New Living Translation | NET Bible |
1O LORD, the God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, let your glorious justice shine forth! | 1O LORD, the God who avenges! O God who avenges, reveal your splendor! |
2Arise, O Judge of the earth. Give the proud what they deserve. | 2Rise up, O judge of the earth! Pay back the proud! |
3How long, O LORD? How long will the wicked be allowed to gloat? | 3O LORD, how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked celebrate? |
4How long will they speak with arrogance? How long will these evil people boast? | 4They spew out threats and speak defiantly; all the evildoers boast. |
5They crush your people, LORD, hurting those you claim as your own. | 5O LORD, they crush your people; they oppress the nation that belongs to you. |
6They kill widows and foreigners and murder orphans. | 6They kill the widow and the one residing outside his native land, and they murder the fatherless. |
7“The LORD isn’t looking,” they say, “and besides, the God of Israel doesn’t care.” | 7Then they say, "The LORD does not see this; the God of Jacob does not take notice of it." |
8Think again, you fools! When will you finally catch on? | 8Take notice of this, you ignorant people! You fools, when will you ever understand? |
9Is he deaf—the one who made your ears? Is he blind—the one who formed your eyes? | 9Does the one who makes the human ear not hear? Does the one who forms the human eye not see? |
10He punishes the nations—won’t he also punish you? He knows everything—doesn’t he also know what you are doing? | 10Does the one who disciplines the nations not punish? He is the one who imparts knowledge to human beings! |
11The LORD knows people’s thoughts; he knows they are worthless! | 11The LORD knows that peoples' thoughts are morally bankrupt. |
12Joyful are those you discipline, LORD, those you teach with your instructions. | 12How blessed is the one whom you instruct, O LORD, the one whom you teach from your law, |
13You give them relief from troubled times until a pit is dug to capture the wicked. | 13in order to protect him from times of trouble, until the wicked are destroyed. |
14The LORD will not reject his people; he will not abandon his special possession. | 14Certainly the LORD does not forsake his people; he does not abandon the nation that belongs to him. |
15Judgment will again be founded on justice, and those with virtuous hearts will pursue it. | 15For justice will prevail, and all the morally upright will be vindicated. |
16Who will protect me from the wicked? Who will stand up for me against evildoers? | 16Who will rise up to defend me against the wicked? Who will stand up for me against the evildoers? |
17Unless the LORD had helped me, I would soon have settled in the silence of the grave. | 17If the LORD had not helped me, I would have laid down in the silence of death. |
18I cried out, “I am slipping!” but your unfailing love, O LORD, supported me. | 18If I say, "My foot is slipping," your loyal love, O LORD, supports me. |
19When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer. | 19When worries threaten to overwhelm me, your soothing touch makes me happy. |
20Can unjust leaders claim that God is on their side— leaders whose decrees permit injustice? | 20Cruel rulers are not your allies, those who make oppressive laws. |
21They gang up against the righteous and condemn the innocent to death. | 21They conspire against the blameless, and condemn to death the innocent. |
22But the LORD is my fortress; my God is the mighty rock where I hide. | 22But the LORD will protect me, and my God will shelter me. |
23God will turn the sins of evil people back on them. He will destroy them for their sins. The LORD our God will destroy them. | 23He will pay them back for their sin. He will destroy them because of their evil; the LORD our God will destroy them. |
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