Hebrew Names Version HNV
The Message Bible MSG
1 In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Yehudah: we have a strong city; yeshu`ah will he appoint for walls and bulwarks.
1
At that time, this song will be sung in the country of Judah: We have a strong city, Salvation City, built and fortified with salvation.
2 Open you the gates, that the righteous nation which keeps faith may enter in.
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Throw wide the gates so good and true people can enter.
3 You will keep [him] in perfect shalom, [whose] mind [is] stayed [on you]; because he trusts in you.
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People with their minds set on you, you keep completely whole, Steady on their feet, because they keep at it and don't quit.
4 Trust in the LORD forever; for in the LORD, the LORD, is an everlasting Rock.
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Depend on God and keep at it because in the Lord God you have a sure thing.
5 For he has brought down those who dwell on high, the lofty city: he lays it low, he lays it low even to the ground; he brings it even to the dust.
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Those who lived high and mighty he knocked off their high horse. He used the city built on the hill as fill for the marshes.
6 The foot shall tread it down; even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy.
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All the exploited and outcast peoples build their lives on the reclaimed land.
7 The way of the just is uprightness: you that are upright do direct the path of the just.
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The path of right-living people is level. The Leveler evens the road for the right-living.
8 Yes, in the way of your judgments, the LORD, have we waited for you; to your name, even to your memorial [name], is the desire of our soul.
8
We're in no hurry, God. We're content to linger in the path sign-posted with your decisions. Who you are and what you've done are all we'll ever want.
9 With my soul have I desired you in the night; yes, with my spirit within me will I seek you earnestly: for when your judgments are in the eretz, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
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Through the night my soul longs for you. Deep from within me my spirit reaches out to you. When your decisions are on public display, everyone learns how to live right.
10 Let favor be shown to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness will he deal wrongfully, and will not see the majesty of the LORD.
10
If the wicked are shown grace, they don't seem to get it. In the land of right living, they persist in wrong living, blind to the splendor of God.
11 The LORD, your hand is lifted up, yet they don't see: but they shall see [your] zeal for the people, and be put to shame; yes, fire shall devour your adversaries.
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You hold your hand up high, God, but they don't see it. Open their eyes to what you do, to see your zealous love for your people. Shame them. Light a fire under them. Get the attention of these enemies of yours.
12 The LORD, you will ordain shalom for us; for you have also worked all our works for us.
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God, order a peaceful and whole life for us because everything we've done, you've done for us.
13 The LORD our God, other lords besides you have had dominion over us; but by you only will we make mention of your name.
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O God, our God, we've had other masters rule us, but you're the only Master we've ever known.
14 [They are] dead, they shall not live; [they are] deceased, they shall not rise: therefore have you visited and destroyed them, and made all memory of them to perish.
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The dead don't talk, ghosts don't walk, Because you've said, "Enough - that's all for you," and wiped them off the books.
15 You have increased the nation, O LORD, you have increased the nation; you are glorified; you have enlarged all the borders of the land.
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But the living you make larger than life. The more life you give, the more glory you display, and stretch the borders to accommodate more living!
16 LORD, in trouble have they visited you; they poured out a prayer [when] your chastening was on them.
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O God, they begged you for help when they were in trouble, when your discipline was so heavy they could barely whisper a prayer.
17 Like as a woman with child, who draws near the time of her delivery, is in pain and cries out in her pangs; so we have been before you, LORD.
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Like a woman having a baby, writhing in distress, screaming her pain as the baby is being born, That's how we were because of you, O God.
18 We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not worked any deliverance in the eretz; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.
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We were pregnant full-term. We writhed in labor but bore no baby. We gave birth to wind. Nothing came of our labor. We produced nothing living. We couldn't save the world.
19 Your dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is [as] the dew of herbs, and the eretz shall cast forth the dead.
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But friends, your dead will live, your corpses will get to their feet. All you dead and buried, wake up! Sing! Your dew is morning dew catching the first rays of sun, The earth bursting with life, giving birth to the dead.
20 Come, my people, enter you into your chambers, and shut your doors about you: hide yourself for a little moment, until the indignation be past.
20
Come, my people, go home and shut yourselves in. Go into seclusion for a while until the punishing wrath is past,
21 For, behold, the LORD comes forth out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the eretz for their iniquity: the eretz also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
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Because God is sure to come from his place to punish the wrong of the people on earth. Earth itself will point out the bloodstains; it will show where the murdered have been hidden away.
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.
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.