish the people who live in this land!
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\s5
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\q1
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\v 13 Everyone is trying to get money by tricking others,
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\q2 from the most important people to the least important people;
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\q1 even the prophets and the priests are trying to deceive people to get money.
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\q1
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\v 14 They act as though the sins of my people are like small wounds that they can easily treat.
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\q1 They continually comfort people by saying, 'I hope things are going well with you,'
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\q2 when things are not going well.
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\q1
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\v 15 They should be ashamed about the disgusting things that they do,
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\q2 but they are not ashamed at all.
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\q2 They do not even know how to blush.
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\q1 So, they also will be among those who will be killed.
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\q2 They will be destroyed when I punish them."
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\b
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\s5
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\p
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\v 16 This is also what Yahweh said to the Israelite people,
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\q1 "Stand at the crossroads and look at the people who pass by.
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\q2 Ask them what was the good behavior that their ancestors had long ago.
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\q1 And when they tell you, behave that way.
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\q2 If you do that, you will find rest for yourselves.
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\q1 But you said that you did not want to do that!
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\q1
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\v 17 I sent my prophets who were like watchmen.
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\q2 They told you to listen carefully when the trumpets blow to warn you that your enemies are approaching,
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\q2 but you did not want to listen.
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\q1
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\v 18 Therefore, you people in the other nations, listen to this:
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\q2 Pay attention to what is going to happen to the Israelite people.
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\q1
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\v 19 Listen, all of you!
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\q2 I am going to cause disasters to happen to the Israelite people.
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\q2 That is what will happen to them because they have refused to listen to what I told them.
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\q2 They have refused to obey my laws.
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\s5
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\q1
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\v 20 You Israelite people, when you burn frankincense that came from Sheba
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\q2 and when you offer to me sweet-smelling anointing oil that came from far away,
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\q2 I will not be pleased with your sacrifices.
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\q1 I will not accept the sacrifices that are completely burned on the altar;
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\q2 I am not pleased with any of your sacrifices.
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\b
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\p
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\v 21 Therefore, I will put obstacles on the roads on which my people will travel.
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\q2 Men and their sons and people's neighbors and friends will stumble over those obstacles and fall down;
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\q1 everyone will die."
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\b
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\p
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\v 22 Yahweh also says this,
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\q1 "You will see a huge army marching toward you from the north.
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\q2 An army of a great nation very far away is preparing to attack you.
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\s5
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\q1
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\v 23 They have bows and arrows and spears;
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\q2 they are very cruel, and do not act mercifully to anyone.
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\q1 As they ride along on their horses,
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\q2 the horses' feet sound like the roaring of the ocean waves;
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\q1 they are riding in battle formation
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\q2 to attack you people of Jerusalem."
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\b
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\q1
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\v 24 The people of Jerusalem say to each other,
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\q1 "We have heard reports about the enemy;
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\q2 so we are very frightened, with the result that we are weak.
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\q1 We are very afraid, and worried,
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\q2 like women who are about to give birth to babies.
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\s5
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\q1
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\v 25 So, do not go out into the fields! Do not go on the roads,
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\q1 because the enemy soldiers have swords and they are everywhere;
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\q2 they are coming from all directions, and we are extremely afraid."
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\q1
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\v 26 So I, Jeremiah, say say to you, "My dear people, put on rough clothes and sit in ashes to show that you are sorry for your sins.
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\q1 Mourn and cry very much,
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\q2 as a woman would cry if her only son had died.
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\q1 For your enemies are very near,
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\q2 and they are going to destroy everything. Prepare for your own funerals."
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\b
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\s5
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\p
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\v 27 Then Yahweh said to me,
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\q1 "Jeremiah, I have caused you to become like someone who heats metal very hot to completely burn the impurities.
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\q2 You will examine my people's behavior.
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\q1
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\v 28 You will find out that they are very stubborn rebels:
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\q2 they are always slandering others.
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\q1 Their inner beings are as hard as bronze or iron;
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\q2 they all continually deceive others.
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\q1
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\v 29 A metalworker causes the bellows to blow very hard to make the fire very hot to completely burn up the impurities.
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\q1 But just as a fire does not cause all the waste material to run off,
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\q2 it is impossible to separate the people from their wicked deeds.
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\q1
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\v 30 I, Yahweh, have rejected them;
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\q2 I say that they are like worthless silver."
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