The Message Bible MSG
World English Bible WEB
1 Take a deep breath, God; calm down - don't be so hasty with your punishing rod.
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<<A Psalm by David, for a memorial.>> Yahweh, don't rebuke me in your wrath, Neither chasten me in your hot displeasure.
2 Your sharp-pointed arrows of rebuke draw blood; my backside smarts from your caning.
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For your arrows have pierced me, Your hand presses hard on me.
3 I've lost twenty pounds in two months because of your accusation. My bones are brittle as dry sticks because of my sin.
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There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation, Neither is there any health in my bones because of my sin.
4 I'm swamped by my bad behavior, collapsed under gunnysacks of guilt.
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For my iniquities have gone over my head. As a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.
5 The cuts in my flesh stink and grow maggots because I've lived so badly.
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My wounds are loathsome and corrupt, Because of my foolishness.
6 And now I'm flat on my face feeling sorry for myself morning to night.
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I am pained and bowed down greatly. I go mourning all day long.
7 All my insides are on fire, my body is a wreck.
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For my loins are filled with burning. There is no soundness in my flesh.
8 I'm on my last legs; I've had it - my life is a vomit of groans.
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I am faint and severely bruised. I have groaned by reason of the anguish of my heart.
9 Lord, my longings are sitting in plain sight, my groans an old story to you.
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Lord, all my desire is before you. My groaning is not hidden from you.
10 My heart's about to break; I'm a burned-out case. Cataracts blind me to God and good;
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My heart throbs. My strength fails me. As for the light of my eyes, it also is gone from me.
11 old friends avoid me like the plague. My cousins never visit, my neighbors stab me in the back.
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My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my plague. My kinsmen stand afar off.
12 My competitors blacken my name, devoutly they pray for my ruin.
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They also who seek after my life lay snares. Those who seek my hurt speak mischievous things, And meditate deceits all day long.
13 But I'm deaf and mute to it all, ears shut, mouth shut.
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But I, as a deaf man, don't hear. I am as a mute man who doesn't open his mouth.
14 I don't hear a word they say, don't speak a word in response.
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Yes, I am as a man who doesn't hear, In whose mouth are no reproofs.
15 What I do, God, is wait for you, wait for my Lord, my God - you will answer!
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For in you, Yahweh, do I hope. You will answer, Lord my God.
16 I wait and pray so they won't laugh me off, won't smugly strut off when I stumble.
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For I said, "Don't let them gloat over me, Or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips."
17 I'm on the edge of losing it - the pain in my gut keeps burning.
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For I am ready to fall. My pain is continually before me.
18 I'm ready to tell my story of failure, I'm no longer smug in my sin.
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For I will declare my iniquity. I will be sorry for my sin.
19 My enemies are alive and in action, a lynch mob after my neck.
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But my enemies are vigorous and many. Those who hate me without reason are numerous.
20 I give out good and get back evil from God-haters who can't stand a God-lover.
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They who also render evil for good are adversaries to me, Because I follow what is good.
21 Don't dump me, God; my God, don't stand me up.
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Don't forsake me, Yahweh. My God, don't be far from me.
22 Hurry and help me; I want some wide-open space in my life!
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Hurry to help me, Lord, my salvation.
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.