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New International Version (NIV) |
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1 God, come close. Come quickly! Open your ears - it's my voice you're hearing!
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1 O LORD, I call to you; come quickly to me. Hear my voice when I call to you.
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2 Treat my prayer as sweet incense rising; my raised hands are my evening prayers.
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2 May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.
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3 Post a guard at my mouth, God, set a watch at the door of my lips.
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3 Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips.
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4 Don't let me so much as dream of evil or thoughtlessly fall into bad company. And these people who only do wrong - don't let them lure me with their sweet talk!
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4 Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers; let me not eat of their delicacies.
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5 May the Just One set me straight, may the Kind One correct me, Don't let sin anoint my head. I'm praying hard against their evil ways!
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5 Let a righteous man strike me--it is a kindness; let him rebuke me--it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it. Yet my prayer is ever against the deeds of evildoers;
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6 Oh, let their leaders be pushed off a high rock cliff; make them face the music.
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6 their rulers will be thrown down from the cliffs, and the wicked will learn that my words were well spoken.
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7 Like a rock pulverized by a maul, let their bones be scattered at the gates of hell.
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7 [They will say,] "As one plows and breaks up the earth, so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of the grave. "
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8 But God, dear Lord, I only have eyes for you. Since I've run for dear life to you, take good care of me.
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8 But my eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign LORD; in you I take refuge--do not give me over to death.
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9 Protect me from their evil scheming, from all their demonic subterfuge.
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9 Keep me from the snares they have laid for me, from the traps set by evildoers.
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10 Let the wicked fall flat on their faces, while I walk off without a scratch. A David prayer - when he was in the cave.
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10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by in safety.
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| Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved. (The Message Bible Online) |
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide. (New International Version Bible Online) |
