The Message Bible MSG
          
          
            New International Version NIV
          
            
              1 God calls the judges into his courtroom, he puts all the judges in the dock.
            
            
                1
God presides in the great assembly; he renders judgment among the “gods”:            
            
              2 "Enough! You've corrupted justice long enough, you've let the wicked get away with murder.
            
            
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“How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked?            
            
              3 You're here to defend the defenseless, to make sure that underdogs get a fair break;
            
            
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Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.            
            
              4 Your job is to stand up for the powerless, and prosecute all those who exploit them."
            
            
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Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.            
            
              5 Ignorant judges! Head-in-the-sand judges! They haven't a clue to what's going on. And now everything's falling apart, the world's coming unglued.
            
            
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“The ‘gods’ know nothing, they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.            
            
              6 "I commissioned you judges, each one of you, deputies of the High God,
            
            
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“I said, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.’            
            
              7 But you've betrayed your commission and now you're stripped of your rank, busted."
            
            
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But you will die like mere mortals; you will fall like every other ruler.”            
            
              8 O God, give them their just deserts! You've got the whole world in your hands!
            
            
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Rise up, O God, judge the earth, for all the nations are your inheritance.            
          
            
              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.
            
            
              Scripture quoted by permission.  Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.  NIV®.  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011  by Biblica.  All rights reserved worldwide.