New Living Translation NLT
The Message Bible MSG
1 Let the godly sing for joy to the LORD ; it is fitting for the pure to praise him.
1
Good people, cheer God! Right-living people sound best when praising.
2 Praise the LORD with melodies on the lyre; make music for him on the ten-stringed harp.
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Use guitars to reinforce your Hallelujahs! Play his praise on a grand piano!
3 Sing a new song of praise to him; play skillfully on the harp, and sing with joy.
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Invent your own new song to him; give him a trumpet fanfare.
4 For the word of the LORD holds true, and we can trust everything he does.
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For God's Word is solid to the core; everything he makes is sound inside and out.
5 He loves whatever is just and good; the unfailing love of the LORD fills the earth.
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He loves it when everything fits, when his world is in plumb-line true. Earth is drenched in God's affectionate satisfaction.
6 The LORD merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born.
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The skies were made by God's command; he breathed the word and the stars popped out.
7 He assigned the sea its boundaries and locked the oceans in vast reservoirs.
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He scooped Sea into his jug, put Ocean in his keg.
8 Let the whole world fear the LORD, and let everyone stand in awe of him.
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Earth-creatures, bow before God; world-dwellers - down on your knees!
9 For when he spoke, the world began! It appeared at his command.
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Here's why: he spoke and there it was, in place the moment he said so.
10 The LORD frustrates the plans of the nations and thwarts all their schemes.
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God takes the wind out of Babel pretense, he shoots down the world's power-schemes.
11 But the LORD ’s plans stand firm forever; his intentions can never be shaken.
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God's plan for the world stands up, all his designs are made to last.
12 What joy for the nation whose God is the LORD, whose people he has chosen as his inheritance.
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Blessed is the country with God for God; blessed are the people he's put in his will.
13 The LORD looks down from heaven and sees the whole human race.
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From high in the skies God looks around, he sees all Adam's brood.
14 From his throne he observes all who live on the earth.
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From where he sits he overlooks all us earth-dwellers.
15 He made their hearts, so he understands everything they do.
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He has shaped each person in turn; now he watches everything we do.
16 The best-equipped army cannot save a king, nor is great strength enough to save a warrior.
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No king succeeds with a big army alone, no warrior wins by brute strength.
17 Don’t count on your warhorse to give you victory— for all its strength, it cannot save you.
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Horsepower is not the answer; no one gets by on muscle alone.
18 But the LORD watches over those who fear him, those who rely on his unfailing love.
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Watch this: God's eye is on those who respect him, the ones who are looking for his love.
19 He rescues them from death and keeps them alive in times of famine.
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He's ready to come to their rescue in bad times; in lean times he keeps body and soul together.
20 We put our hope in the LORD . He is our help and our shield.
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We're depending on God; he's everything we need.
21 In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.
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What's more, our hearts brim with joy since we've taken for our own his holy name.
22 Let your unfailing love surround us, LORD, for our hope is in you alone.
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Love us, God, with all you've got - that's what we're depending on.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. 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.