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New International Version (NIV) |
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1 I'm the man who has seen trouble, trouble coming from the lash of God's anger.
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1 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
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2 He took me by the hand and walked me into pitch-black darkness.
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2 He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light;
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3 Yes, he's given me the back of his hand over and over and over again.
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3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long.
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4 He turned me into a scarecrow of skin and bones, then broke the bones.
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4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones.
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5 He hemmed me in, ganged up on me, poured on the trouble and hard times.
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5 He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
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6 He locked me up in deep darkness, like a corpse nailed inside a coffin.
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6 He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead.
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7 He shuts me in so I'll never get out, manacles my hands, shackles my feet.
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7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains.
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8 Even when I cry out and plead for help, he locks up my prayers and throws away the key.
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8 Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer.
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9 He sets up blockades with quarried limestone. He's got me cornered.
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9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked.
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10 He's a prowling bear tracking me down, a lion in hiding ready to pounce.
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10 Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding,
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11 He knocked me from the path and ripped me to pieces. When he finished, there was nothing left of me.
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11 he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help.
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12 He took out his bow and arrows and used me for target practice.
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12 He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows.
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13 He shot me in the stomach with arrows from his quiver.
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13 He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver.
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14 Everyone took me for a joke, made me the butt of their mocking ballads.
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14 I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
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15 He forced rotten, stinking food down my throat, bloated me with vile drinks.
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15 He has filled me with bitter herbs and sated me with gall.
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16 He ground my face into the gravel. He pounded me into the mud.
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16 He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust.
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17 I gave up on life altogether. I've forgotten what the good life is like.
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17 I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.
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18 I said to myself, "This is it. I'm finished. God is a lost cause." It's a Good Thing to Hope for Help from God
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18 So I say, "My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD."
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19 I'll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness, the taste of ashes, the poison I've swallowed.
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19 I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.
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20 I remember it all - oh, how well I remember - the feeling of hitting the bottom.
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20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
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21 But there's one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:
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21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
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22 God's loyal love couldn't have run out, his merciful love couldn't have dried up.
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22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
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23 They're created new every morning. How great your faithfulness!
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23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
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24 I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over). He's all I've got left.
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24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."
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25 God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, to the woman who diligently seeks.
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25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;
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26 It's a good thing to quietly hope, quietly hope for help from God.
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26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
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27 It's a good thing when you're young to stick it out through the hard times.
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27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.
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28 When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence.
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28 Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it on him.
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29 Bow in prayer. Don't ask questions: Wait for hope to appear.
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29 Let him bury his face in the dust-- there may yet be hope.
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30 Don't run from trouble. Take it full-face. The "worst" is never the worst.
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30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace.
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31 Why? Because the Master won't ever walk out and fail to return.
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31 For men are not cast off by the Lord forever.
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32 If he works severely, he also works tenderly. His stockpiles of loyal love are immense.
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32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.
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33 He takes no pleasure in making life hard, in throwing roadblocks in the way:
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33 For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.
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34 Stomping down hard on luckless prisoners,
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34 To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land,
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35 Refusing justice to victims in the court of High God,
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35 to deny a man his rights before the Most High,
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36 Tampering with evidence - the Master does not approve of such things. God Speaks Both Good Things and Hard Things into Being
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36 to deprive a man of justice-- would not the Lord see such things?
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37 Who do you think "spoke and it happened"? It's the Master who gives such orders.
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37 Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?
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38 Doesn't the High God speak everything, good things and hard things alike, into being?
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38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?
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39 And why would anyone gifted with life complain when punished for sin?
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39 Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins?
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40 Let's take a good look at the way we're living and reorder our lives under God.
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40 Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.
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41 Let's lift our hearts and hands at one and the same time, praying to God in heaven:
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41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say:
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42 "We've been contrary and willful, and you haven't forgiven.
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42 "We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven.
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43 "You lost your temper with us, holding nothing back. You chased us and cut us down without mercy.
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43 "You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you have slain without pity.
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44 You wrapped yourself in thick blankets of clouds so no prayers could get through.
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44 You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through.
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45 You treated us like dirty dishwater, threw us out in the backyard of the nations.
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45 You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.
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46 "Our enemies shout abuse, their mouths full of derision, spitting invective.
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46 "All our enemies have opened their mouths wide against us.
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47 We've been to hell and back. We've nowhere to turn, nowhere to go.
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47 We have suffered terror and pitfalls, ruin and destruction."
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48 Rivers of tears pour from my eyes at the smashup of my dear people.
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48 Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed.
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49 "The tears stream from my eyes, an artesian well of tears,
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49 My eyes will flow unceasingly, without relief,
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50 Until you, God, look down from on high, look and see my tears.
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50 until the LORD looks down from heaven and sees.
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51 When I see what's happened to the young women in the city, the pain breaks my heart.
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51 What I see brings grief to my soul because of all the women of my city.
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52 "Enemies with no reason to be enemies hunted me down like a bird.
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52 Those who were my enemies without cause hunted me like a bird.
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53 They threw me into a pit, then pelted me with stones.
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53 They tried to end my life in a pit and threw stones at me;
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54 Then the rains came and filled the pit. The water rose over my head. I said, 'It's all over.'
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54 the waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to be cut off.
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55 "I called out your name, O God, called from the bottom of the pit.
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55 I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit.
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56 You listened when I called out, 'Don't shut your ears! Get me out of here! Save me!'
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56 You heard my plea: "Do not close your ears to my cry for relief."
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57 You came close when I called out. You said, 'It's going to be all right.'
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57 You came near when I called you, and you said, "Do not fear."
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58 "You took my side, Master; you brought me back alive!
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58 O Lord, you took up my case; you redeemed my life.
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59 God, you saw the wrongs heaped on me. Give me my day in court!
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59 You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me. Uphold my cause!
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60 Yes, you saw their mean-minded schemes, their plots to destroy me.
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60 You have seen the depth of their vengeance, all their plots against me.
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61 "You heard, God, their vicious gossip, their behind-my-back plots to ruin me.
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61 O LORD, you have heard their insults, all their plots against me--
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62 They never quit, these enemies of mine, dreaming up mischief, hatching out malice, day after day after day.
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62 what my enemies whisper and mutter against me all day long.
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63 Sitting down or standing up - just look at them! - they mock me with vulgar doggerel.
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63 Look at them! Sitting or standing, they mock me in their songs.
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64 "Make them pay for what they've done, God. Give them their just deserts.
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64 Pay them back what they deserve, O LORD, for what their hands have done.
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65 Break their miserable hearts! Damn their eyes!
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65 Put a veil over their hearts, and may your curse be on them!
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66 Get good and angry. Hunt them down. Make a total demolition here under your heaven!"
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66 Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD.
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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) |
