Young's Literal Translation YLT
The Message Bible MSG
1 Go, now, ye rich! weep, howling over your miseries that are coming upon [you];
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And a final word to you arrogant rich: Take some lessons in lament. You'll need buckets for the tears when the crash comes upon you.
2 your riches have rotted, and your garments have become moth-eaten;
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Your money is corrupt and your fine clothes stink.
3 your gold and silver have rotted, and the rust of them for a testimony shall be to you, and shall eat your flesh as fire. Ye made treasure in the last days!
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Your greedy luxuries are a cancer in your gut, destroying your life from within. You thought you were piling up wealth. What you've piled up is judgment.
4 lo, the reward of the workmen, of those who in-gathered your fields, which hath been fraudulently kept back by you -- doth cry out, and the exclamations of those who did reap into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth have entered;
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All the workers you've exploited and cheated cry out for judgment. The groans of the workers you used and abused are a roar in the ears of the Master Avenger.
5 ye did live in luxury upon the earth, and were wanton; ye did nourish your hearts, as in a day of slaughter;
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You've looted the earth and lived it up. But all you'll have to show for it is a fatter than usual corpse.
6 ye did condemn -- ye did murder the righteous one, he doth not resist you.
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In fact, what you've done is condemn and murder perfectly good persons, who stand there and take it.
7 Be patient, then, brethren, till the presence of the Lord; lo, the husbandman doth expect the precious fruit of the earth, being patient for it, till he may receive rain -- early and latter;
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Meanwhile, friends, wait patiently for the Master's Arrival. You see farmers do this all the time, waiting for their valuable crops to mature, patiently letting the rain do its slow but sure work.
8 be patient, ye also; establish your hearts, because the presence of the Lord hath drawn nigh;
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Be patient like that. Stay steady and strong. The Master could arrive at any time.
9 murmur not against one another, brethren, that ye may not be condemned; lo, the Judge before the door hath stood.
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Friends, don't complain about each other. A far greater complaint could be lodged against you, you know. The Judge is standing just around the corner.
10 An example take ye of the suffering of evil, my brethren, and of the patience, the prophets who did speak in the name of the Lord;
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Take the old prophets as your mentors. They put up with anything, went through everything, and never once quit, all the time honoring God.
11 lo, we call happy those who are enduring; the endurance of Job ye heard of, and the end of the Lord ye have seen, that very compassionate is the Lord, and pitying.
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What a gift life is to those who stay the course! You've heard, of course, of Job's staying power, and you know how God brought it all together for him at the end. That's because God cares, cares right down to the last detail.
12 And before all things, my brethren, do not swear, neither by the heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath, and let your Yes be Yes, and the No, No; that under judgment ye may not fall.
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And since you know that he cares, let your language show it. Don't add words like "I swear to God" to your own words. Don't show your impatience by concocting oaths to hurry up God. Just say yes or no. Just say what is true. That way, your language can't be used against you.
13 Doth any one suffer evil among you? let him pray; is any of good cheer? let him sing psalms;
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Are you hurting? Pray. Do you feel great? Sing.
14 is any infirm among you? let him call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, having anointed him with oil, in the name of the Lord,
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Are you sick? Call the church leaders together to pray and anoint you with oil in the name of the Master.
15 and the prayer of the faith shall save the distressed one, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if sins he may have committed, they shall be forgiven to him.
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Believing-prayer will heal you, and Jesus will put you on your feet. And if you've sinned, you'll be forgiven - healed inside and out.
16 Be confessing to one another the trespasses, and be praying for one another, that ye may be healed; very strong is a working supplication of a righteous man;
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Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with.
17 Elijah was a man like affected as we, and with prayer he did pray -- not to rain, and it did not rain upon the land three years and six months;
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Elijah, for instance, human just like us, prayed hard that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't - not a drop for three and a half years.
18 and again he did pray, and the heaven did give rain, and the land did bring forth her fruit.
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Then he prayed that it would rain, and it did. The showers came and everything started growing again.
19 Brethren, if any among you may go astray from the truth, and any one may turn him back,
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My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from God's truth, don't write them off. Go after them. Get them back
20 let him know that he who did turn back a sinner from the straying of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins.
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and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering away from God.
Young's Literal Translation 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.