New Revised Standard NRS
The Message Bible MSG
1 On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; he sets up victory like walls and bulwarks.
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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 the gates, so that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.
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Throw wide the gates so good and true people can enter.
3 Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace— in peace because they trust 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 God you have 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 low the inhabitants of the height; the lofty city he lays low. He lays it low to the ground, casts it 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 tramples it, the feet of the poor, 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 righteous is level; O Just One, you make smooth the path of the righteous.
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The path of right-living people is level. The Leveler evens the road for the right-living.
8 In the path of your judgments, O Lord, we wait for you; your name and your renown are the soul's desire.
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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 My soul yearns for you in the night, my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, 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 If favor is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness they deal perversely and do not see the majesty of the Lord.
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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 O Lord, your hand is lifted up, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed. Let the fire for your adversaries consume them.
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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 O Lord, you will ordain peace for us, for indeed, all that we have done, you have done 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 O Lord our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but we acknowledge your name alone.
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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 The dead do not live; shades do not rise— because you have punished and destroyed them, and wiped out all memory of them.
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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 But 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 O Lord, in distress they sought 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 a woman with child, who writhes and cries out in her pangs when she is near her time, so were we because of you, O 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 were with child, we writhed, but we gave birth only to wind. We have won no victories on earth, and no one is born to inhabit the world.
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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, their corpses shall rise. O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a radiant dew, and the earth will give birth to those long 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 your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the wrath is past.
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Come, my people, go home and shut yourselves in. Go into seclusion for a while until the punishing wrath is past,
21 For the Lord comes out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no longer cover its 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.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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.