5 The Lord says, “I will condemn those who turn away from me and put their trust in human beings, in the strength of mortals.
6 He is like a bush in the desert, which grows in the dry wasteland, on salty ground where nothing else grows. Nothing good ever happens to him.
7 “But I will bless the person who puts his trust in me.
8 He is like a tree growing near a stream and sending out roots to the water. It is not afraid when hot weather comes, because its leaves stay green; it has no worries when there is no rain; it keeps on bearing fruit.
9 “Who can understand the human heart? There is nothing else so deceitful; it is too sick to be healed.
10 I, the Lord, search the minds and test the hearts of people. I treat each of them according to the way they live, according to what they do.”
11 The person who gets money dishonestly is like a bird that hatches eggs it didn't lay. In the prime of life he will lose his riches, and in the end he is nothing but a fool.
THE MESSAGE TRANSLATION
5-6 God’s Message: “Cursed is the strong one who depends on mere humans, Who thinks he can make it on muscle alone and sets God aside as dead weight. He’s like a tumbleweed on the prairie, out of touch with the good earth. He lives rootless and aimless in a land where nothing grows.
7-8 “But blessed is the man who trusts me, God, the woman who sticks with God. They’re like trees replanted in Eden, putting down roots near the rivers—Never a worry through the hottest of summers,
never dropping a leaf, Serene and calm through droughts, bearing fresh fruit every season.
9-10 “The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out. But I, God, search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be.”
11 Like a cowbird that cheats by laying its eggs in another bird’s nest Is the person who gets rich by cheating. When the eggs hatch, the deceit is exposed. What a fool he’ll look like then!
No comments:
Post a Comment