New Revised Standard NRS
The Message Bible MSG
1 "Often have they attacked me from my youth" —let Israel now say—
1
"They've kicked me around ever since I was young" - this is how Israel tells it -
2 "often have they attacked me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me.
2
"They've kicked me around ever since I was young, but they never could keep me down.
3 The plowers plowed on my back; they made their furrows long."
3
Their plowmen plowed long furrows up and down my back;
4 The Lord is righteous; he has cut the cords of the wicked.
4
Then God ripped the harnesses of the evil plowmen to shreds."
5 May all who hate Zion be put to shame and turned backward.
5
Oh, let all those who hate Zion grovel in humiliation;
6 Let them be like the grass on the housetops that withers before it grows up,
6
Let them be like grass in shallow ground that withers before the harvest,
7 with which reapers do not fill their hands or binders of sheaves their arms,
7
Before the farmhands can gather it in, the harvesters get in the crop,
8 while those who pass by do not say, "The blessing of the Lord be upon you! We bless you in the name of the Lord!"
8
Before the neighbors have a chance to call out, "Congratulations on your wonderful crop! We bless you in God's name!"
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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.