Hebrew Names Version HNV
The Message Bible MSG
1 <<A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint before the LORD.>> Hear my prayer, LORD! Let my cry come to you.
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God, listen! Listen to my prayer, listen to the pain in my cries.
2 Don't hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Turn your ear to me. Answer me quickly in the day when I call.
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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 For my days consume away like smoke. My bones are burned as a firebrand.
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I'm wasting away to nothing, I'm burning up with fever.
4 My heart is blighted like grass, and withered, For I forget to eat my bread.
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I'm a ghost of my former self, half-consumed already by terminal illness.
5 By reason of the voice of my groaning, My bones stick to my skin.
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My jaws ache from gritting my teeth; I'm nothing but skin and bones.
6 I am like a pelican of the wilderness. I have become as an owl of the waste places.
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I'm like a buzzard in the desert, a crow perched on the rubble.
7 I watch, and have become like a sparrow that is alone on the housetop.
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Insomniac, I twitter away, mournful as a sparrow in the gutter.
8 My enemies reproach me all day. Those who are mad at me use my name as a curse.
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All day long my enemies taunt me, while others just curse.
9 For I have eaten ashes like bread, And mixed my drink with tears,
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They bring in meals - casseroles of ashes! I draw drink from a barrel of my tears.
10 Because of your indignation and your wrath, For you have taken me up, and thrown me away.
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And all because of your furious anger; you swept me up and threw me out.
11 My days are like a long shadow. I have withered like grass.
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There's nothing left of me - a withered weed, swept clean from the path.
12 But you, LORD, will abide forever; Your renown endures to all generations.
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Yet you, God, are sovereign still, always and ever sovereign.
13 You will arise and have mercy on Tziyon; For it is time to have pity on her. Yes, the set time has come.
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You'll get up from your throne and help Zion - it's time for compassionate help.
14 For your servants take pleasure in her stones, And have pity on her dust.
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Oh, how your servants love this city's rubble and weep with compassion over its dust!
15 So the nations will fear the name of the LORD; All the kings of the eretz your glory.
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The godless nations will sit up and take notice - see your glory, worship your name -
16 For the LORD has built up Tziyon. He has appeared in his glory.
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When God rebuilds Zion, when he shows up in all his glory,
17 He has responded to the prayer of the destitute, And has not despised their prayer.
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When he attends to the prayer of the wretched. He won't dismiss their prayer.
18 This will be written for the generation to come. A people which will be created will praise the LORD.
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Write this down for the next generation so people not yet born will praise God:
19 For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary. From heaven, the LORD saw the eretz;
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"God looked out from his high holy place; from heaven he surveyed the earth.
20 To hear the groans of the prisoner; To free those who are condemned to death;
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He listened to the groans of the doomed, he opened the doors of their death cells."
21 That men may declare the name of the LORD in Tziyon, And his praise in Yerushalayim;
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Write it so the story can be told in Zion, so God's praise will be sung in Jerusalem's streets
22 When the peoples are gathered together, The kingdoms, to serve the LORD.
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And wherever people gather together along with their rulers to worship him.
23 He weakened my strength along the course. He shortened my days.
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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 midst of my days. Your years are throughout all generations.
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"Oh, don't," I prayed, "please don't let me die. You have more years than you know what to do with!
25 Of old, you laid the foundation of the eretz. The heavens are the work of your hands.
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You laid earth's foundations a long time ago, and handcrafted the very heavens;
26 They will perish, but you will endure. Yes, all of them will wear out like a garment. You will change them like a cloak, and they will be changed.
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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 same. Your years will have no end.
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but year after year you're as good as new.
28 The children of your servants will continue. Their seed will be established before you."
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Your servants' children will have a good place to live and their children will be at home with you."
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.