The Message Bible MSG
King James Version KJV
1 Your love, God, is my song, and I'll sing it! I'm forever telling everyone how faithful you are.
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I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.
2 I'll never quit telling the story of your love - how you built the cosmos and guaranteed everything in it. Your love has always been our lives' foundation, your fidelity has been the roof over our world.
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For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.
3 You once said, "I joined forces with my chosen leader, I pledged my word to my servant, David, saying,
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I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant,
4 'Everyone descending from you is guaranteed life; I'll make your rule as solid and lasting as rock.'"
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Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.
5 God! Let the cosmos praise your wonderful ways, the choir of holy angels sing anthems to your faithful ways!
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And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.
6 Search high and low, scan skies and land, you'll find nothing and no one quite like God.
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For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?
7 The holy angels are in awe before him; he looms immense and august over everyone around him.
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God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.
8 God of the Angel Armies, who is like you, powerful and faithful from every angle?
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O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee?
9 You put the arrogant ocean in its place and calm its waves when they turn unruly.
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Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.
10 You gave that old hag Egypt the back of your hand, you brushed off your enemies with a flick of your wrist.
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Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.
11 You own the cosmos - you made everything in it, everything from atom to archangel.
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The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.
12 You positioned the North and South Poles; the mountains Tabor and Hermon sing duets to you.
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The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name.
13 With your well-muscled arm and your grip of steel - nobody trifles with you!
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Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.
14 The Right and Justice are the roots of your rule; Love and Truth are its fruits.
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Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.
15 Blessed are the people who know the passwords of praise, who shout on parade in the bright presence of God.
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Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.
16 Delighted, they dance all day long; they know who you are, what you do - they can't keep it quiet!
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In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.
17 Your vibrant beauty has gotten inside us - you've been so good to us! We're walking on air!
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For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted.
18 All we are and have we owe to God, Holy God of Israel, our King!
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For the LORD is our defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our king.
19 A long time ago you spoke in a vision, you spoke to your faithful beloved: "I've crowned a hero, I chose the best I could find;
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Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.
20 I found David, my servant, poured holy oil on his head,
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I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:
21 And I'll keep my hand steadily on him, yes, I'll stick with him through thick and thin.
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With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him.
22 No enemy will get the best of him, no scoundrel will do him in.
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The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him.
23 I'll weed out all who oppose him, I'll clean out all who hate him.
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And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.
24 I'm with him for good and I'll love him forever; I've set him on high - he's riding high!
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But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
25 I've put Ocean in his one hand, River in the other;
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I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers.
26 he'll call out, 'Oh, my Father - my God, my Rock of Salvation!'
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He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.
27 Yes, I'm setting him apart as the First of the royal line, High King over all of earth's kings.
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Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.
28 I'll preserve him eternally in my love, I'll faithfully do all I so solemnly promised.
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My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.
29 I'll guarantee his family tree and underwrite his rule.
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His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.
30 If his children refuse to do what I tell them, if they refuse to walk in the way I show them,
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If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments;
31 If they spit on the directions I give them and tear up the rules I post for them
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If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;
32 - I'll rub their faces in the dirt of their rebellion and make them face the music.
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Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.
33 But I'll never throw them out, never abandon or disown them.
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Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.
34 Do you think I'd withdraw my holy promise? or take back words I'd already spoken?
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My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
35 I've given my word, my whole and holy word; do you think I would lie to David?
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Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.
36 His family tree is here for good, his sovereignty as sure as the sun,
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His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.
37 Dependable as the phases of the moon, inescapable as weather."
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It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.
38 But God, you did walk off and leave us, you lost your temper with the one you anointed.
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But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thine anointed.
39 You tore up the promise you made to your servant, you stomped his crown in the mud.
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Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant: thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground.
40 You blasted his home to kingdom come, reduced his city to a pile of rubble
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Thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his strong holds to ruin.
41 Picked clean by wayfaring strangers, a joke to all the neighbors.
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All that pass by the way spoil him: he is a reproach to his neighbours.
42 You declared a holiday for all his enemies, and they're celebrating for all they're worth.
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Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries; thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice.
43 Angry, you opposed him in battle, refused to fight on his side;
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Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, and hast not made him to stand in the battle.
44 You robbed him of his splendor, humiliated this warrior, ground his kingly honor in the dirt.
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Thou hast made his glory to cease, and cast his throne down to the ground.
45 You took the best years of his life and left him an impotent, ruined husk.
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The days of his youth hast thou shortened: thou hast covered him with shame. Selah.
46 How long do we put up with this, God? Are you gone for good? Will you hold this grudge forever?
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How long, LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire?
47 Remember my sorrow and how short life is. Did you create men and women for nothing but this?
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Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?
48 We'll see death soon enough. Everyone does. And there's no back door out of hell.
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What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.
49 So where is the love you're so famous for, Lord? What happened to your promise to David?
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Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses, which thou swarest unto David in thy truth?
50 Take a good look at your servant, dear Lord; I'm the butt of the jokes of all nations,
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Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants; how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people;
51 The taunting jokes of your enemies, God, as they dog the steps of your dear anointed.
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Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O LORD; wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed.
52 Blessed be God forever and always! Yes. Oh, yes.
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Blessed be the LORD for evermore. Amen, and Amen.
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 King James Version is in the public domain.