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The royal line of David is like a tree that has been cut down; but just as new branches sprout from a stump, so a new king will arise from among David's descendants.
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The spirit of the LORD will give him wisdom and the knowledge and skill to rule his people. He will know the LORD's will and honor him,
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and find pleasure in obeying him. He will not judge by appearance or hearsay;
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he will judge the poor fairly and defend the rights of the helpless. At his command the people will be punished, and evil persons will die.
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He will rule his people with justice and integrity.
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Wolves and sheep will live together in peace, and leopards will lie down with young goats. Calves and lion cubs will feed together, and little children will take care of them.
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Cows and bears will eat together, and their calves and cubs will lie down in peace. Lions will eat straw as cattle do.
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Even a baby will not be harmed if it plays near a poisonous snake.
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On Zion, God's sacred hill, there will be nothing harmful or evil. The land will be as full of knowledge of the LORD as the seas are full of water.
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A day is coming when the new king from the royal line of David will be a symbol to the nations. They will gather in his royal city and give him honor.
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When that day comes, the Lord will once again use his power and bring back home those of his people who are left in Assyria and Egypt, in the lands of Pathros, Ethiopia, Elam, Babylonia, and Hamath, and in the coastlands and on the islands of the sea.
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The Lord will raise a signal flag to show the nations that he is gathering together again the scattered people of Israel and Judah and bringing them back from the four corners of the earth.
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The kingdom of Israel will not be jealous of Judah any more, and Judah will not be the enemy of Israel.
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Together they will attack the Philistines on the west and plunder the people who live to the east. They will conquer the people of Edom and Moab, and the people of Ammon will obey them.
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The LORD will dry up the Gulf of Suez, and he will bring a hot wind to dry up the Euphrates, leaving only seven tiny streams, so that anyone can walk across.
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There will be a highway out of Assyria for those of his people Israel who have survived there, just as there was for their ancestors when they left Egypt.
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A day is coming when people will sing, "I praise you, LORD! You were angry with me, but now you comfort me and are angry no longer.
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God is my savior; I will trust him and not be afraid. The LORD gives me power and strength; he is my savior.
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As fresh water brings joy to the thirsty, so God's people rejoice when he saves them."
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A day is coming when people will sing, "Give thanks to the LORD! Call for him to help you! Tell all the nations what he has done! Tell them how great he is!
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Sing to the LORD because of the great things he has done. Let the whole world hear the news.
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Let everyone who lives in Zion shout and sing! Israel's holy God is great, and he lives among his people."
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This is a message about Babylon, which Isaiah son of Amoz received from God.
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On the top of a barren hill raise the battle flag! Shout to the soldiers and raise your arm as the signal for them to attack the gates of the proud city.
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The LORD has called out his proud and confident soldiers to fight a holy war and punish those he is angry with.
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Listen to the noise on the mountains---the sound of a great crowd of people, the sound of nations and kingdoms gathering. The LORD of Armies is preparing his troops for battle.
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They are coming from far-off countries at the ends of the earth. In his anger the LORD is coming to devastate the whole country.
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Howl in pain! The day of the LORD is near, the day when the Almighty brings destruction.
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Everyone's hands will hang limp, and everyone's courage will fail.
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They will all be terrified and overcome with pain, like the pain of a woman in labor. They will look at each other in fear, and their faces will burn with shame.
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The day of the LORD is coming---that cruel day of his fierce anger and fury. The earth will be made a wilderness, and every sinner will be destroyed.
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Every star and every constellation will stop shining, the sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will give no light.
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The LORD says, "I will bring disaster on the earth and punish all wicked people for their sins. I will humble everyone who is proud and punish everyone who is arrogant and cruel.
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Those who survive will be scarcer than gold.
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I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place on that day when I, the LORD Almighty, show my anger.
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"The foreigners living in Babylon will run away to their homelands, scattering like deer escaping from hunters, like sheep without a shepherd.
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Anyone who is caught will be stabbed to death.
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While they look on helplessly, their babies will be battered to death, their houses will be looted, and their wives will be raped."
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The LORD says, "I am stirring up the Medes to attack Babylon. They care nothing for silver and are not tempted by gold.
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With their bows and arrows they will kill the young men. They will show no mercy to babies and take no pity on children.
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Babylonia is the most beautiful kingdom of all; it is the pride of its people. But I, the LORD, will overthrow Babylon as I did Sodom and Gomorrah!
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No one will ever live there again. No wandering Arab will ever pitch a tent there, and no shepherd will ever pasture a flock there.
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It will be a place where desert animals live and where owls build their nests. Ostriches will live there, and wild goats will prance through the ruins.
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The towers and palaces will echo with the cries of hyenas and jackals. Babylon's time has come! Her days are almost over."
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The LORD will once again be merciful to his people Israel and choose them as his own. He will let them live in their own land again, and foreigners will come and live there with them.
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Many nations will help the people of Israel return to the land which the LORD gave them, and there the nations will serve Israel as slaves. Those who once captured Israel will now be captured by Israel, and the people of Israel will rule over those who once oppressed them.
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The LORD will give the people of Israel relief from their pain and suffering and from the hard work they were forced to do.
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When he does this, they are to mock the king of Babylon and say: "The cruel king has fallen! He will never oppress anyone again!
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The LORD has ended the power of the evil rulers
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who angrily oppressed the peoples and never stopped persecuting the nations they had conquered.
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Now at last the whole world enjoys rest and peace, and everyone sings for joy.
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The cypress trees and the cedars of Lebanon rejoice over the fallen king, because there is no one to cut them down, now that he is gone!
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"The world of the dead is getting ready to welcome the king of Babylon. The ghosts of those who were powerful on earth are stirring about. The ghosts of kings are rising from their thrones.
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They all call out to him, 'Now you are as weak as we are! You are one of us!
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You used to be honored with the music of harps, but now here you are in the world of the dead. You lie on a bed of maggots and are covered with a blanket of worms.' "
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King of Babylon, bright morning star, you have fallen from heaven! In the past you conquered nations, but now you have been thrown to the ground.
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You were determined to climb up to heaven and to place your throne above the highest stars. You thought you would sit like a king on that mountain in the north where the gods assemble.
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You said you would climb to the tops of the clouds and be like the Almighty.
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But instead, you have been brought down to the deepest part of the world of the dead.
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The dead will stare and gape at you. They will ask, "Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble?
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Is this the man who destroyed cities and turned the world into a desert? Is this the man who never freed his prisoners or let them go home?"
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All the kings of the earth lie in their magnificent tombs,
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but you have no tomb, and your corpse is thrown out to rot. It is covered by the bodies of soldiers killed in battle, thrown with them into a rocky pit, and trampled down.
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Because you ruined your country and killed your own people, you will not be buried like other kings. None of your evil family will survive.
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Let the slaughter begin! The sons of this king will die because of their ancestors' sins. None of them will ever rule the earth or cover it with cities.
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The LORD Almighty says, "I will attack Babylon and bring it to ruin. I will leave nothing---no children, no survivors at all. I, the LORD, have spoken.
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I will turn Babylon into a marsh, and owls will live there. I will sweep Babylon with a broom that will sweep everything away. I, the LORD Almighty, have spoken."
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The LORD Almighty has sworn an oath: "What I have planned will happen. What I have determined to do will be done.
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I will destroy the Assyrians in my land of Israel and trample them on my mountains. I will free my people from the Assyrian yoke and from the burdens they have had to bear.
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This is my plan for the world, and my arm is stretched out to punish the nations."
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The LORD Almighty is determined to do this; he has stretched out his arm to punish, and no one can stop him.
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This is a message that was proclaimed in the year that King Ahaz died.
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People of Philistia, the rod that beat you is broken, but you have no reason to be glad. When one snake dies, a worse one comes in its place. A snake's egg hatches a flying dragon.
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The LORD will be a shepherd to the poor of his people and will let them live in safety. But he will send a terrible famine on you Philistines, and it will not leave any of you alive.
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Howl and cry for help, all you Philistine cities! Be terrified, all of you! A cloud of dust is coming from the north---it is an army with no cowards in its ranks.
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How shall we answer the messengers that come to us from Philistia? We will tell them that the LORD has established Zion and that his suffering people will find safety there.
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The first covenant had rules for worship and a place made for worship as well.
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A tent was put up, the outer one, which was called the Holy Place. In it were the lampstand and the table with the bread offered to God.
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Behind the second curtain was the tent called the Most Holy Place.
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In it were the gold altar for the burning of incense and the Covenant Box all covered with gold and containing the gold jar with the manna in it, Aaron's stick that had sprouted leaves, and the two stone tablets with the commandments written on them.
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Above the Box were the winged creatures representing God's presence, with their wings spread over the place where sins were forgiven. But now is not the time to explain everything in detail.
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This is how those things have been arranged. The priests go into the outer tent every day to perform their duties,
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but only the high priest goes into the inner tent, and he does so only once a year. He takes with him blood which he offers to God on behalf of himself and for the sins which the people have committed without knowing they were sinning.
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The Holy Spirit clearly teaches from all these arrangements that the way into the Most Holy Place has not yet been opened as long as the outer tent still stands.
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This is a symbol which points to the present time. It means that the offerings and animal sacrifices presented to God cannot make the worshiper's heart perfect,
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since they have to do only with food, drink, and various purification ceremonies. These are all outward rules, which apply only until the time when God will establish the new order.
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But Christ has already come as the High Priest of the good things that are already here. The tent in which he serves is greater and more perfect; it is not a tent made by human hands, that is, it is not a part of this created world.
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When Christ went through the tent and entered once and for all into the Most Holy Place, he did not take the blood of goats and bulls to offer as a sacrifice; rather, he took his own blood and obtained eternal salvation for us.
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The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a burnt calf are sprinkled on the people who are ritually unclean, and this purifies them by taking away their ritual impurity.
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Since this is true, how much more is accomplished by the blood of Christ! Through the eternal Spirit he offered himself as a perfect sacrifice to God. His blood will purify our consciences from useless rituals, so that we may serve the living God.
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For this reason Christ is the one who arranges a new covenant, so that those who have been called by God may receive the eternal blessings that God has promised. This can be done because there has been a death which sets people free from the wrongs they did while the first covenant was in effect.
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In the case of a will it is necessary to prove that the person who made it has died,
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for a will means nothing while the person who made it is alive; it goes into effect only after his death.
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That is why even the first covenant went into effect only with the use of blood.
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First, Moses proclaimed to the people all the commandments as set forth in the Law. Then he took the blood of bulls and goats, mixed it with water, and sprinkled it on the book of the Law and all the people, using a sprig of hyssop and some red wool.
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He said, "This is the blood which seals the covenant that God has commanded you to obey."
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In the same way Moses also sprinkled the blood on the Sacred Tent and over all the things used in worship.
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Indeed, according to the Law almost everything is purified by blood, and sins are forgiven only if blood is poured out.
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Those things, which are copies of the heavenly originals, had to be purified in that way. But the heavenly things themselves require much better sacrifices.
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For Christ did not go into a Holy Place made by human hands, which was a copy of the real one. He went into heaven itself, where he now appears on our behalf in the presence of God.
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The Jewish high priest goes into the Most Holy Place every year with the blood of an animal. But Christ did not go in to offer himself many times,
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for then he would have had to suffer many times ever since the creation of the world. Instead, now when all ages of time are nearing the end, he has appeared once and for all, to remove sin through the sacrifice of himself.
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Everyone must die once, and after that be judged by God.
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In the same manner Christ also was offered in sacrifice once to take away the sins of many. He will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are waiting for him.
