The Message Bible MSG
New Living Translation NLT
1 God, are you avoiding me? Where are you when I need you?
1
O LORD, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide when I am in trouble?
2 Full of hot air, the wicked are hot on the trail of the poor. Trip them up, tangle them up in their fine-tuned plots.
2
The wicked arrogantly hunt down the poor. Let them be caught in the evil they plan for others.
3 The wicked are windbags, the swindlers have foul breath.
3
For they brag about their evil desires; they praise the greedy and curse the LORD .
4 The wicked snub God, their noses stuck high in the air. Their graffiti are scrawled on the walls: "Catch us if you can!" "God is dead."
4
The wicked are too proud to seek God. They seem to think that God is dead.
5 They care nothing for what you think; if you get in their way, they blow you off.
5
Yet they succeed in everything they do. They do not see your punishment awaiting them. They sneer at all their enemies.
6 They live (they think) a charmed life: "We can't go wrong. This is our lucky year!"
6
They think, “Nothing bad will ever happen to us! We will be free of trouble forever!”
7 They carry a mouthful of hexes, their tongues spit venom like adders.
7
Their mouths are full of cursing, lies, and threats. Trouble and evil are on the tips of their tongues.
8 They hide behind ordinary people, then pounce on their victims.
8
They lurk in ambush in the villages, waiting to murder innocent people. They are always searching for helpless victims.
9 They mark the luckless, then wait like a hunter in a blind; When the poor wretch wanders too close, they stab him in the back.
9
Like lions crouched in hiding, they wait to pounce on the helpless. Like hunters they capture the helpless and drag them away in nets.
10 The hapless fool is kicked to the ground, the unlucky victim is brutally axed.
10
Their helpless victims are crushed; they fall beneath the strength of the wicked.
11 He thinks God has dumped him, he's sure that God is indifferent to his plight.
11
The wicked think, “God isn’t watching us! He has closed his eyes and won’t even see what we do!”
12 Time to get up, God - get moving. The luckless think they're Godforsaken.
12
Arise, O LORD ! Punish the wicked, O God! Do not ignore the helpless!
13 They wonder why the wicked scorn God and get away with it, Why the wicked are so cocksure they'll never come up for audit.
13
Why do the wicked get away with despising God? They think, “God will never call us to account.”
14 But you know all about it - the contempt, the abuse. I dare to believe that the luckless will get lucky someday in you. You won't let them down: orphans won't be orphans forever.
14
But you see the trouble and grief they cause. You take note of it and punish them. The helpless put their trust in you. You defend the orphans.
15 Break the wicked right arms, break all the evil left arms. Search and destroy every sign of crime.
15
Break the arms of these wicked, evil people! Go after them until the last one is destroyed.
16 God's grace and order wins; godlessness loses.
16
The LORD is king forever and ever! The godless nations will vanish from the land.
17 The victim's faint pulse picks up; the hearts of the hopeless pump red blood as you put your ear to their lips.
17
LORD, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them.
18 Orphans get parents, the homeless get homes. The reign of terror is over, the rule of the gang lords is ended.
18
You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so mere people can no longer terrify them.
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.
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.