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Isaiah 43

Amplified Bible, 2015 (AMP)

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¹ For if you say, 'The oracle of the LORD!' surely thus says the LORD, 'Because you said this word, "The oracle of the LORD!" when I have also sent to you, saying, "You shall not say, 'The oracle of the LORD!'"'

² Therefore behold, I, even I, will assuredly forget you and send you away from My presence, you and the city (Jerusalem) which I gave to you and to your fathers. And I will bring an everlasting disgrace on you and a perpetual humiliation (shame) which will not be forgotten.

³ After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken Jeconiah [who was also called Coniah and Jehoiachin] the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah [along] with the craftsmen and smiths into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, the LORD showed me [in a vision] two baskets of figs set before the temple of the LORD.

⁴ One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are the first to ripen; but the other basket had very bad figs, so rotten that they could not be eaten.

⁵ Then the LORD said to me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" And I said, "Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad figs, very bad, so rotten that they cannot be eaten."

⁶ Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

⁷ Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the captives of Judah, whom I have sent from this place into the land of the Chaldeans. For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land; and I will build them up and not overwhelm them, and I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know Me, [understanding fully] that I am the LORD; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart. 'And as for the bad figs, which are so rotten that they cannot be eaten,' surely thus says the LORD, 'so I will abandon Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land and those who live in the land of Egypt. I will make them a focus of ridicule and disappointment [tossed back and forth] among all the kingdoms of the earth, a [notorious] disgrace, a byword, a taunt and a curse in all places where I will scatter them. I will send the sword, famine and virulent disease among them until they are consumed from the land which I gave to them and to their fathers.'

⁸ The word that came to Jeremiah in regard to all the people of Judah in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),

⁹ which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,

¹⁰ For these twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day—the word of the LORD has come to me and I have spoken to you over and over again, but you have not listened. Although the LORD has persistently sent to you all His servants the prophets, you have not listened nor [even] inclined your ear to hear [His message], saying, 'Turn now everyone from his evil way and the evil of your actions [that you may not forfeit the right to] live in the land that the LORD has given to you and your forefathers forever and ever; and do not go after other gods to serve them and to worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, and I will do you no harm.' Yet you have not listened to Me, says the LORD, "so that you have provoked Me to anger with the work (idols) of your hands to your own harm.

¹¹ "Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Because you have not obeyed My words,

¹² behold (hear this), I will send for all the families of the north,' says the LORD, 'and I will send for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant [to enact My plan], and I will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these surrounding nations; and I will utterly destroy them and make them a horror and a hissing [that is, an object of warning and ridicule] and an everlasting desolation.

¹³ 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 [grinding meal] and the light of the lamp [to light the night].

¹⁴ This whole land will be a waste and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon[1] seventy years.

¹⁵ Then when seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans (Babylonia),' says the LORD, 'for their wickedness, and will make the land [of the Chaldeans] a perpetual waste.

¹⁶ I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.

¹⁷ (For many nations and great kings will make slaves of them, even the Chaldeans [who enslaved other nations]; and I will repay [all of] them according to their deeds and according to the work of their [own] hands.)'"

¹⁸ For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to me, "Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it.

¹⁹ They will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them."

²⁰ Then I (Jeremiah) took the cup from the Lord's hand and made all the nations to whom the LORD had sent me drink it:

²¹ Jerusalem and the cities of Judah [being most guilty because their privileges were greatest], its kings and princes, to make them a horror, a ruin, a hissing and a curse, as it is to this day;

²² Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, all his people,

²³ and all the foreign (mixed) population, all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines (and [their cities of] Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod);

²⁴ Edom, Moab, and the children of Ammon;

²⁵ all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the islands and the coastlands across the [Mediterranean] Sea;

²⁶ Dedan, Tema, Buz [the neighboring tribes north of Arabia], and all who clip off the side-growth of their hair;

²⁷ all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the foreign population who live in the desert;

²⁸ all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam (Persia), and all the kings of Media;

#	AMP
1	For if you say, 'The oracle of the LORD!' surely thus says the LORD, 'Because you said this word, "The oracle of the LORD!" when I have also sent to you, saying, "You shall not say, 'The oracle of the LORD!'"'
2	Therefore behold, I, even I, will assuredly forget you and send you away from My presence, you and the city (Jerusalem) which I gave to you and to your fathers. And I will bring an everlasting disgrace on you and a perpetual humiliation (shame) which will not be forgotten.
3	After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken Jeconiah [who was also called Coniah and Jehoiachin] the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah [along] with the craftsmen and smiths into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, the LORD showed me [in a vision] two baskets of figs set before the temple of the LORD.
4	One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are the first to ripen; but the other basket had very bad figs, so rotten that they could not be eaten.
5	Then the LORD said to me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" And I said, "Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad figs, very bad, so rotten that they cannot be eaten."
6	Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
7	Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the captives of Judah, whom I have sent from this place into the land of the Chaldeans. For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land; and I will build them up and not overwhelm them, and I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know Me, [understanding fully] that I am the LORD; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart. 'And as for the bad figs, which are so rotten that they cannot be eaten,' surely thus says the LORD, 'so I will abandon Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land and those who live in the land of Egypt. I will make them a focus of ridicule and disappointment [tossed back and forth] among all the kingdoms of the earth, a [notorious] disgrace, a byword, a taunt and a curse in all places where I will scatter them. I will send the sword, famine and virulent disease among them until they are consumed from the land which I gave to them and to their fathers.'
8	The word that came to Jeremiah in regard to all the people of Judah in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),
9	which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,
10	For these twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day—the word of the LORD has come to me and I have spoken to you over and over again, but you have not listened. Although the LORD has persistently sent to you all His servants the prophets, you have not listened nor [even] inclined your ear to hear [His message], saying, 'Turn now everyone from his evil way and the evil of your actions [that you may not forfeit the right to] live in the land that the LORD has given to you and your forefathers forever and ever; and do not go after other gods to serve them and to worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, and I will do you no harm.' Yet you have not listened to Me, says the LORD, "so that you have provoked Me to anger with the work (idols) of your hands to your own harm.
11	"Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Because you have not obeyed My words,
12	behold (hear this), I will send for all the families of the north,' says the LORD, 'and I will send for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant [to enact My plan], and I will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these surrounding nations; and I will utterly destroy them and make them a horror and a hissing [that is, an object of warning and ridicule] and an everlasting desolation.
13	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 [grinding meal] and the light of the lamp [to light the night].
14	This whole land will be a waste and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon[1] seventy years.
15	Then when seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans (Babylonia),' says the LORD, 'for their wickedness, and will make the land [of the Chaldeans] a perpetual waste.
16	I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.
17	(For many nations and great kings will make slaves of them, even the Chaldeans [who enslaved other nations]; and I will repay [all of] them according to their deeds and according to the work of their [own] hands.)'"
18	For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to me, "Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it.
19	They will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them."
20	Then I (Jeremiah) took the cup from the Lord's hand and made all the nations to whom the LORD had sent me drink it:
21	Jerusalem and the cities of Judah [being most guilty because their privileges were greatest], its kings and princes, to make them a horror, a ruin, a hissing and a curse, as it is to this day;
22	Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, all his people,
23	and all the foreign (mixed) population, all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines (and [their cities of] Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod);
24	Edom, Moab, and the children of Ammon;
25	all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the islands and the coastlands across the [Mediterranean] Sea;
26	Dedan, Tema, Buz [the neighboring tribes north of Arabia], and all who clip off the side-growth of their hair;
27	all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the foreign population who live in the desert;
28	all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam (Persia), and all the kings of Media;

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