The Message Bible MSG
English Standard Version ESV
1 God, God, save me! I'm in over my head,
1
Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.
2 Quicksand under me, swamp water over me; I'm going down for the third time.
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I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.
3 I'm hoarse from calling for help, Bleary-eyed from searching the sky for God.
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I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.
4 I've got more enemies than hairs on my head; Sneaks and liars are out to knife me in the back. What I never stole Must I now give back?
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More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies. What I did not steal must I now restore?
5 God, you know every sin I've committed; My life's a wide-open book before you.
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O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.
6 Don't let those who look to you in hope Be discouraged by what happens to me, Dear Lord! God of the armies! Don't let those out looking for you Come to a dead end by following me - Please, dear God of Israel!
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Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, O Lord GOD of hosts; let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel.
7 Because of you I look like an idiot, I walk around ashamed to show my face.
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For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face.
8 My brothers shun me like a bum off the street; My family treats me like an unwanted guest.
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I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's sons.
9 I love you more than I can say. Because I'm madly in love with you, They blame me for everything they dislike about you.
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For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
10 When I poured myself out in prayer and fasting, All it got me was more contempt.
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When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.
11 When I put on a sad face, They treated me like a clown.
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When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.
12 Now drunks and gluttons Make up drinking songs about me.
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I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me.
13 And me? I pray. God, it's time for a break! God, answer in love! Answer with your sure salvation!
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But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.
14 Rescue me from the swamp, Don't let me go under for good, Pull me out of the clutch of the enemy; This whirlpool is sucking me down.
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Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters.
15 Don't let the swamp be my grave, the Black Hole Swallow me, its jaws clenched around me.
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Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me.
16 Now answer me, God, because you love me; Let me see your great mercy full-face.
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Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
17 Don't look the other way; your servant can't take it. I'm in trouble. Answer right now!
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Hide not your face from your servant; for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.
18 Come close, God; get me out of here. Rescue me from this deathtrap.
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Draw near to my soul, redeem me; ransom me because of my enemies!
19 You know how they kick me around - Pin on me the donkey's ears, the dunce's cap.
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You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to you.
20 I'm broken by their taunts, Flat on my face, reduced to a nothing. I looked in vain for one friendly face. Not one. I couldn't find one shoulder to cry on.
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Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.
21 They put poison in my soup, Vinegar in my drink.
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They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.
22 Let their supper be bait in a trap that snaps shut; May their best friends be trappers who'll skin them alive.
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Let their own table before them become a snare; and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.
23 Make them become blind as bats, Give them the shakes from morning to night.
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Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually.
24 Let them know what you think of them, Blast them with your red-hot anger.
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Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them.
25 Burn down their houses, Leave them desolate with nobody at home.
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May their camp be a desolation; let no one dwell in their tents.
26 They gossiped about the one you disciplined, Made up stories about anyone wounded by God.
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For they persecute him whom you have struck down, and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.
27 Pile on the guilt, Don't let them off the hook.
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Add to them punishment upon punishment; may they have no acquittal from you.
28 Strike their names from the list of the living; No rock-carved honor for them among the righteous.
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Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous.
29 I'm hurt and in pain; Give me space for healing, and mountain air.
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But I am afflicted and in pain; let your salvation, O God, set me on high!
30 Let me shout God's name with a praising song, Let me tell his greatness in a prayer of thanks.
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I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31 For God, this is better than oxen on the altar, Far better than blue-ribbon bulls.
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This will please the LORD more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.
32 The poor in spirit see and are glad - Oh, you God-seekers, take heart!
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When the humble see it they will be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
33 For God listens to the poor, He doesn't walk out on the wretched.
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For the LORD hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.
34 You heavens, praise him; praise him, earth; Also ocean and all things that swim in it.
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Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them.
35 For God is out to help Zion, Rebuilding the wrecked towns of Judah. Guess who will live there - The proud owners of the land?
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For God will save Zion and build up the cities of Judah, and people shall dwell there and possess it;
36 No, the children of his servants will get it, The lovers of his name will live in it.
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the offspring of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it.
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.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.