The Message Bible MSG
King James Version KJV
1 God, come close. Come quickly! Open your ears - it's my voice you're hearing!
1
LORD, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee.
2 Treat my prayer as sweet incense rising; my raised hands are my evening prayers.
2
Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
3 Post a guard at my mouth, God, set a watch at the door of my lips.
3
Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.
4 Don't let me so much as dream of evil or thoughtlessly fall into bad company. And these people who only do wrong - don't let them lure me with their sweet talk!
4
Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties.
5 May the Just One set me straight, may the Kind One correct me, Don't let sin anoint my head. I'm praying hard against their evil ways!
5
Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities.
6 Oh, let their leaders be pushed off a high rock cliff; make them face the music.
6
When their judges are overthrown in stony places, they shall hear my words; for they are sweet.
7 Like a rock pulverized by a maul, let their bones be scattered at the gates of hell.
7
Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth.
8 But God, dear Lord, I only have eyes for you. Since I've run for dear life to you, take good care of me.
8
But mine eyes are unto thee, O GOD the Lord: in thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute.
9 Protect me from their evil scheming, from all their demonic subterfuge.
9
Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me, and the gins of the workers of iniquity.
10 Let the wicked fall flat on their faces, while I walk off without a scratch. A David prayer - when he was in the cave.
10
Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape.
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.