The Message Bible MSG
New Living Translation NLT
1 Dignify those who are down on their luck; you'll feel good - that's what God does.
1
Oh, the joys of those who are kind to the poor! The LORD rescues them when they are in trouble.
2 God looks after us all, makes us robust with life - Lucky to be in the land, we're free from enemy worries.
2
The LORD protects them and keeps them alive. He gives them prosperity in the land and rescues them from their enemies.
3 Whenever we're sick and in bed, God becomes our nurse, nurses us back to health.
3
The LORD nurses them when they are sick and restores them to health.
4 I said, "God, be gracious! Put me together again - my sins have torn me to pieces."
4
“O LORD,” I prayed, “have mercy on me. Heal me, for I have sinned against you.”
5 My enemies are wishing the worst for me; they make bets on what day I will die.
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But my enemies say nothing but evil about me. “How soon will he die and be forgotten?” they ask.
6 If someone comes to see me, he mouths empty platitudes, All the while gathering gossip about me to entertain the street-corner crowd.
6
They visit me as if they were my friends, but all the while they gather gossip, and when they leave, they spread it everywhere.
7 These "friends" who hate me whisper slanders all over town. They form committees to plan misery for me.
7
All who hate me whisper about me, imagining the worst.
8 The rumor goes out, "He's got some dirty, deadly disease. The doctors have given up on him."
8
“He has some fatal disease,” they say. “He will never get out of that bed!”
9 Even my best friend, the one I always told everything - he ate meals at my house all the time! - has bitten my hand.
9
Even my best friend, the one I trusted completely, the one who shared my food, has turned against me.
10 God, give grace, get me up on my feet. I'll show them a thing or two.
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LORD, have mercy on me. Make me well again, so I can pay them back!
11 Meanwhile, I'm sure you're on my side - no victory shouts yet from the enemy camp!
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I know you are pleased with me, for you have not let my enemies triumph over me.
12 You know me inside and out, you hold me together, you never fail to stand me tall in your presence so I can look you in the eye.
12
You have preserved my life because I am innocent; you have brought me into your presence forever.
13 Blessed is God, Israel's God, always, always, always. Yes. Yes. Yes.
13
Praise the LORD, the God of Israel, who lives from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and amen!
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.
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.