The Message Bible MSG
Young's Literal Translation YLT
1 Don't bother your head with braggarts or wish you could succeed like the wicked.
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By David. Do not fret because of evil doers, Be not envious against doers of iniquity,
2 In no time they'll shrivel like grass clippings and wilt like cut flowers in the sun.
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For as grass speedily they are cut off, And as the greenness of the tender grass do fade.
3 Get insurance with God and do a good deed, settle down and stick to your last.
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Trust in Jehovah, and do good, Dwell [in] the land, and enjoy faithfulness,
4 Keep company with God, get in on the best.
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And delight thyself on Jehovah, And He giveth to thee the petitions of thy heart.
5 Open up before God, keep nothing back; he'll do whatever needs to be done:
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Roll on Jehovah thy way, And trust upon Him, and He worketh,
6 He'll validate your life in the clear light of day and stamp you with approval at high noon.
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And hath brought out as light thy righteousness, And thy judgment as noon-day.
7 Quiet down before God, be prayerful before him. Don't bother with those who climb the ladder, who elbow their way to the top.
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Be silent for Jehovah, and stay thyself for Him, Do not fret because of him Who is making prosperous his way, Because of a man doing wicked devices.
8 Bridle your anger, trash your wrath, cool your pipes - it only makes things worse.
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Desist from anger, and forsake fury, Fret not thyself only to do evil.
9 Before long the crooks will be bankrupt; God-investors will soon own the store.
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For evil doers are cut off, As to those waiting on Jehovah, they possess the land.
10 Before you know it, the wicked will have had it; you'll stare at his once famous place and - nothing!
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And yet a little, and the wicked is not, And thou hast considered his place, and it is not.
11 Down-to-earth people will move in and take over, relishing a huge bonanza.
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And the humble do possess the land, And they have delighted themselves In the abundance of peace.
12 Bad guys have it in for the good guys, obsessed with doing them in.
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The wicked is devising against the righteous, And gnashing against him his teeth.
13 But God isn't losing any sleep; to him they're a joke with no punch line.
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The Lord doth laugh at him, For He hath seen that his day cometh.
14 Bullies brandish their swords, pull back on their bows with a flourish. They're out to beat up on the harmless, or mug that nice man out walking his dog.
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A sword have the wicked opened, And they have trodden their bow, To cause to fall the poor and needy, To slaughter the upright of the way.
15 A banana peel lands them flat on their faces - slapstick figures in a moral circus.
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Their sword doth enter into their own heart, And their bows are shivered.
16 Less is more and more is less. One righteous will outclass fifty wicked,
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Better [is] the little of the righteous, Than the store of many wicked.
17 For the wicked are moral weaklings but the righteous are God-strong.
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For the arms of the wicked are shivered, And Jehovah is sustaining the righteous.
18 God keeps track of the decent folk; what they do won't soon be forgotten.
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Jehovah knoweth the days of the perfect, And their inheritance is -- to the age.
19 In hard times, they'll hold their heads high; when the shelves are bare, they'll be full.
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They are not ashamed in a time of evil, And in days of famine they are satisfied.
20 God-despisers have had it; God's enemies are finished - Stripped bare like vineyards at harvest time, vanished like smoke in thin air.
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But the wicked perish, and the enemies of Jehovah, As the preciousness of lambs, Have been consumed, In smoke they have been consumed.
21 Wicked borrows and never returns; Righteous gives and gives.
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The wicked is borrowing and repayeth not, And the righteous is gracious and giving.
22 Generous gets it all in the end; Stingy is cut off at the pass.
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For His blessed ones do possess the land, And His reviled ones are cut off.
23 Stalwart walks in step with God; his path blazed by God, he's happy.
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From Jehovah [are] the steps of a man, They have been prepared, And his way he desireth.
24 If he stumbles, he's not down for long; God has a grip on his hand.
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When he falleth, he is not cast down, For Jehovah is sustaining his hand.
25 I once was young, now I'm a graybeard - not once have I seen an abandoned believer, or his kids out roaming the streets.
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Young I have been, I have also become old, And I have not seen the righteous forsaken, And his seed seeking bread.
26 Every day he's out giving and lending, his children making him proud.
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All the day he is gracious and lending, And his seed [is] for a blessing.
27 Turn your back on evil, work for the good and don't quit.
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Turn aside from evil, and do good, and dwell to the age.
28 God loves this kind of thing, never turns away from his friends. Live this way and you've got it made, but bad eggs will be tossed out.
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For Jehovah is loving judgment, And He doth not forsake His saintly ones, To the age they have been kept, And the seed of the wicked is cut off.
29 The good get planted on good land and put down healthy roots.
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The righteous possess the land, And they dwell for ever on it.
30 Righteous chews on wisdom like a dog on a bone, rolls virtue around on his tongue.
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The mouth of the righteous uttereth wisdom, And his tongue speaketh judgment.
31 His heart pumps God's Word like blood through his veins; his feet are as sure as a cat's.
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The law of his God [is] his heart, His steps do not slide.
32 Wicked sets a watch for Righteous, he's out for the kill.
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The wicked is watching for the righteous, And is seeking to put him to death.
33 God, alert, is also on watch - Wicked won't hurt a hair of his head.
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Jehovah doth not leave him in his hand, Nor condemn him in his being judged.
34 Wait passionately for God, don't leave the path. He'll give you your place in the sun while you watch the wicked lose it.
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Look unto Jehovah, and keep His way, And He doth exalt thee to possess the land, In the wicked being cut off -- thou seest!
35 I saw Wicked bloated like a toad, croaking pretentious nonsense.
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I have seen the wicked terrible, And spreading as a green native plant,
36 The next time I looked there was nothing - a punctured bladder, vapid and limp.
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And he passeth away, and lo, he is not, And I seek him, and he is not found!
37 Keep your eye on the healthy soul, scrutinize the straight life; There's a future in strenuous wholeness.
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Observe the perfect, and see the upright, For the latter end of each [is] peace.
38 But the willful will soon be discarded; insolent souls are on a dead-end street.
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And transgressors were destroyed together, The latter end of the wicked was cut off.
39 The spacious, free life is from God, it's also protected and safe.
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And the salvation of the righteous [is] from Jehovah, Their strong place in a time of adversity.
40 God-strengthened, we're delivered from evil - when we run to him, he saves us.
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And Jehovah doth help them and deliver them, He delivereth them from the wicked, And saveth them, Because they trusted in Him!
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.
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.