Hebrew Names Version HNV
The Message Bible MSG
1 <<A Song. A Psalm by the sons of Korach. For the Chief Musician. To the tune "The Suffering of Affliction." A maskil by Heman, the Ezrachite.>> LORD, the God of my salvation, I have cried 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 enter into your presence. Turn 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. My life draws near to She'ol.
3
I've had my fill of trouble; I'm camped on the edge of hell.
4 I am counted among those who go down into the pit. I am like a man who has no help,
4
I'm written off as a lost cause, one more statistic, a hopeless case.
5 Set apart among the dead, Like the slain who lie in the grave, Whom you remember no more. They are cut off from your hand.
5
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 laid me in the lowest pit, In the darkest depths.
6
You've dropped me into a bottomless pit, sunk me in a pitch-black abyss.
7 Your wrath lies heavily on me. You have afflicted me with all your waves. Selah.
7
I'm battered senseless by your rage, relentlessly pounded by your waves of anger.
8 You have taken my friends from me. You have made me an abomination to them. I am confined, and I can't 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 eyes are dim from grief. I have called on you daily, LORD. I have 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 show wonders to the dead? Do the dead rise up and 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 lovingkindness declared in the grave? Or your faithfulness in Destruction?
11
Does your love make any difference in a graveyard? Is your faithful presence noticed in the corridors of hell?
12 Are your wonders made known in the dark? Or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
12
Are your marvelous wonders ever seen in the dark, your righteous ways noticed in the Land of No Memory?
13 But to you, LORD, I have cried. In the morning, my prayer comes before you.
13
I'm standing my ground, God, shouting for help, at my prayers every morning, on my knees each daybreak.
14 LORD, why do you reject my soul? Why do you hide your face from me?
14
Why, God, do you turn a deaf ear? Why do you make yourself scarce?
15 I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. While I suffer your terrors, I am distracted.
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 fierce wrath has gone over me. Your terrors have cut me off.
16
Your wildfire anger has blazed through my life; I'm bleeding, black and blue.
17 They came around me like water all day long. They completely engulfed me.
17
You've attacked me fiercely from every side, raining down blows till I'm nearly dead.
18 You have put lover and friend far from me, And my friends into darkness.
18
You made lover and neighbor alike dump me; the only friend I have left is Darkness.
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.
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.