Hebrew Names Version HNV
The Message Bible MSG
1 <<For the Chief Musician. To the tune "Do Not Destroy." A miktam by David.>> Do you indeed speak righteousness, silent ones? Do you judge blamelessly, you sons of men?
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Is this any way to run a country? Is there an honest politician in the house?
2 No, in your heart you plot injustice. You measure out the violence of your hands in the eretz.
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Behind the scenes you brew cauldrons of evil, behind closed doors you make deals with demons.
3 The wicked go astray from the womb. They are wayward as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
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The wicked crawl from the wrong side of the cradle; their first words out of the womb are lies.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a snake; Like a deaf cobra that stops its ear,
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Poison, lethal rattlesnake poison, drips from their forked tongues -
5 Which doesn't listen to the voice of charmers, No matter how skillful the charmer may be.
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Deaf to threats, deaf to charm, decades of wax built up in their ears.
6 Break their teeth, God, in their mouth. Break out the great teeth of the young lions, LORD.
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God, smash their teeth to bits, leave them toothless tigers.
7 Let them vanish as water that flows away. When they draw the bow, let their arrows be made blunt.
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Let their lives be buckets of water spilled, all that's left, a damp stain in the sand. Let them be trampled grass worn smooth by the traffic.
8 Let them be as a snail which melts and passes away, Like the stillborn child, who has not seen the sun.
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Let them dissolve into snail slime, be a miscarried fetus that never sees sunlight.
9 Before your pots can feel the thorns, He will sweep away, the green and the burning alike.
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Before what they cook up is half-done, God, throw it out with the garbage!
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked;
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The righteous will call up their friends when they see the wicked get their reward, Serve up their blood in goblets as they toast one another,
11 So that men shall say, "Most assuredly there is a reward for the righteous. Most assuredly there is a God who judges the eretz."
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Everyone cheering, "It's worth it to play by the rules! God's handing out trophies and tending the earth!"
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.
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.