English Standard Version ESV
The Message Bible MSG
1 O LORD, God of my salvation; I cry out day and night before you.
1
God, you're my last chance of the day. I spend the night on my knees before you.
2 Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry!
2
Put me on your salvation agenda; take notes on the trouble I'm in.
3 For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol.
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I've had my fill of trouble; I'm camped on the edge of hell.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am a man who has no strength,
4
I'm written off as a lost cause, one more statistic, a hopeless case.
5 like one set loose among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand.
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Abandoned as already dead, one more body in a stack of corpses, And not so much as a gravestone - I'm a black hole in oblivion.
6 You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep.
6
You've dropped me into a bottomless pit, sunk me in a pitch-black abyss.
7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah
7
I'm battered senseless by your rage, relentlessly pounded by your waves of anger.
8 You have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
8
You turned my friends against me, made me horrible to them. I'm caught in a maze and can't find my way out,
9 my eye grows dim through sorrow. Every day I call upon you, O LORD; I spread out my hands to you.
9
blinded by tears of pain and frustration. I call to you, God; all day I call. I wring my hands, I plead for help.
10 Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah
10
Are the dead a live audience for your miracles? Do ghosts ever join the choirs that praise you?
11 Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
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Does your love make any difference in a graveyard? Is your faithful presence noticed in the corridors of hell?
12 Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
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Are your marvelous wonders ever seen in the dark, your righteous ways noticed in the Land of No Memory?
13 But I, O LORD, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you.
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I'm standing my ground, God, shouting for help, at my prayers every morning, on my knees each daybreak.
14 O LORD, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me?
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Why, God, do you turn a deaf ear? Why do you make yourself scarce?
15 Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.
15
For as long as I remember I've been hurting; I've taken the worst you can hand out, and I've had it.
16 Your wrath has swept over me; your dreadful assaults destroy me.
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Your wildfire anger has blazed through my life; I'm bleeding, black and blue.
17 They surround me like a flood all day long; they close in on me together.
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You've attacked me fiercely from every side, raining down blows till I'm nearly dead.
18 You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.
18
You made lover and neighbor alike dump me; the only friend I have left is Darkness.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
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.