Hebrew Names Version HNV
The Message Bible MSG
1 Remember, LORD, what has come on us: Look, and see our reproach.
1
"Remember, God, all we've been through. Study our plight, the black mark we've made in history.
2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, Our houses to aliens.
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Our precious land has been given to outsiders, our homes to strangers.
3 We are orphans and fatherless; Our mothers are as widows.
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Orphans we are, not a father in sight, and our mothers no better than widows.
4 We have drunken our water for money; Our wood is sold to us.
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We have to pay to drink our own water. Even our firewood comes at a price.
5 Our pursuers are on our necks: We are weary, and have no rest.
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We're nothing but slaves, bullied and bowed, worn out and without any rest.
6 We have given the hand to the Mitzrim, To the Ashshur, to be satisfied with bread.
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We sold ourselves to Assyria and Egypt just to get something to eat.
7 Our fathers sinned, and are no more; We have borne their iniquities.
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Our parents sinned and are no more, and now we're paying for the wrongs they did.
8 Servants rule over us: There is none to deliver us out of their hand.
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Slaves rule over us; there's no escape from their grip.
9 We get our bread at the peril of our lives, Because of the sword of the wilderness.
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We risk our lives to gather food in the bandit-infested desert.
10 Our skin is black like an oven, Because of the burning heat of famine.
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Our skin has turned black as an oven, dried out like old leather from the famine.
11 They ravished the women in Tziyon, The virgins in the cities of Yehudah.
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Our wives were raped in the streets in Zion, and our virgins in the cities of Judah.
12 Princes were hanged up by their hand: The faces of Zakenim were not honored.
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They hanged our princes by their hands, dishonored our elders.
13 The young men bare the mill; The children stumbled under the wood.
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Strapping young men were put to women's work, mere boys forced to do men's work.
14 The Zakenim have ceased from the gate, The young men from their music.
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The city gate is empty of wise elders. Music from the young is heard no more.
15 The joy of our heart is ceased; Our dance is turned into mourning.
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All the joy is gone from our hearts. Our dances have turned into dirges.
16 The crown is fallen from our head: Woe to us! for we have sinned.
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The crown of glory has toppled from our head. Woe! Woe! Would that we'd never sinned!
17 For this our heart is faint; For these things our eyes are dim;
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Because of all this we're heartsick; we can't see through the tears.
18 For the mountain of Tziyon, which is desolate: The foxes walk on it.
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On Mount Zion, wrecked and ruined, jackals pace and prowl.
19 You, LORD, abide forever; Your throne is from generation to generation.
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And yet, God, you're sovereign still, your throne intact and eternal.
20 Why do you forget us forever, [And] forsake us so long time?
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So why do you keep forgetting us? Why dump us and leave us like this?
21 Turn you us to you, LORD, and we shall be turned; Renew our days as of old.
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Bring us back to you, God - we're ready to come back. Give us a fresh start.
22 But you have utterly rejected us; You are very angry against us.
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As it is, you've cruelly disowned us. You've been so very angry with us."
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.