| For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. | For I know full well the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare and not for your misfortune, plans that will offer you a future filled with hope. |
| Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. | When you call out to me and come forth and pray to me, I will listen to you. |
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| You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. | When you search for me, you will find me. When you seek me with all your heart. |
| I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint. | For I will provide the weary with all they need, and I will restore the strength of all those who have grown faint with hunger. |
| Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. | Ah, Lord God, you made the heavens and the earth by your great power and your outstretched arm. Nothing is impossible for you. |
| I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me? | I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything impossible for me to accomplish? |
| Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. | Call to me and I will answer you and reveal to you great and mysterious secrets about which you are unaware. |
| ‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am faithful,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will not be angry forever.’ | Return, rebel Israel, says the Lord. I will not look upon you in anger. For I am merciful, says the Lord; my wrath will not continue forever. |
| This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’” | These are the words of the Lord of hosts: Stand at the crossroads and look around; ask for the ancient paths. When you are shown where the good way lies, walk along it and your souls will find rest. However, they said, “We will not take it.” |
| If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever. | However, if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you are upright in your dealings with your neighbor; if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow; if you do not shed innocent blood in this place; and if you do not follow other gods and thereby cause your own destruction, then I will allow you to live in this place, in the land that I gave as a permanent gift to your fathers long ago. |
| For the practices of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter. Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good. | For the carved images of the nations are powerless; they are nothing more than wood cut from a forest, fashioned with a knife by craftsmen and embellished with silver and gold. Then they are fastened with hammers and nails to prevent them from toppling. Like scarecrows in a cucumber field they are unable to speak, and they must be carried from place to place since they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they can do no harm, nor do they have any power to do good. |
| But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. | Blessed are those who trust in the Lord and whose hope is the Lord. They will be like a tree planted by the water that spreads out its roots to the stream. When the heat comes, it does not fear; its leaves stay green. It is not concerned in a year of drought, and it never fails to bear fruit. |
| The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” | The heart is more deceitful than any other thing, and it is also perverse. Who can uncover its secrets? I, the Lord, search the heart and probe the mind to reward all according to their conduct and as their deeds deserve. |
| Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise. | Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; save me, and I will be saved; you are the one whom I praise. |
| “Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the Lord. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the Lord. | Can someone hide in a secret place so that I cannot see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth? |
