The Message Bible MSG
English Standard Version ESV
1 God, you're my last chance of the day. I spend the night on my knees before you.
1
O LORD, God of my salvation; I cry out day and night before you.
2 Put me on your salvation agenda; take notes on the trouble I'm in.
2
Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry!
3 I've had my fill of trouble; I'm camped on the edge of hell.
3
For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol.
4 I'm written off as a lost cause, one more statistic, a hopeless case.
4
I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am a man who has no strength,
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.
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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.
6 You've dropped me into a bottomless pit, sunk me in a pitch-black abyss.
6
You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep.
7 I'm battered senseless by your rage, relentlessly pounded by your waves of anger.
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Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah
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,
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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;
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.
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my eye grows dim through sorrow. Every day I call upon you, O LORD; I spread out my hands to you.
10 Are the dead a live audience for your miracles? Do ghosts ever join the choirs that praise you?
10
Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah
11 Does your love make any difference in a graveyard? Is your faithful presence noticed in the corridors of hell?
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Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
12 Are your marvelous wonders ever seen in the dark, your righteous ways noticed in the Land of No Memory?
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Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
13 I'm standing my ground, God, shouting for help, at my prayers every morning, on my knees each daybreak.
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But I, O LORD, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 Why, God, do you turn a deaf ear? Why do you make yourself scarce?
14
O LORD, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me?
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.
15
Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.
16 Your wildfire anger has blazed through my life; I'm bleeding, black and blue.
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Your wrath has swept over me; your dreadful assaults destroy me.
17 You've attacked me fiercely from every side, raining down blows till I'm nearly dead.
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They surround me like a flood all day long; they close in on me together.
18 You made lover and neighbor alike dump me; the only friend I have left is Darkness.
18
You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.
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.