The Message Bible MSG
Young's Literal Translation YLT
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.
1
To the Overseer, to Jeduthun. -- A Psalm of David. I have said, `I observe my ways, Against sinning with my tongue, I keep for my mouth a curb, 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 -
2
I was dumb [with] silence, I kept silent from good, and my pain is excited.
3 my insides got hotter and hotter. My thoughts boiled over; I spilled my guts.
3
Hot [is] my heart within me, In my meditating doth the fire burn, I have spoken with my tongue.
4 "Tell me, what's going on, God? How long do I have to live? Give me the bad news!
4
`Cause me to know, O Jehovah, mine end, And the measure of my days -- what it [is],' I know how frail I [am].
5 You've kept me on pretty short rations; my life is string too short to be saved.
5
Lo, handbreadths Thou hast made my days, And mine age [is] as nothing before Thee, Only, all vanity [is] every man set up. 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.
6
Only, in an image doth each walk habitually, Only, [in] vain, they are disquieted, He heapeth up and knoweth not who gathereth them.
7 "What am I doing in the meantime, Lord? Hoping, that's what I'm doing - hoping
7
And, now, what have I expected? O Lord, my hope -- it [is] of Thee.
8 You'll save me from a rebel life, save me from the contempt of dunces.
8
From all my transgressions deliver me, A reproach of the fool make me not.
9 I'll say no more, I'll shut my mouth, since you, Lord, are behind all this.
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I have been dumb, I open not my mouth, Because Thou -- Thou hast done [it].
10 But I can't take it much longer. When you put us through the fire
10
Turn aside from off me Thy stroke, From the striving of Thy hand I have been consumed.
11 to purge us from our sin, our dearest idols go up in smoke. Are we also nothing but smoke?
11
With reproofs against iniquity, Thou hast corrected man, And dost waste as a moth his desirableness, Only, vanity [is] every man. 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.
12
Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, And [to] my cry give ear, Unto my tear be not silent, For a sojourner I [am] with Thee, A settler like all my fathers.
13 Give me a break, cut me some slack before it's too late and I'm out of here."
13
Look from me, and I brighten up before I go and am not!
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.