The Living Bible (185 page)
Authors: Inc. Tyndale House Publishers
Tags: #BIBLES / Other Translations / Text
Sing to the Lord, all the earth!
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Sing of his glorious name! Tell the world how wonderful he is.
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How awe-inspiring are your deeds, O God! How great your power! No wonder your enemies surrender!
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All the earth shall worship you and sing of your glories.
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Come, see the glorious things God has done. What marvelous miracles happen to his people!
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He made a dry road through the sea for them. They went across on foot. What excitement and joy there was that day!
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Because of his great power he rules forever. He watches every movement of the nations. O rebel lands, he will deflate your pride.
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Let everyone bless God and sing his praises;
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for he holds our lives in his hands, and he holds our feet to the path.
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You have purified us with fire,
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O Lord, like silver in a crucible.
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You captured us in your net and laid great burdens on our backs.
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You sent troops to ride across our broken bodies.
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We went through fire and flood. But in the end, you brought us into wealth and great abundance.
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Now I have come to your Temple with burnt offerings to pay my vows.
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For when I was in trouble, I promised you many offerings.
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That is why I am bringing you these fat male goats, rams, and calves. The smoke of their sacrifice shall rise before you.
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Come and hear, all of you who reverence the Lord, and I will tell you what he did for me:
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For I cried to him for help with praises ready on my tongue.
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He would not have listened if I had not confessed my sins.
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But he listened! He heard my prayer! He paid attention to it!
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Blessed be God, who didn’t turn away when I was praying and didn’t refuse me his kindness and love.
O God, in mercy bless us; let your face beam with joy as you look down at us.
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Send us around the world with the news of your saving power and your eternal plan for all mankind.
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How everyone throughout the earth will praise the Lord!
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How glad the nations will be, singing for joy because you are their King
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and will give true justice to their people!
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Praise God, O world! May all the peoples of the earth give thanks to you.
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For the earth has yielded abundant harvests. God, even our own God, will bless us. And peoples from remotest lands will worship him.
Arise, O God, and scatter all your enemies! Chase them away!
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Drive them off like smoke before the wind; melt them like wax in fire! So let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
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But may the godly man exult. May he rejoice and be merry.
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Sing praises to the Lord! Raise your voice in song to him who rides upon the clouds!
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Jehovah is his name—oh, rejoice in his presence.
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He is a father to the fatherless; he gives justice to the widows, for he is holy.
*
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He gives families to the lonely, and releases prisoners from jail, singing with joy! But for rebels there is famine and distress.
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O God, when you led your people through the wilderness,
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the earth trembled and the heavens shook. Mount Sinai quailed before you—the God of Israel.
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You sent abundant rain upon your land, O God, to refresh it in its weariness! There your people lived, for you gave them this home when they were destitute.
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The Lord speaks. The enemy flees. The women at home
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cry out the happy news: “The armies that came to destroy us have fled!” Now all the women of Israel are dividing the booty. See them sparkle with jewels of silver and gold, covered all over as wings cover doves!
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God scattered their enemies like snowflakes melting in the forests of Zalmon.
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O mighty mountains in Bashan! O splendid many-peaked ranges! Well may you look with envy at Mount Zion, the mount where God has chosen to live forever.
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Surrounded by unnumbered chariots, the Lord moves on from Mount Sinai and comes to his holy Temple high upon Mount Zion.
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He ascends the heights, leading many captives in his train. He receives gifts for men,
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even those who once were rebels. God will live among us here.
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What a glorious Lord! He who daily bears our burdens also gives us our salvation.
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He frees us! He rescues us from death.
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But he will crush his enemies, for they refuse to leave their guilty, stubborn ways.
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The Lord says, “Come,” to all his people’s enemies;
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they are hiding on Mount Hermon’s highest slopes and deep within the sea!
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His people must destroy them. Cover your feet with their blood; dogs will eat them.
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The procession of God my King moves onward to the sanctuary—
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singers in front, musicians behind, girls playing the timbrels in between.
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Let all the people of Israel praise the Lord, who is Israel’s fountain.
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The little tribe of Benjamin leads the way. The princes and elders of Judah, and the princes of Zebulun and Naphtali are right behind.
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Summon your might; display your strength, O God, for you have done such mighty things for us.
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The kings of the earth are bringing their gifts to your Temple in Jerusalem.
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Rebuke our enemies, O Lord. Bring them—submissive, tax in hand.
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Scatter all who delight in war.
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Egypt will send gifts of precious metals. Ethiopia will stretch out her hands to God in adoration.
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Sing to the Lord, O kingdoms of the earth—sing praises to the Lord,
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to him who rides upon the ancient heavens, whose mighty voice thunders from the sky.
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Power belongs to God! His majesty shines down on Israel; his strength is mighty in the heavens.
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What awe we feel, kneeling here before him in the sanctuary. The God of Israel gives strength and mighty power to his people. Blessed be God!
Save me, O my God. The floods have risen. Deeper and deeper I sink in the mire; the waters rise around me.
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I have wept until I am exhausted; my throat is dry and hoarse; my eyes are swollen with weeping, waiting for my God to act.
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I cannot even count all those who hate me without cause. They are influential men, these who plot to kill me though I am innocent. They demand that I be punished for what I didn’t do.
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O God, you know so well how stupid I am, and you know all my sins.
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O Lord God of the armies of heaven, don’t let me be a stumbling block to those who trust in you. O God of Israel, don’t let me cause them to be confused,
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though I am mocked and cursed and shamed for your sake.
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Even my own brothers pretend they don’t know me!
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My zeal for God and his work
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burns hot within me. And because I advocate your cause, your enemies insult me even as they insult you.
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How they scoff and mock me when I mourn and fast before the Lord!
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How they talk about me when I wear sackcloth to show my humiliation and sorrow for my sins!
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I am the talk of the town and the song of the drunkards.
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But I keep right on praying to you, Lord. For now is the time—you are bending down to hear! You are ready with a plentiful supply of love and kindness. Now answer my prayer and rescue me as you promised.
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Pull me out of this mire. Don’t let me sink in. Rescue me from those who hate me, and from these deep waters I am in.
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Don’t let the floods overwhelm me or the ocean swallow me; save me from the pit that threatens me.
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O Jehovah, answer my prayers, for your loving-kindness is wonderful; your mercy is so plentiful, so tender and so kind.
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Don’t hide from me,
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for I am in deep trouble. Quick! Come and save me.
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Come, Lord, and rescue me. Ransom me from all my enemies.
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You know how they talk about me, and how they so shamefully dishonor me. You see them all and know what each has said.
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Their contempt has broken my heart; my spirit is heavy within me. If even one would show some pity, if even one would comfort me!
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For food they gave me gall; for my awful thirst they offered vinegar.
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Let their joys
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turn to ashes and their peace disappear;
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let darkness, blindness, and great feebleness be theirs.
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Pour out your fury upon them; consume them with the fierceness of your anger.
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Let their homes be desolate and abandoned.
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For they persecute the one you have smitten and scoff at the pain of the one you have pierced.
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Pile their sins high and do not overlook them.
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Let these men be blotted from the list of the living;
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do not give them the joys of life with the righteous.
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But rescue me, O God, from my poverty and pain.
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Then I will praise God with my singing! My thanks will be his praise—
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that will please him more than sacrificing a bullock or an ox.
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The humble shall see their God at work for them. No wonder they will be so glad! All who seek for God shall live in joy.
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For Jehovah hears the cries of his needy ones and does not look the other way.
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Praise him, all heaven and earth! Praise him, all the seas and everything in them!
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For God will save Jerusalem;
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he rebuilds the cities of Judah. His people shall live in them and not be dispossessed.
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Their children shall inherit the land; all who love his name shall live there safely.
