The Message

I've been thinking about different translations of the Bible and how lucky I am to have access to many of them (biblegateway.com) and then I started thinking about The Message. To me, The Message is more of a paraphrase and "modern" language than an actual translation...anyway, Psalm 1 in The Message is so different from NIV that I had to share it. Verse one is what gets me....I'll post both NIV and The Message so you can compare.

Psalm 1 (NIV)
¹ Blessed is the one
   who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
   or sit in the company of mockers,
² but whose delight is in the law of the LORD,
   and who meditates on his law day and night.
³ That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
   which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
   whatever they do prospers.
 ⁴ Not so the wicked!
   They are like chaff
   that the wind blows away.
⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
   nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
 ⁶ For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
   but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.


Psalm 1 (The Message)


How well God must like you— you don't hang out at Sin Saloon, 
you don't slink along Dead-End Road,
   you don't go to Smart-Mouth College.

 ^2-3 Instead you thrill to God's Word,
      you chew on Scripture day and night.
   You're a tree replanted in Eden,
      bearing fresh fruit every month,
   Never dropping a leaf,
      always in blossom.

 ^4-5 You're not at all like the wicked,
      who are mere windblown dust—
   Without defense in court,
      unfit company for innocent people.

 ⁶ God charts the road you take.
   The road they take is Skid Row.


Really now? Smart-Mouth College? Where is that in the original?


sooo leave a comment and tell me what you think of The Message! :]