The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Message Bible MSG
1 For the leader. Set to "Lilies."A testimony. A psalm of Asaf: Shepherd of Isra'el, listen! You who lead Yosef like a flock, you whose throne is on the k'ruvim, shine out!
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Listen, Shepherd, Israel's Shepherd - get all your Joseph sheep together. Throw beams of light from your dazzling throne
2 Before Efrayim, Binyamin and M'nasheh, rouse your power; and come to save us.
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So Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh can see where they're going. Get out of bed - you've slept long enough! Come on the run before it's too late.
3 God, restore us! Make your face shine, and we will be saved.
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God, come back! Smile your blessing smile: That will be our salvation.
4 ADONAI, God of armies, how long will you be angry with your people's prayers?
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God, God of the angel armies, how long will you smolder like a sleeping volcano while your people call for fire and brimstone?
5 You have fed them tears as their bread and made them drink tears in abundance.
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You put us on a diet of tears, bucket after bucket of salty tears to drink.
6 You make our neighbors fight over us, and our enemies mock us.
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You make us look ridiculous to our friends; our enemies poke fun day after day.
7 God of armies, restore us! Make your face shine, and we will be saved.
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God of the angel armies, come back! Smile your blessing smile: That will be our salvation.
8 You brought a vine out of Egypt, you expelled the nations and planted it,
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Remember how you brought a young vine from Egypt, cleared out the brambles and briers and planted your very own vineyard?
9 you cleared a space for it; then it took root firmly and filled the land.
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You prepared the good earth, you planted her roots deep; the vineyard filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches;
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Your vine soared high and shaded the mountains, even dwarfing the giant cedars.
11 It put out branches as far as the sea and shoots to the [Euphrates] River.
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Your vine ranged west to the Sea, east to the River.
12 Why did you break down [the vineyard's] wall, so that all passing by can pluck [its fruit]?
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So why do you no longer protect your vine? Trespassers pick its grapes at will;
13 The boar from the forest tears it apart; wild creatures from the fields feed on it.
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Wild pigs crash through and crush it, and the mice nibble away at what's left.
14 God of armies, please come back! Look from heaven, see, and tend this vine!
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God of the angel armies, turn our way! Take a good look at what's happened and attend to this vine.
15 Protect what your right hand planted, the son you made strong for yourself.
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Care for what you once tenderly planted - the vine you raised from a shoot.
16 It is burned by fire, it is cut down; they perish at your frown of rebuke.
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And those who dared to set it on fire - give them a look that will kill!
17 Help the man at your right hand, the son of man you made strong for yourself.
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Then take the hand of your once-favorite child, the child you raised to adulthood.
18 Then we won't turn away from you if you revive us, we will call on your name.
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We will never turn our back on you; breathe life into our lungs so we can shout your name!
19 ADONAI, God of armies, restore us! Make your face shine, and we will be saved.
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God, God of the angel armies, come back! Smile your blessing smile: That will be our salvation.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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.