Micah 7
1 Woe is me! For I am like one gathering summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard; there is no cluster to eat, no early fig that I crave.
Alas for me! for I am become as one gathering straw in harvest, and as [one gathering] grape-gleanings in the vintage, when there is no cluster for me to eat the first-ripe fruit: alas my soul!
2 The godly man has perished from the earth; there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; they hunt one another with a net.
For the godly is perished from the earth; and there is none amongst men that orders [his way] aright: they all quarrel even to blood: they grievously afflict every one his neighbour:
3 Both hands are skilled at evil; the prince and the judge demand a bribe. When the powerful utters his evil desire, they all conspire together.
they prepare their hands for mischief, the prince asks [a reward], and the judge speaks flattering words; it is the desire of their soul:
4 The best of them is like a brier; the most upright is sharper than a hedge of thorns. The day for your watchmen has come, the day of your visitation. Now is the time of their confusion.
therefore I will take away their goods as a devouring moth, and as one who acts by a [rigid] rule in a day of visitation. Woe, woe, your times of vengeance are come; now shall be their lamentations.
5 Do not rely on a friend; do not trust in a companion. Seal the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms.
Trust not in friends, and confide not in guides: beware of your wife, so as not to commit anything to her.
6 For a son dishonors his father, a daughter rises against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies are the members of his own household.
For the son dishonours his father, the daughter will rise up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law: those in his house [shall be] all a man's enemies.
7 But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.
But I will look to the Lord; I will wait upon God my Saviour: my God will listen to me.
8 Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will arise; though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.
Rejoice not against me, mine enemy; for I have fallen [yet] shall arise; for though I should sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light to me.
9 Because I have sinned against Him, I must endure the rage of the LORD, until He argues my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me into the light; I will see His righteousness.
I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he make good my cause: he also shall maintain my right, and shall bring me out to the light, [and] I shall behold his righteousness.
10 Then my enemy will see and will be covered with shame— she who said to me, “Where is the LORD your God?” My eyes will see her; at that time she will be trampled like mud in the streets.
And she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shall clothe herself with shame, who says, Where [is] the Lord your God? mine eyes shall look upon her: now shall she be for trampling as mire in the ways.
11 The day for rebuilding your walls will come— the day for extending your boundary.
[It is] the day of making of brick; that day shall be your utter destruction, and that day shall utterly abolish your ordinances.
12 On that day they will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, even from Egypt to the Euphrates, from sea to sea and mountain to mountain.
And your cities shall be levelled, and parted amongst the Assyrians; and your strong cities shall be parted from Tyre to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.
13 Then the earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants, as the fruit of their deeds.
And the land shall be utterly desolate together with them that inhabit it, because of the fruit of their doings.
14 Shepherd with Your staff Your people, the flock of Your inheritance. They live alone in a woodland, surrounded by pastures. Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
Tend your people with your rod, the sheep of your inheritance, those that inhabit by themselves the thicket in the midst of Carmel: they shall feed in the land of Basan, and in the land of Galaad, as in the days of old.
15 As in the days when you came out of Egypt, I will show My wonders.
And according to the days of your departure out of Egypt shall you see marvellous [things].
16 Nations will see and be ashamed, deprived of all their might. They will put their hands over their mouths, and their ears will become deaf.
The nations shall see and be ashamed; and at all their might they shall lay their hands upon their mouth, their ears shall be deafened.
17 They will lick the dust like a snake, like reptiles slithering on the ground. They will crawl from their holes in the presence of the LORD our God; they will tremble in fear of You.
They shall lick the dust as serpents crawling on the earth, they shall be confounded in their holes; they shall be amazed at the Lord our God, and will be afraid of you.
18 Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance— who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?
Who is a God like you, cancelling iniquities, and passing over the sins of the remnant of his inheritance? and he has not kept his anger for a testimony, for he delights in mercy.
19 He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast out all our sins into the depths of the sea.
He will return and have mercy upon us; he will sink our iniquities, and they shall be cast into the depth of the sea, [even] all our sins.
20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob and loving devotion to Abraham, as You swore to our fathers from the days of old.
He shall give blessings truly to Jacob, and mercy to Abraam, as you sware to our fathers, according to the former days.
