The Living Bible (202 page)
Authors: Inc. Tyndale House Publishers
Tags: #BIBLES / Other Translations / Text
Hear my prayer, O Lord; answer my plea because you are faithful to your promises.
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Don’t bring me to trial! For as compared with you, no one is perfect.
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My enemies chased and caught me. They have knocked me to the ground. They force me to live in the darkness like those in the grave.
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I am losing all hope; I am paralyzed with fear.
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I remember the glorious miracles you did in days of long ago.
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I reach out for you. I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain.
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Come quickly, Lord, and answer me, for my depression deepens; don’t turn away from me or I shall die.
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Let me see your kindness to me in the morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for my prayer is sincere.
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Save me from my enemies. O Lord, I run to you to hide me.
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Help me to do your will, for you are my God. Lead me in good paths, for your Spirit is good.
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Lord, saving me will bring glory to your name. Bring me out of all this trouble because you are true to your promises.
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And because you are loving and kind to me, cut off all my enemies and destroy those who are trying to harm me; for I am your servant.
Bless the Lord who is my immovable Rock. He gives me strength and skill in battle.
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He is always kind and loving to me; he is my fortress, my tower of strength and safety, my deliverer. He stands before me as a shield. He subdues my people under me.
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O Lord, what is man that you even notice him? Why bother at all with the human race?
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For man is but a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.
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Bend down the heavens, Lord, and come. The mountains smoke beneath your touch.
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Let loose your lightning bolts, your arrows, Lord, upon your enemies, and scatter them.
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Reach down from heaven and rescue me; deliver me from deep waters, from the power of my enemies.
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Their mouths are filled with lies; they swear to the truth of what is false.
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I will sing you a new song, O God, with a ten-stringed harp.
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For you grant victory to kings! You are the one who will rescue your servant David from the fatal sword.
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Save me! Deliver me from these enemies, these liars, these treacherous men.
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Here is my description of
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a truly happy land where Jehovah is God:
Sons vigorous and tall as growing plants.
Daughters of graceful beauty like the pillars of a palace wall.
Barns full to the brim with crops of every kind.
Sheep by the thousands out in our fields.
Oxen loaded down with produce.
No enemy attacking the walls, but peace everywhere.
No crime in our streets.
Yes, happy are those whose God is Jehovah.
I will praise you, my God and King, and bless your name each day and forever.
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Great is Jehovah! Greatly praise him! His greatness is beyond discovery!
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Let each generation tell its children what glorious things he does.
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I will meditate about your glory, splendor, majesty, and miracles.
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Your awe-inspiring deeds shall be on every tongue; I will proclaim your greatness.
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Everyone will tell about how good you are and sing about your righteousness.
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Jehovah is kind and merciful, slow to get angry, full of love.
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He is good to everyone, and his compassion is intertwined with everything he does.
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All living things shall thank you, Lord, and your people will bless you.
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They will talk together about the glory of your kingdom and mention examples of your power.
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They will tell about your miracles and about the majesty and glory of your reign.
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For your kingdom never ends. You rule generation after generation.
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The Lord lifts the fallen and those bent beneath their loads.
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The eyes of all mankind look up to you for help; you give them their food as they need it.
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You constantly satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing.
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The Lord is fair in everything he does and full of kindness.
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He is close to all who call on him sincerely.
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He fulfills the desires of those who reverence and trust him; he hears their cries for help and rescues them.
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He protects all those who love him, but destroys the wicked.
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I will praise the Lord and call on all men everywhere to bless his holy name forever and forever.
Praise the Lord! Yes, really praise him!
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I will praise him as long as I live, yes, even with my dying breath.
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Don’t look to men for help; their greatest leaders fail;
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for every man must die. His breathing stops, life ends, and in a moment all he planned for himself is ended.
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But happy is the man who has the God of Jacob as his helper, whose hope is in the Lord his God—
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the God who made both earth and heaven, the seas and everything in them. He is the God who keeps every promise,
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who gives justice to the poor and oppressed and food to the hungry. He frees the prisoners
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and opens the eyes of the blind; he lifts the burdens from those bent down beneath their loads. For the Lord loves good men.
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He protects the immigrants and cares for the orphans and widows. But he turns topsy-turvy the plans of the wicked.
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The Lord will reign forever. O Jerusalem,
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your God is King in every generation! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
Hallelujah! Yes, praise the Lord! How good it is to sing his praises! How delightful, and how right!
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He is rebuilding Jerusalem and bringing back the exiles.
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He heals the brokenhearted, binding up their wounds.
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He counts the stars and calls them all by name.
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How great he is! His power is absolute! His understanding is unlimited.
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The Lord supports the humble, but brings the wicked into the dust.
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Sing out your thanks to him; sing praises to our God, accompanied by harps.
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He covers the heavens with clouds, sends down the showers, and makes the green grass grow in mountain pastures.
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He feeds the wild animals, and the young ravens cry to him for food.
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The speed of a horse is nothing to him. How puny in his sight is the strength of a man.
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But his joy is in those who reverence him, those who expect him to be loving and kind.
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Praise him, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!
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For he has fortified your gates against all enemies and blessed your children.
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He sends peace across your nation and fills your barns with plenty of the finest wheat.
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He sends his orders to the world. How swiftly his word flies.
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He sends the snow in all its lovely whiteness, scatters the frost upon the ground,
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and hurls the hail upon the earth. Who can stand before his freezing cold?
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But then he calls for warmer weather, and the spring winds blow and all the river ice is broken.
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He has made known his laws and ceremonies of worship to Israel—
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something he has not done with any other nation; they have not known his commands.
Hallelujah! Yes, praise the Lord!