【The Holy Bible】The message Version

latebird

 Book summary:

In 1992, after 29 years of service at Christ our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland. Eugene Peterson began his translation of The Message. Today more than 10,000,000 people are readers of this inspiring version of the Bible.

A feature of the original writings of the New Testament is that it was done in the street language of the day. At that time in the Greek-speaking world, there were two levels of language: formal and informal. Formal language was used to write philosophy, history, government decrees, and epic poetry. Some people suppose that language dealing with a holy God and holy things should be elevated — stately and ceremonial. However, Jesus preferred down-to-earth stories and easy association with common people.

The followers of Jesus in their witness and preaching, translating and teaching, have always tried to get the Message — the “good news” — into the language of whatever street they happened to be living on. In order to understand the Message right, the language must be a rough and earthy one that reveals God's presence and action where we least expect it.

This version is in a contemporary idiom that is current, fresh, and understandable in the same language that we use in all of our activities. The goal was not to render a word–for–word conversion of Greek into English, but rather to convert the tone, the rhythm, the events, and the ideas into the way that we actually think and speak. There is an introduction to each book.

Many people ask is The Message a translation or a paraphrase?

It is probably most accurately called a “translation of tone” or a “paraphrase from the original languages.” It is a bridging of the gap between the original languages and English, and between centuries of time and language change, to bring to us the New Testament as it originally sounded.

latebird

 Chapter 1
Heaven and Earth
1 First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don't see. 2 Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God's Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.
3 God spoke: "Light!" And light appeared. 4 God saw that light was good and separated light from dark. 5 God named the light Day, he named the dark Night. It was evening, it was morning— Day One.
6 God spoke: "Sky! In the middle of the waters; separate water from water!" 7 God made sky. He separated the water under sky from the water above sky. And there it was: 8 he named sky the Heavens; It was evening, it was morning— Day Two.
9 God spoke: "Separate! Water-beneath-Heaven, gather into one place; Land, appear!" And there it was. 10 God named the land Earth. He named the pooled water Ocean. God saw that it was good.
11 God spoke: "Earth, green up! Grow all varieties of seed-bearing plants, Every sort of fruit-bearing tree." And there it was. 12 Earth produced green seed-bearing plants, all varieties, And fruit-bearing trees of all sorts. God saw that it was good. 13 It was evening, it was morning— Day Three.
14 God spoke: "Lights! Come out! Shine in Heaven's sky! Separate Day from Night. Mark seasons and days and years, 15 Lights in Heaven's sky to give light to Earth." And there it was.
16 God made two big lights, the larger to take charge of Day, The smaller to be in charge of Night; and he made the stars. 17 God placed them in the heavenly sky to light up Earth 18 And oversee Day and Night, to separate light and dark. God saw that it was good. 19 It was evening, it was morning— Day Four.
20 God spoke: "Swarm, Ocean, with fish and all sea life! Birds, fly through the sky over Earth!" 21 God created the huge whales, all the swarm of life in the waters, And every kind and species of flying birds. God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them: "Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Ocean! Birds, reproduce on Earth!" 23 It was evening, it was morning— Day Five. 24 God spoke: "Earth, generate life! Every sort and kind: cattle and reptiles and wild animals—all kinds." And there it was: 25 wild animals of every kind, Cattle of all kinds, every sort of reptile and bug. God saw that it was good.
26 God spoke: "Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth." 27 God created human beings; he created them godlike, Reflecting God's nature. He created them male and female. 28 God blessed them: "Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth."
29 Then God said, "I've given you every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth And every kind of fruit-bearing tree, given them to you for food. 30 To all animals and all birds, everything that moves and breathes, I give whatever grows out of the ground for food." And there it was.
31 God looked over everything he had made; it was so good, so very good! It was evening, it was morning— Day Six.
Gen 1:1-31 (MSG)

latebird

Chapter 2
1 Heaven and Earth were finished, down to the last detail.
2 By the seventh day God had finished his work. On the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 God blessed the seventh day. He made it a Holy Day Because on that day he rested from his work, all the creating God had done.
4 This is the story of how it all started, of Heaven and Earth when they were created.
Adam and Eve
5 At the time God made Earth and Heaven, before any grasses or shrubs had sprouted from the ground—God hadn't yet sent rain on Earth, nor was there anyone around to work the ground 6 (the whole Earth was watered by underground springs)— 7 God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive—a living soul! 8 Then God planted a garden in Eden, in the east. He put the Man he had just made in it. 9 God made all kinds of trees grow from the ground, trees beautiful to look at and good to eat. The Tree-of-Life was in the middle of the garden, also the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil. 10 A river flows out of Eden to water the garden and from there divides into four rivers. 11 The first is named Pishon; it flows through Havilah where there is gold. 12 The gold of this land is good. The land is also known for a sweet-scented resin and the onyx stone. 13 The second river is named Gihon; it flows through the land of Cush. 14 The third river is named Hiddekel and flows east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. 15 God took the Man and set him down in the Garden of Eden to work the ground and keep it in order. 16 God commanded the Man, "You can eat from any tree in the garden, 17 except from the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil. Don't eat from it. The moment you eat from that tree, you're dead." 18 God said, "It's not good for the Man to be alone; I'll make him a helper, a companion." 19 So God formed from the dirt of the ground all the animals of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the Man to see what he would name them. Whatever the Man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 The Man named the cattle, named the birds of the air, named the wild animals; but he didn't find a suitable companion. 21 God put the Man into a deep sleep. As he slept he removed one of his ribs and replaced it with flesh. 22 God then used the rib that he had taken from the Man to make Woman and presented her to the Man. 23 The Man said,
"Finally! Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh! Name her Woman for she was made from Man." 24 Therefore a man leaves his father and mother and embraces his wife. They become one flesh. 25 The two of them, the Man and his Wife, were naked, but they felt no shame. Gen 2:1-25 (MSG)

latebird

Chapter 3
1 The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal God had made. He spoke to the Woman: "Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?" 2 The Woman said to the serpent, "Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden. 3 It's only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, 'Don't eat from it; don't even touch it or you'll die.' " 4 The serpent told the Woman, "You won't die. 5 God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you'll see what's really going on. You'll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil." 6 When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it—she'd know everything!—she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband, and he ate. 7 Immediately the two of them did "see what's really going on"—saw themselves naked! They sewed fig leaves together as makeshift clothes for themselves. 8 When they heard the sound of God strolling in the garden in the evening breeze, the Man and his Wife hid in the trees of the garden, hid from God. 9 God called to the Man: "Where are you?" 10 He said, "I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. And I hid." 11 God said, "Who told you you were naked? Did you eat from that tree I told you not to eat from?" 12 The Man said, "The Woman you gave me as a companion, she gave me fruit from the tree, and, yes, I ate it." 13 God said to the Woman, "What is this that you've done?" "The serpent seduced me," she said, "and I ate." 14 God told the serpent:
"Because you've done this, you're cursed, cursed beyond all cattle and wild animals, Cursed to slink on your belly and eat dirt all your life. 15 I'm declaring war between you and the Woman, between your offspring and hers. He'll wound your head, you'll wound his heel."
16 He told the Woman:
"I'll multiply your pains in childbirth; you'll give birth to your babies in pain. You'll want to please your husband, but he'll lord it over you."
17 He told the Man:
"Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree That I commanded you not to eat from, 'Don't eat from this tree,' The very ground is cursed because of you; getting food from the ground Will be as painful as having babies is for your wife; you'll be working in pain all your life long. 18 The ground will sprout thorns and weeds, you'll get your food the hard way, Planting and tilling and harvesting, 19 sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk, Until you return to that ground yourself, dead and buried; you started out as dirt, you'll end up dirt."
20 The Man, known as Adam, named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living. 21 God made leather clothing for Adam and his wife and dressed them. 22 God said, "The Man has become like one of us, capable of knowing everything, ranging from good to evil. What if he now should reach out and take fruit from the Tree-of-Life and eat, and live forever? Never—this cannot happen!" 23 So God expelled them from the Garden of Eden and sent them to work the ground, the same dirt out of which they'd been made. 24 He threw them out of the garden and stationed angel-cherubim and a revolving sword of fire east of it, guarding the path to the Tree-of-Life. Gen 3:1-24 (MSG)

latebird

 

Chapter 4

1 Adam slept with Eve his wife. She conceived and had Cain. She said, "I've gotten a man, with God's help!" 2 Then she had another baby, Abel. Abel was a herdsman and Cain a farmer. 3 Time passed. Cain brought an offering to God from the produce of his farm. 4 Abel also brought an offering, but from the firstborn animals of his herd, choice cuts of meat. God liked Abel and his offering, 5 but Cain and his offering didn't get his approval. Cain lost his temper and went into a sulk. 6 God spoke to Cain: "Why this tantrum? Why the sulking? 7 If you do well, won't you be accepted? And if you don't do well, sin is lying in wait for you, ready to pounce; it's out to get you, you've got to master it." 8 Cain had words with his brother. They were out in the field; Cain came at Abel his brother and killed him. 9 God said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "How should I know? Am I his babysitter?" 10 God said, "What have you done! The voice of your brother's blood is calling to me from the ground. 11 From now on you'll get nothing but curses from this ground; you'll be driven from this ground that has opened its arms to receive the blood of your murdered brother. 12 You'll farm this ground, but it will no longer give you its best. You'll be a homeless wanderer on Earth." 13 Cain said to God, "My punishment is too much. I can't take it! 14 You've thrown me off the land and I can never again face you. I'm a homeless wanderer on Earth and whoever finds me will kill me." 15 God told him, "No. Anyone who kills Cain will pay for it seven times over." God put a mark on Cain to protect him so that no one who met him would kill him. 16 Cain left the presence of God and lived in No-Man's-Land, east of Eden. 17 Cain slept with his wife. She conceived and had Enoch. He then built a city and named it after his son, Enoch. 18 Enoch had Irad, Irad had Mehujael, Mehujael had Methushael, Methushael had Lamech. 19 Lamech married two wives, Adah and Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal, the ancestor of all who live in tents and herd cattle. 21 His brother's name was Jubal, the ancestor of all who play the lyre and flute. 22 Zillah gave birth to Tubal-Cain, who worked at the forge making bronze and iron tools. Tubal-Cain's sister was Naamah.
23 Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, listen to me; you wives of Lamech, hear me out: I killed a man for wounding me, a young man who attacked me. 24 If Cain is avenged seven times, for Lamech it's seventy-seven!
25 Adam slept with his wife again. She had a son whom she named Seth. She said, "God has given me another child in place of Abel whom Cain killed." 26 And then Seth had a son whom he named Enosh. That's when men and women began praying and worshiping in the name of God.

Gen 4:1-26 (MSG)

latebird

Chapter 5

The Family Tree of the Human Race

1 This is the family tree of the human race: When God created the human race, he made it godlike, with a nature akin to God. 2 He created both male and female and blessed them, the whole human race. 3 When Adam was 130 years old, he had a son who was just like him, his very spirit and image, and named him Seth. 4 After the birth of Seth, Adam lived another 800 years, having more sons and daughters. 5 Adam lived a total of 930 years. And he died. 6 When Seth was 105 years old, he had Enosh. 7 After Seth had Enosh, he lived another 807 years, having more sons and daughters. 8 Seth lived a total of 912 years. And he died. 9 When Enosh was ninety years old, he had Kenan. 10 After he had Kenan, he lived another 815 years, having more sons and daughters. 11 Enosh lived a total of 905 years. And he died. 12 When Kenan was seventy years old, he had Mahalalel. 13 After he had Mahalalel, he lived another 840 years, having more sons and daughters. 14 Kenan lived a total of 910 years. And he died. 15 When Mahalalel was sixty-five years old, he had Jared. 16 After he had Jared, he lived another 830 years, having more sons and daughters. 17 Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years. And he died. 18 When Jared was 162 years old, he had Enoch. 19 After he had Enoch, he lived another 800 years, having more sons and daughters. 20 Jared lived a total of 962 years. And he died. 21 When Enoch was sixty-five years old, he had Methuselah. 22 Enoch walked steadily with God. After he had Methuselah, he lived another 300 years, having more sons and daughters. 23 Enoch lived a total of 365 years. 24 Enoch walked steadily with God. And then one day he was simply gone: God took him. 25 When Methuselah was 187 years old, he had Lamech. 26 After he had Lamech, he lived another 782 years. 27 Methuselah lived a total of 969 years. And he died. 28 When Lamech was 182 years old, he had a son. 29 He named him Noah, saying, "This one will give us a break from the hard work of farming the ground that God cursed." 30 After Lamech had Noah, he lived another 595 years, having more sons and daughters. 31 Lamech lived a total of 777 years. And he died. 32 When Noah was 500 years old, he had Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Gen 5:1-32 (MSG)

latebird

Chapter 6

Giants in the Land

1 When the human race began to increase, with more and more daughters being born, 2 the sons of God noticed that the daughters of men were beautiful. They looked them over and picked out wives for themselves. 3 Then God said, "I'm not going to breathe life into men and women endlessly. Eventually they're going to die; from now on they can expect a life span of 120 years." 4 This was back in the days (and also later) when there were giants in the land. The giants came from the union of the sons of God and the daughters of men. These were the mighty men of ancient lore, the famous ones.

Noah and His Sons

5 God saw that human evil was out of control. People thought evil, imagined evil—evil, evil, evil from morning to night. 6 God was sorry that he had made the human race in the first place; it broke his heart. 7 God said, "I'll get rid of my ruined creation, make a clean sweep: people, animals, snakes and bugs, birds—the works. I'm sorry I made them." 8 But Noah was different. God liked what he saw in Noah. 9 This is the story of Noah: Noah was a good man, a man of integrity in his community. Noah walked with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11 As far as God was concerned, the Earth had become a sewer; there was violence everywhere. 12 God took one look and saw how bad it was, everyone corrupt and corrupting—life itself corrupt to the core. 13 God said to Noah, "It's all over. It's the end of the human race. The violence is everywhere; I'm making a clean sweep. 14 "Build yourself a ship from teakwood. Make rooms in it. Coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 Make it 450 feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high. 16 Build a roof for it and put in a window eighteen inches from the top; put in a door on the side of the ship; and make three decks, lower, middle, and upper. 17 "I'm going to bring a flood on the Earth that will destroy everything alive under Heaven. Total destruction. 18 "But I'm going to establish a covenant with you: You'll board the ship, and your sons, your wife and your sons' wives will come on board with you. 19 You are also to take two of each living creature, a male and a female, on board the ship, to preserve their lives with you: 20 two of every species of bird, mammal, and reptile—two of everything so as to preserve their lives along with yours. 21 Also get all the food you'll need and store it up for you and them." 22 Noah did everything God commanded him to do.

Gen 6:1-22 (MSG)

latebird

Chapter 7

1 Next God said to Noah, "Now board the ship, you and all your family—out of everyone in this generation, you're the righteous one. 2 "Take on board with you seven pairs of every clean animal, a male and a female; one pair of every unclean animal, a male and a female; 3 and seven pairs of every kind of bird, a male and a female, to insure their survival on Earth. 4 In just seven days I will dump rain on Earth for forty days and forty nights. I'll make a clean sweep of everything that I've made." 5 Noah did everything God commanded him. 6 Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters covered the Earth. 7 Noah and his wife and sons and their wives boarded the ship to escape the flood. 8 Clean and unclean animals, birds, and all the crawling creatures 9 came in pairs to Noah and to the ship, male and female, just as God had commanded Noah. 10 In seven days the floodwaters came. 11 It was the six-hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month that it happened: all the underground springs erupted and all the windows of Heaven were thrown open. 12 Rain poured for forty days and forty nights. 13 That's the day Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, accompanied by his wife and his sons' wives, boarded the ship. 14 And with them every kind of wild and domestic animal, right down to all the kinds of creatures that crawl and all kinds of birds and anything that flies. 15 They came to Noah and to the ship in pairs—everything and anything that had the breath of life in it, 16 male and female of every creature came just as God had commanded Noah. Then God shut the door behind him. 17 The flood continued forty days and the waters rose and lifted the ship high over the Earth. 18 The waters kept rising, the flood deepened on the Earth, the ship floated on the surface. 19 The flood got worse until all the highest mountains were covered 20 —the high water mark reached twenty feet above the crest of the mountains. 21 Everything died. Anything that moved—dead. Birds, farm animals, wild animals, the entire teeming exuberance of life—dead. And all people—dead. 22 Every living, breathing creature that lived on dry land died; 23 he wiped out the whole works—people and animals, crawling creatures and flying birds, every last one of them, gone. Only Noah and his company on the ship lived. 24 The floodwaters took over for 150 days.

Gen 7:1-24 (MSG)

latebird

Chapter 8

1 Then God turned his attention to Noah and all the wild animals and farm animals with him on the ship. God caused the wind to blow and the floodwaters began to go down. 2 The underground springs were shut off, the windows of Heaven closed and the rain quit. 3 Inch by inch the water lowered. After 150 days the worst was over. 4 On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ship landed on the Ararat mountain range. 5 The water kept going down until the tenth month. On the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains came into view. 6 After forty days Noah opened the window that he had built into the ship. 7 He sent out a raven; it flew back and forth waiting for the floodwaters to dry up. 8 Then he sent a dove to check on the flood conditions, 9 but it couldn't even find a place to perch—water still covered the Earth. Noah reached out and caught it, brought it back into the ship. 10 He waited seven more days and sent out the dove again. 11 It came back in the evening with a freshly picked olive leaf in its beak. Noah knew that the flood was about finished. 12 He waited another seven days and sent the dove out a third time. This time it didn't come back. 13 In the six-hundred-first year of Noah's life, on the first day of the first month, the flood had dried up. Noah opened the hatch of the ship and saw dry ground. 14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the Earth was completely dry. 15 God spoke to Noah: 16 "Leave the ship, you and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives. 17 And take all the animals with you, the whole menagerie of birds and mammals and crawling creatures, all that brimming prodigality of life, so they can reproduce and flourish on the Earth." 18 Noah disembarked with his sons and wife and his sons' wives. 19 Then all the animals, crawling creatures, birds—every creature on the face of the Earth—left the ship family by family. 20 Noah built an altar to God. He selected clean animals and birds from every species and offered them as burnt-offerings on the altar. 21 God smelled the sweet fragrance and thought to himself, "I'll never again curse the ground because of people. I know they have this bent toward evil from an early age, but I'll never again kill off everything living as I've just done.
22 For as long as Earth lasts, planting and harvest, cold and heat, Summer and winter, day and night will never stop."

Gen 8:1-22 (MSG)

latebird

Chapter 9

1 God blessed Noah and his sons: He said, "Prosper! Reproduce! Fill the Earth! 2 Every living creature—birds, animals, fish—will fall under your spell and be afraid of you. You're responsible for them. 3 All living creatures are yours for food; just as I gave you the plants, now I give you everything else. 4 Except for meat with its lifeblood still in it—don't eat that. 5 "But your own lifeblood I will avenge; I will avenge it against both animals and other humans.
6 Whoever sheds human blood, by humans let his blood be shed, Because God made humans in his image reflecting God's very nature. 7 You're here to bear fruit, reproduce, lavish life on the Earth, live bountifully!"
8 Then God spoke to Noah and his sons: 9 "I'm setting up my covenant with you including your children who will come after you, 10 along with everything alive around you—birds, farm animals, wild animals—that came out of the ship with you. 11 I'm setting up my covenant with you that never again will everything living be destroyed by floodwaters; no, never again will a flood destroy the Earth." 12 God continued, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and everything living around you and everyone living after you. 13 I'm putting my rainbow in the clouds, a sign of the covenant between me and the Earth. 14 From now on, when I form a cloud over the Earth and the rainbow appears in the cloud, 15 I'll remember my covenant between me and you and everything living, that never again will floodwaters destroy all life. 16 When the rainbow appears in the cloud, I'll see it and remember the eternal covenant between God and everything living, every last living creature on Earth." 17 And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I've set up between me and everything living on the Earth." 18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ship were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. 19 These are the three sons of Noah; from these three the whole Earth was populated. 20 Noah, a farmer, was the first to plant a vineyard. 21 He drank from its wine, got drunk and passed out, naked in his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and told his two brothers who were outside the tent. 23 Shem and Japheth took a cloak, held it between them from their shoulders, walked backwards and covered their father's nakedness, keeping their faces turned away so they did not see their father's exposed body. 24 When Noah woke up with his hangover, he learned what his youngest son had done. 25 He said,
Cursed be Canaan! A slave of slaves, a slave to his brothers!
26 Blessed be God, the God of Shem, but Canaan shall be his slave. 27 God prosper Japheth, living spaciously in the tents of Shem. But Canaan shall be his slave.
28 Noah lived another 350 years following the flood. 29 He lived a total of 950 years. And he died.

Gen 9:1-29 (MSG)