The Message Bible MSG
King James Version KJV
1 I'm determined to watch steps and tongue so they won't land me in trouble. I decided to hold my tongue as long as Wicked is in the room.
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I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.
2 "Mum's the word," I said, and kept quiet. But the longer I kept silence The worse it got -
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I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.
3 my insides got hotter and hotter. My thoughts boiled over; I spilled my guts.
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My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue,
4 "Tell me, what's going on, God? How long do I have to live? Give me the bad news!
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LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.
5 You've kept me on pretty short rations; my life is string too short to be saved.
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Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.
6 Oh! we're all puffs of air. Oh! we're all shadows in a campfire. Oh! we're just spit in the wind. We make our pile, and then we leave it.
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Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.
7 "What am I doing in the meantime, Lord? Hoping, that's what I'm doing - hoping
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And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.
8 You'll save me from a rebel life, save me from the contempt of dunces.
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Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish.
9 I'll say no more, I'll shut my mouth, since you, Lord, are behind all this.
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I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.
10 But I can't take it much longer. When you put us through the fire
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Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.
11 to purge us from our sin, our dearest idols go up in smoke. Are we also nothing but smoke?
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When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah.
12 "Ah, God, listen to my prayer, my cry - open your ears. Don't be callous; just look at these tears of mine. I'm a stranger here. I don't know my way - a migrant like my whole family.
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Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
13 Give me a break, cut me some slack before it's too late and I'm out of here."
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O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.
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.