The Message Bible MSG
World English Bible WEB
1 I run to you, God; I run for dear life. Don't let me down! Take me seriously this time!
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<<For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.>> In you, Yahweh, do I take refuge. Let me never be put to shame: Deliver me in your righteousness.
2 Get down on my level and listen, and please - no procrastination! Your granite cave a hiding place, your high cliff aerie a place of safety.
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Bow down your ear to me. Deliver me speedily. Be to me a strong rock, A house of defense to save me.
3 You're my cave to hide in, my cliff to climb. Be my safe leader, be my true mountain guide.
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For you are my rock and my fortress, Therefore for your name's sake lead me and guide me.
4 Free me from hidden traps; I want to hide in you.
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Pluck me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me, For you are my stronghold.
5 I've put my life in your hands. You won't drop me, you'll never let me down.
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Into your hand I commend my spirit. You redeem me, Yahweh, God of truth.
6 I hate all this silly religion, but you, God, I trust.
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I hate those who regard lying vanities, But I trust in Yahweh.
7 I'm leaping and singing in the circle of your love; you saw my pain, you disarmed my tormentors,
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I will be glad and rejoice in your lovingkindness, For you have seen my affliction. You have known my soul in adversities.
8 You didn't leave me in their clutches but gave me room to breathe.
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You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. You have set my feet in a large place.
9 Be kind to me, God - I'm in deep, deep trouble again. I've cried my eyes out; I feel hollow inside.
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Have mercy on me, Yahweh, for I am in distress. My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief.
10 My life leaks away, groan by groan; my years fade out in sighs. My troubles have worn me out, turned my bones to powder.
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For my life is spent with sorrow, My years with sighing. My strength fails because of my iniquity. My bones are wasted away.
11 To my enemies I'm a monster; I'm ridiculed by the neighbors. My friends are horrified; they cross the street to avoid me.
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Because of all my adversaries I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors, A fear to my acquaintances. Those who saw me on the street fled from me.
12 They want to blot me from memory, forget me like a corpse in a grave, discard me like a broken dish in the trash.
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I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man. I am like broken pottery.
13 The street-talk gossip has me "criminally insane"! Behind locked doors they plot how to ruin me for good.
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For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side, While they conspire together against me, They plot to take away my life.
14 Desperate, I throw myself on you: you are my God!
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But I trust in you, Yahweh. I said, You are my God.
15 Hour by hour I place my days in your hand, safe from the hands out to get me.
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My times are in your hand. Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.
16 Warm me, your servant, with a smile; save me because you love me.
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Make your face to shine on your servant. Save me in your lovingkindness.
17 Don't embarrass me by not showing up; I've given you plenty of notice. Embarrass the wicked, stand them up, leave them stupidly shaking their heads as they drift down to hell.
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Let me not be put to shame, Yahweh, for I have called on you. Let the wicked be put to shame. Let them be silent in Sheol.
18 Gag those loudmouthed liars who heckle me, your follower, with jeers and catcalls.
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Let the lying lips be mute, Which speak against the righteous insolently, with pride and contempt.
19 What a stack of blessing you have piled up for those who worship you, Ready and waiting for all who run to you to escape an unkind world.
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Oh how great is your goodness, Which you have laid up for those who fear you, Which you have worked for those who take refuge in you, Before the sons of men!
20 You hide them safely away from the opposition. As you slam the door on those oily, mocking faces, you silence the poisonous gossip.
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In the covert of your presence will you hide them from the plotting of man. You will keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.
21 Blessed God! His love is the wonder of the world.
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Praise be to Yahweh, For he has shown me his marvelous lovingkindness in a strong city.
22 I panicked. "Out of sight, out of mind," I said. But you heard me say it, you heard and listened.
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As for me, I said in my haste, "I am cut off from before your eyes." Nevertheless you heard the voice of my petitions when I cried to you.
23 Love God, all you saints; God takes care of all who stay close to him, But he pays back in full those arrogant enough to go it alone.
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Oh love Yahweh, all you his saints! Yahweh preserves the faithful, And pays back him who deals proudly in full.
24 Be brave. Be strong. Don't give up. Expect God to get here soon.
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Be strong, and let your heart take courage, All you who hope in Yahweh.
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 World English Bible is in the public domain.