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.
My woe [is] to me, For I have been as gatherings of summer-fruit, As gleanings of harvest, There is no cluster to eat, The first-ripe fruit has my soul desired.
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.
The kind have perished out of the land, And upright among men—there are none, All of them lie in wait for blood, They each hunt his brother [with] a net.
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.
On the evil [are] both hands to do [it] well, The prince is asking—also the judge—for repayment, And the great—he is speaking the mischief of his soul, And they wrap it up.
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.
Their best one [is] as a brier, The upright one—than a thorn-hedge, The day of your watchmen—Your visitation—has come. Now is their perplexity.
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.
Do not believe in a friend, Do not trust in a leader, From her who is lying in your bosom keep the openings of your mouth.
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 a son is dishonoring a father, A daughter has stood against her mother, A daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, The enemies of each [are] the men of his house.
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.
And I—in YHWH I watch, I wait for the God of my salvation, My God hears 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.
You do not rejoice over me, O my enemy, When I have fallen, I have risen, When I sit in darkness YHWH is 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 bear the indignation of YHWH, For I have sinned against Him, Until He pleads my cause, And has executed my judgment, He brings me forth to the light, I look on 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 my enemy sees, And shame covers her, Who says to me, “Where [is] your God YHWH?” My eyes look on her, Now she is for a treading-place, As mire of the out-places.
11 The day for rebuilding your walls will come— the day for extending your boundary.
The day to build your walls! That day—removed is the limit.
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.
That day—even to you it comes in, From Asshur and the cities of the fortress, And from the fortress even to the river, And from sea to sea, and mountain to mountain.
13 Then the earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants, as the fruit of their deeds.
And the land has been for a desolation, Because of its inhabitants, 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.
Rule Your people with Your rod, The flock of Your inheritance, Dwelling alone [in] a forest in the midst of Carmel, They enjoy Bashan and Gilead as in days of old.
15 As in the days when you came out of Egypt, I will show My wonders.
“According to the days of your coming forth out of the land of Egypt, I show it wonderful 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.
Nations see, and they are ashamed of all their might, They lay a hand on the mouth, their ears are deaf.
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 lick dust as a serpent, as fearful things of earth, They tremble from their enclosures, They are afraid of our God YHWH, Indeed, they are 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? Taking away iniquity, And passing by the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance, He has not retained His anger forever, Because He delights [in] kindness.
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 turns back, He pities us, He subdues our iniquities, And You cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob and loving devotion to Abraham, as You swore to our fathers from the days of old.
You give truth to Jacob, kindness to Abraham, That You have sworn to our fathers, from the days of antiquity!
