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