New Living Translation NLT
The Message Bible MSG
1 “Why doesn’t the Almighty bring the wicked to judgment? Why must the godly wait for him in vain?
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"But if Judgment Day isn't hidden from the Almighty, why are we kept in the dark?
2 Evil people steal land by moving the boundary markers. They steal livestock and put them in their own pastures.
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There are people out there getting by with murder - stealing and lying and cheating.
3 They take the orphan’s donkey and demand the widow’s ox as security for a loan.
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They rip off the poor and exploit the unfortunate,
4 The poor are pushed off the path; the needy must hide together for safety.
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Push the helpless into the ditch, bully the weak so that they fear for their lives.
5 Like wild donkeys in the wilderness, the poor must spend all their time looking for food, searching even in the desert for food for their children.
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The poor, like stray dogs and cats, scavenge for food in back alleys.
6 They harvest a field they do not own, and they glean in the vineyards of the wicked.
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They sort through the garbage of the rich, eke out survival on handouts.
7 All night they lie naked in the cold, without clothing or covering.
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Homeless, they shiver through cold nights on the street; they've no place to lay their heads.
8 They are soaked by mountain showers, and they huddle against the rocks for want of a home.
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Exposed to the weather, wet and frozen, they huddle in makeshift shelters.
9 “The wicked snatch a widow’s child from her breast, taking the baby as security for a loan.
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Nursing mothers have their babies snatched from them; the infants of the poor are kidnapped and sold.
10 The poor must go about naked, without any clothing. They harvest food for others while they themselves are starving.
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They go about patched and threadbare; even the hard workers go hungry.
11 They press out olive oil without being allowed to taste it, and they tread in the winepress as they suffer from thirst.
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No matter how back-breaking their labor, they can never make ends meet.
12 The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the wounded cry for help, yet God ignores their moaning.
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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 “Wicked people rebel against the light. They refuse to acknowledge its ways or stay in its paths.
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"Then there are those who avoid light at all costs, who scorn the light-filled path.
14 The murderer rises in the early dawn to kill the poor and needy; at night he is a thief.
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When the sun goes down, the murderer gets up - kills the poor and robs the defenseless.
15 The adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No one will see me then.’ He hides his face so no one will know him.
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Sexual predators can't wait for nightfall, thinking, 'No one can see us now.'
16 Thieves break into houses at night and sleep in the daytime. They are not acquainted with 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 The black night is their morning. They ally themselves with the terrors of the darkness.
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Deep darkness is morning for that bunch; they make the terrors of darkness their companions in crime.
18 “But they disappear like foam down a river. Everything they own is cursed, and they are afraid to enter their own vineyards.
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"They are scraps of wood floating on the water - useless, cursed junk, good for nothing.
19 The grave consumes sinners just as drought and heat consume snow.
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As surely as snow melts under the hot, summer sun, sinners disappear in the grave.
20 Their own mothers will forget them. Maggots will find them sweet to eat. No one will remember them. Wicked people are broken like a tree in the storm.
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The womb has forgotten them, worms have relished them - nothing that is evil lasts.
21 They cheat the woman who has no son to help her. They refuse to help the needy widow.
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Unscrupulous, they prey on those less fortunate.
22 “God, in his power, drags away the rich. They may rise high, but they have 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 They may be allowed to live in security, but God is always watching them.
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They may have an illusion of security, but God has his eye on them.
24 And though they are great now, in a moment they will be gone like all others, cut off like heads 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 Can anyone claim otherwise? Who can prove me wrong?”
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You're free to try to prove me a liar, but you won't be able to do it."
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. 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.