Common English Bible CEB
The Message Bible MSG
1 LORD, hear my prayer! Let my cry reach you!
1
God, listen! Listen to my prayer, listen to the pain in my cries.
2 Don't hide your face from me in my time of trouble! Listen to me! Answer me quickly as I cry out!
2
Don't turn your back on me just when I need you so desperately. Pay attention! This is a cry for help! And hurry - this can't wait!
3 Because my days disappear like smoke, my bones are burned up as if in an oven;
3
I'm wasting away to nothing, I'm burning up with fever.
4 my heart is smashed like dried-up grass. I even forget to eat my food
4
I'm a ghost of my former self, half-consumed already by terminal illness.
5 because of my intense groans. My bones are protruding from my skin.
5
My jaws ache from gritting my teeth; I'm nothing but skin and bones.
6 I'm like some wild owl— like some screech owl in the desert.
6
I'm like a buzzard in the desert, a crow perched on the rubble.
7 I lie awake all night. I'm all alone like a bird on a roof.
7
Insomniac, I twitter away, mournful as a sparrow in the gutter.
8 All day long my enemies make fun of me; those who mock me curse using my name!
8
All day long my enemies taunt me, while others just curse.
9 I've been eating ashes instead of bread. I've been mixing tears into my drinks
9
They bring in meals - casseroles of ashes! I draw drink from a barrel of my tears.
10 because of your anger and wrath, because you picked me up and threw me away.
10
And all because of your furious anger; you swept me up and threw me out.
11 My days are like a shadow soon gone. I'm dried up like dead grass.
11
There's nothing left of me - a withered weed, swept clean from the path.
12 But you, LORD, rule forever! Your fame lasts from one generation to the next!
12
Yet you, God, are sovereign still, always and ever sovereign.
13 You will stand up— you'll have compassion on Zion because it is time to have mercy on her— the time set for that has now come!
13
You'll get up from your throne and help Zion - it's time for compassionate help.
14 Your servants cherish Zion's stones; they show mercy even to her dirt.
14
Oh, how your servants love this city's rubble and weep with compassion over its dust!
15 The nations will honor the LORD's name; all the earth's rulers will honor your glory
15
The godless nations will sit up and take notice - see your glory, worship your name -
16 because the LORD will rebuild Zion; he will be seen there in his glory.
16
When God rebuilds Zion, when he shows up in all his glory,
17 God will turn to the prayer of the impoverished; he won't despise their prayers.
17
When he attends to the prayer of the wretched. He won't dismiss their prayer.
18 Let this be written down for the next generation so that people not yet created will praise the LORD:
18
Write this down for the next generation so people not yet born will praise God:
19 The LORD looked down from his holy summit, surveyed the earth from heaven,
19
"God looked out from his high holy place; from heaven he surveyed the earth.
20 to hear the prisoners' groans, to set free those condemned to death,
20
He listened to the groans of the doomed, he opened the doors of their death cells."
21 that the LORD's name may be declared in Zion and his praise declared in Jerusalem,
21
Write it so the story can be told in Zion, so God's praise will be sung in Jerusalem's streets
22 when all people are gathered together— all kingdoms—to serve the LORD.
22
And wherever people gather together along with their rulers to worship him.
23 God broke my strength in midstride, cutting my days short.
23
God sovereignly brought me to my knees, he cut me down in my prime.
24 I said, "My God, don't take me away in the prime of life— your years go on from one generation to the next!
24
"Oh, don't," I prayed, "please don't let me die. You have more years than you know what to do with!
25 You laid the earth's foundations long ago; the skies are your handiwork.
25
You laid earth's foundations a long time ago, and handcrafted the very heavens;
26 These things will pass away, but you will last. All of these things will wear out like clothing; you change them like clothes, and they pass on.
26
You'll still be around when they're long gone, threadbare and discarded like an old suit of clothes. You'll throw them away like a worn-out coat,
27 But you are the one! Your years never end!
27
but year after year you're as good as new.
28 Let your servants' children live safe; let your servants' descendants live secure in your presence."
28
Your servants' children will have a good place to live and their children will be at home with you."
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible
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.