The Message Bible MSG
New Living Translation NLT
1 Listen, everyone, listen - earth-dwellers, don't miss this.
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Listen to this, all you people! Pay attention, everyone in the world!
2 All you haves and have-nots, All together now: listen.
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High and low, rich and poor—listen!
3 I set plainspoken wisdom before you, my heart-seasoned understandings of life.
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For my words are wise, and my thoughts are filled with insight.
4 I fine-tuned my ear to the sayings of the wise, I solve life's riddle with the help of a harp.
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I listen carefully to many proverbs and solve riddles with inspiration from a harp.
5 So why should I fear in bad times, hemmed in by enemy malice,
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Why should I fear when trouble comes, when enemies surround me?
6 Shoved around by bullies, demeaned by the arrogant rich?
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They trust in their wealth and boast of great riches.
7 Really! There's no such thing as self-rescue, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.
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Yet they cannot redeem themselves from death by paying a ransom to God.
8 The cost of rescue is beyond our means, and even then it doesn't guarantee
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Redemption does not come so easily, for no one can ever pay enough
9 Life forever, or insurance against the Black Hole.
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to live forever and never see the grave.
10 Anyone can see that the brightest and best die, wiped out right along with fools and dunces.
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Those who are wise must finally die, just like the foolish and senseless, leaving all their wealth behind.
11 They leave all their prowess behind, move into their new home, The Coffin, The cemetery their permanent address. And to think they named counties after themselves!
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The grave is their eternal home, where they will stay forever. They may name their estates after themselves,
12 We aren't immortal. We don't last long. Like our dogs, we age and weaken. And die.
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but their fame will not last. They will die, just like animals.
13 This is what happens to those who live for the moment, who only look out for themselves:
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This is the fate of fools, though they are remembered as being wise. Interlude
14 Death herds them like sheep straight to hell; they disappear down the gullet of the grave; They waste away to nothing - nothing left but a marker in a cemetery.
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Like sheep, they are led to the grave, where death will be their shepherd. In the morning the godly will rule over them. Their bodies will rot in the grave, far from their grand estates.
15 But me? God snatches me from the clutch of death, he reaches down and grabs me.
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But as for me, God will redeem my life. He will snatch me from the power of the grave. Interlude
16 So don't be impressed with those who get rich and pile up fame and fortune.
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So don’t be dismayed when the wicked grow rich and their homes become ever more splendid.
17 They can't take it with them; fame and fortune all get left behind.
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For when they die, they take nothing with them. Their wealth will not follow them into the grave.
18 Just when they think they've arrived and folks praise them because they've made good,
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In this life they consider themselves fortunate and are applauded for their success.
19 They enter the family burial plot where they'll never see sunshine again.
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But they will die like all before them and never again see the light of day.
20 We aren't immortal. We don't last long. Like our dogs, we age and weaken. And die.
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People who boast of their wealth don’t understand; they will die, just like animals.
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.