
Joel 1 The Message (MSG)Get in Touch with Reality—and Weep!1 1-3 God’s Message to Joel son of Pethuel: Attention, elder statesmen! Listen closely, 4 What the chewing locust left, 5-7 Sober up, you drunks! 8-10 Weep like a young virgin dressed in black, 11-12 Dirt farmers, despair! Nothing’s Going On in the Place of Worship13-14 And also you priests, 15-18 What a day! Doomsday! 19-20 God! I pray, I cry out to you!
The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson |
Joel 2 The Message (MSG)The Locust Army2 1-3 Blow the ram’s horn trumpet in Zion! 4-6 The locust army seems all horses— 7-11 The invaders charge. Change Your Life12 But there’s also this, it’s not too late— 13-14 Change your life, not just your clothes. 15-17 Blow the ram’s horn trumpet in Zion! 18-20 At that, God went into action to get his land back. The Trees Are Bearing Fruit Again21-24 Fear not, Earth! Be glad and celebrate! 25-27 “I’ll make up for the years of the locust, The Sun Turning Black and the Moon Blood-Red28-32 “And that’s just the beginning: After that— “I will pour out my Spirit
The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson |
Joel 3 The Message (MSG)God Is a Safe Hiding Place3 1-3 “In those days, yes, at that very time 4-8 “As for you, Tyre and Sidon and Philistia, 9-11 Announce this to the godless nations: 12 Let the pagan nations set out 13 “Swing the sickle— 14 “Mass confusion, mob uproar— 15-17 “The sky turns black, Milk Rivering Out of the Hills18-21 “What a day!
The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson |
2 Timothy 1 The Message (MSG)1 1-2 I, Paul, am on special assignment for Christ, carrying out God’s plan laid out in the Message of Life by Jesus. I write this to you, Timothy, the son I love so much. All the best from our God and Christ be yours! To Be Bold with God’s Gifts3-4 Every time I say your name in prayer—which is practically all the time—I thank God for you, the God I worship with my whole life in the tradition of my ancestors. I miss you a lot, especially when I remember that last tearful good-bye, and I look forward to a joy-packed reunion. 5-7 That precious memory triggers another: your honest faith—and what a rich faith it is, handed down from your grandmother Lois to your mother Eunice, and now to you! And the special gift of ministry you received when I laid hands on you and prayed—keep that ablaze! God doesn’t want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold and loving and sensible. 8-10 So don’t be embarrassed to speak up for our Master or for me, his prisoner. Take your share of suffering for the Message along with the rest of us. We can only keep on going, after all, by the power of God, who first saved us and then called us to this holy work. We had nothing to do with it. It was all his idea, a gift prepared for us in Jesus long before we knew anything about it. But we know it now. Since the appearance of our Savior, nothing could be plainer: death defeated, life vindicated in a steady blaze of light, all through the work of Jesus. 11-12 This is the Message I’ve been set apart to proclaim as preacher, emissary, and teacher. It’s also the cause of all this trouble I’m in. But I have no regrets. I couldn’t be more sure of my ground—the One I’ve trusted in can take care of what he’s trusted me to do right to the end. 13-14 So keep at your work, this faith and love rooted in Christ, exactly as I set it out for you. It’s as sound as the day you first heard it from me. Guard this precious thing placed in your custody by the Holy Spirit who works in us. 15-18 I’m sure you know by now that everyone in the province of Asia deserted me, even Phygelus and Hermogenes. But God bless Onesiphorus and his family! Many’s the time I’ve been refreshed in that house. And he wasn’t embarrassed a bit that I was in jail. The first thing he did when he got to Rome was look me up. May God on the Last Day treat him as well as he treated me. And then there was all the help he provided in Ephesus—but you know that better than I.
The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson |