Hebrew Names Version HNV
The Message Bible MSG
1 "Why aren't times laid up by Shaddai? Why don't those who know him see his days?
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"But if Judgment Day isn't hidden from the Almighty, why are we kept in the dark?
2 There are people who remove the landmarks. They violently take away flocks, and feed them.
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There are people out there getting by with murder - stealing and lying and cheating.
3 They drive away the donkey of the fatherless, And they take the widow's ox for a pledge.
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They rip off the poor and exploit the unfortunate,
4 They turn the needy out of the way. The poor of the eretz all hide themselves.
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Push the helpless into the ditch, bully the weak so that they fear for their lives.
5 Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert, They go forth to their work, seeking diligently for food; The wilderness yields them bread for their children.
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The poor, like stray dogs and cats, scavenge for food in back alleys.
6 They cut their provender in the field. They glean the vineyard of the wicked.
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They sort through the garbage of the rich, eke out survival on handouts.
7 They lie all night naked without clothing, And have no covering in the cold.
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Homeless, they shiver through cold nights on the street; they've no place to lay their heads.
8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, And embrace the rock for lack of a shelter.
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Exposed to the weather, wet and frozen, they huddle in makeshift shelters.
9 There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, And take a pledge of the poor,
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Nursing mothers have their babies snatched from them; the infants of the poor are kidnapped and sold.
10 So that they go around naked without clothing. Being hungry, they carry the sheaves.
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They go about patched and threadbare; even the hard workers go hungry.
11 They make oil within the walls of these men. They tread wine presses, and suffer thirst.
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No matter how back-breaking their labor, they can never make ends meet.
12 From out of the populous city, men groan. The soul of the wounded cries out, Yet God doesn't regard the folly.
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People are dying right and left, groaning in torment. The wretched cry out for help and God does nothing, acts like nothing's wrong!
13 "These are of those who rebel against the light; They don't know the ways of it, Nor abide in the paths of it.
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"Then there are those who avoid light at all costs, who scorn the light-filled path.
14 The murderer rises with the light. He kills the poor and needy. In the night he is like a thief.
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When the sun goes down, the murderer gets up - kills the poor and robs the defenseless.
15 The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, Saying, 'No eye shall see me.' He disguises his face.
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Sexual predators can't wait for nightfall, thinking, 'No one can see us now.'
16 In the dark they dig through houses. They shut themselves up in the daytime. They don't know the light.
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Burglars do their work at night, but keep well out of sight through the day. They want nothing to do with light.
17 For the morning is to all of them like thick darkness, For they know the terrors of the thick darkness.
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Deep darkness is morning for that bunch; they make the terrors of darkness their companions in crime.
18 "They are foam on the surface of the waters. Their portion is cursed in the eretz: They don't turn into the way of the vineyards.
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"They are scraps of wood floating on the water - useless, cursed junk, good for nothing.
19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters; So does She'ol those who have sinned.
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As surely as snow melts under the hot, summer sun, sinners disappear in the grave.
20 The womb shall forget him. The worm shall feed sweetly on him. He shall be no more remembered. Unrighteousness shall be broken as a tree.
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The womb has forgotten them, worms have relished them - nothing that is evil lasts.
21 He devours the barren who don't bear. He shows no kindness to the widow.
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Unscrupulous, they prey on those less fortunate.
22 Yet God preserves the mighty by his power. He rises up who has no assurance of life.
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However much they strut and flex their muscles, there's nothing to them. They're hollow.
23 God gives them security, and they rest in it. His eyes are on their ways.
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They may have an illusion of security, but God has his eye on them.
24 They are exalted; yet a little while, and they are gone. Yes, they are brought low, they are taken out of the way as all others, And are cut off as the tops of the ears of grain.
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They may get their brief successes, but then it's over, nothing to show for it. Like yesterday's newspaper, they're used to wrap up the garbage.
25 If it isn't so now, who will prove me a liar, And make my speech worth nothing?"
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You're free to try to prove me a liar, but you won't be able to do it."
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.