The Message Bible MSG
Young's Literal Translation YLT
1 Is this any way to run a country? Is there an honest politician in the house?
1
To the Overseer. -- `Destroy not.' -- A secret treasure, by David. Is it true, O dumb one, righteously ye speak? Uprightly ye judge, O sons of men?
2 Behind the scenes you brew cauldrons of evil, behind closed doors you make deals with demons.
2
Even in heart ye work iniquities, In the land the violence of your hands ye ponder.
3 The wicked crawl from the wrong side of the cradle; their first words out of the womb are lies.
3
The wicked have been estranged from the womb, They have erred from the belly, speaking lies.
4 Poison, lethal rattlesnake poison, drips from their forked tongues -
4
Their poison [is] as poison of a serpent, As a deaf asp shutting its ear,
5 Deaf to threats, deaf to charm, decades of wax built up in their ears.
5
Which hearkeneth not to the voice of whisperers, A charmer of charms most skilful.
6 God, smash their teeth to bits, leave them toothless tigers.
6
O God, break their teeth in their mouth, The jaw-teeth of young lions break down, O Jehovah.
7 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.
7
They are melted as waters, They go up and down for themselves, His arrow proceedeth as they cut themselves off.
8 Let them dissolve into snail slime, be a miscarried fetus that never sees sunlight.
8
As a snail that melteth he goeth on, [As] an untimely birth of a woman, They have not seen the sun.
9 Before what they cook up is half-done, God, throw it out with the garbage!
9
Before your pots discern the bramble, As well the raw as the heated He whirleth away.
10 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,
10
The righteous rejoiceth that he hath seen vengeance, His steps he washeth in the blood of the wicked.
11 Everyone cheering, "It's worth it to play by the rules! God's handing out trophies and tending the earth!"
11
And man saith: `Surely fruit [is] for the righteous: Surely there is a God judging in the earth!'
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.