The Living Bible (186 page)
Authors: Inc. Tyndale House Publishers
Tags: #BIBLES / Other Translations / Text
Rescue me, O God! Lord, hurry to my aid!
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They are after my life and delight in hurting me. Confuse them! Shame them! Stop them! Don’t let them keep on mocking me!
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But fill the followers of God with joy. Let those who love your salvation exclaim, “What a wonderful God he is!”
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But I am in deep trouble. Rush to my aid, for only you can help and save me. O Lord, don’t delay.
Lord, you are my refuge! Don’t let me down!
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Save me from my enemies, for you are just! Rescue me! Bend down your ear and listen to my plea and save me.
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Be to me a great protecting Rock, where I am always welcome, safe from all attacks. For you have issued the order to save me.
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Rescue me, O God, from these unjust and cruel men.
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O Lord, you alone are my hope; I’ve trusted you from childhood.
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Yes, you have been with me from birth and have helped me constantly—no wonder I am always praising you!
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My success—at which so many stand amazed—is because you are my mighty protector.
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All day long I’ll praise and honor you, O God, for all that you have done for me.
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And now, in my old age, don’t set me aside. Don’t forsake me now when my strength is failing.
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My enemies are whispering,
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“God has forsaken him! Now we can get him. There is no one to help him now!”
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O God, don’t stay away! Come quickly! Help!
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Destroy them! Cover them with failure and disgrace—these enemies of mine.
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I will keep on expecting you to help me. I praise you more and more.
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I cannot count the times when you have faithfully rescued me from danger. I will tell everyone how good you are, and of your constant, daily care.
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I walk in the strength of the Lord God. I tell everyone that you alone are just and good.
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O God, you have helped me from my earliest childhood—and I have constantly testified to others of the wonderful things you do.
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And now that I am old and gray, don’t forsake me. Give me time to tell this new generation (and their children too) about all your mighty miracles.
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Your power and goodness, Lord, reach to the highest heavens. You have done such wonderful things. Where is there another God like you?
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You have let me sink down deep in desperate problems. But you will bring me back to life again, up from the depths of the earth.
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You will give me greater honor than before and turn again and comfort me.
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I will praise you with music, telling of your faithfulness to all your promises, O Holy One of Israel.
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I will shout and sing your praises for redeeming me.
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I will talk to others all day long about your justice and your goodness. For all who tried to hurt me have been disgraced and dishonored.
O God, help the king to judge as you would, and help his son to walk in godliness.
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Help him to give justice to your people, even to the poor.
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May the mountains and hills flourish in prosperity because of his good reign.
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Help him to defend the poor and needy and to crush their oppressors.
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May the poor and needy revere you constantly, as long as sun and moon continue in the skies! Yes, forever!
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May the reign of this son of mine
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be as gentle and fruitful as the springtime rains upon the grass—like showers that water the earth!
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May all good men flourish in his reign with abundance of peace to the end of time.
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Let him reign from sea to sea and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.
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The desert nomads shall bow before him; his enemies shall fall face downward in the dust.
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Kings along the Mediterranean coast—the kings of Tarshish and the islands—and those from Sheba and from Seba—all will bring their gifts.
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Yes, kings from everywhere! All will bow before him! All will serve him!
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He will take care of the helpless and poor when they cry to him; for they have no one else to defend them.
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He feels pity for the weak and needy and will rescue them.
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He will save them from oppression and from violence, for their lives are precious to him.
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And he shall live; and to him will be given the gold of Sheba, and there will be constant praise for him.
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His people
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will bless him all day long.
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Bless us with abundant crops throughout the land, even on the highland plains; may there be fruit like that of Lebanon; may the cities be as full of people as the fields are of grass.
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His name will be honored forever; it will continue as the sun; and all will be blessed in him; all nations will praise him.
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Blessed be Jehovah God, the God of Israel, who only does wonderful things!
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Blessed be his glorious name forever! Let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen!
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(This ends the psalms of David, son of Jesse.)
How good God is to Israel—to those whose hearts are pure.
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But as for me, I came
so
close to the edge of the cliff! My feet were slipping and I was almost gone.
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For I was envious of the prosperity of the proud and wicked.
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Yes, all through life their road is smooth!
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They grow sleek and fat.
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They aren’t always in trouble and plagued with problems like everyone else,
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so their pride sparkles like a jeweled necklace, and their clothing is woven of cruelty!
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These fat cats have everything their hearts could ever wish for!
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They scoff at God and threaten his people. How proudly they speak!
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They boast against the very heavens, and their words strut through the earth.
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And so God’s people are dismayed and confused and drink it all in.
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“Does God realize what is going on?” they ask.
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“Look at these men of arrogance; they never have to lift a finger—theirs is a life of ease; and all the time their riches multiply.”
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Have I been wasting my time? Why take the trouble to be pure?
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All I get out of it is trouble and woe—every day and all day long!
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If I had really said that, I would have been a traitor to your people.
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Yet it is so hard to explain it—this prosperity of those who hate the Lord.
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Then one day I went into God’s sanctuary to meditate and thought about the future of these evil men.
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What a slippery path they are on—suddenly God will send them sliding over the edge of the cliff and down to their destruction:
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an instant end to all their happiness, an eternity of terror.
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Their present life is only a dream! They will awaken to the truth as one awakens from a dream of things that never really were!
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When I saw this, what turmoil filled my heart!
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I saw myself so stupid and so ignorant; I must seem like an animal to you, O God.
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But even so, you love me! You are holding my right hand!
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You will keep on guiding me all my life with your wisdom and counsel, and afterwards receive me into the glories of heaven!
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Whom have I in heaven but you? And I desire no one on earth as much as you!
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My health fails; my spirits droop, yet God remains! He is the strength of my heart; he is mine forever!
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But those refusing to worship God will perish, for he destroys those serving other gods.
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But as for me, I get as close to him as I can! I have chosen him, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful ways he rescues me.