Michaeas 7

1 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!

I'm totally miserable! I've become like someone trying to glean summer fruit after the grape harvest is over. I can't find any grapes to eat, and there are no early figs that I love.

2 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:

All the good people in the country are gone, there's no one who does right left anywhere. Everyone is looking to murder others; they try to trap even their own brothers.

3 they prepare their hands for mischief, the prince asks [a reward], and the judge speaks flattering words; it is the desire of their soul:

They are experts at evil; both officials and judges ask for bribes; the powerful demand their evil desires; and they scheme together to get what they want.

4 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.

Even the best of them is like a thorny bush, the most honest like a thorn hedge. Your day of judgment that was announced by the prophets, your time of punishment, has arrived. You'rethrown into complete confusion.

5 Trust not in friends, and confide not in guides: beware of your wife, so as not to commit anything to her.

Don't trust a neighbor, don't rely on a friend. Watch what you say even to the one who lies in your arms.

6 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.

For a son treats his father with contempt; a daughter opposes her mother, and a daughter-in-law her mother-in-law. Your enemies are members of your own family.

7 But I will look to the Lord; I will wait upon God my Saviour: my God will listen to me.

But as for me, I look to the Lord. I will wait for the God who saves me. My God will hear me.

8 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.

Don't gloat over me, my enemies! Even though I fall, I will rise again. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord is my light.

9 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.

I will endure the Lord's anger because I have sinned against him. But after that he will argue my case and give me justice. He will bring me into the light and I will see his integrity.

10 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.

Then my enemies will see it and cover their faces in shame for taunting me, asking, “Where is the Lord your God?” With my own eyes I will see what happens to them; they will be trodden down like mud in the streets.

11 [It is] the day of making of brick; that day shall be your utter destruction, and that day shall utterly abolish your ordinances.

On that day it will be time to build your walls. On that day your boundaries will be extended.

12 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.

On that day people will come from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, from Egypt to the Euphrates River, from sea to sea, from mountain to mountain.

13 And the land shall be utterly desolate together with them that inhabit it, because of the fruit of their doings.

But the rest of the earth will become desolate because of what those who live there have done.

14 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.

Protect your people with your shepherd's rod. Take care of your flock, your special people, who live alone in the wilderness and in cultivated land. Let them feed in Basham and Gilead as they did long ago.

15 And according to the days of your departure out of Egypt shall you see marvellous [things].

Like the time when you left the land of Egypt, I will do miracles for you.

16 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.

The nations will see, and they will be humiliated despite their strength. They will cover their mouths with their hands, and their ears shall become deaf.

17 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.

They will lick the dust like snakes; they will be like the creepy-crawlies of the earth. They will come trembling from their fortresses to meet the Lord our God, fearful and afraid before him.

18 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.

Who is a God like you who forgives sin and passes over the rebellion of those who are left of his special people? You do not remain angry forever because you delight in showing faithful love.

19 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.

You will have compassion on us again. You will tread our sins under your feet, and you will throw our sins into the depths of the sea.

20 He shall give blessings truly to Jacob, and mercy to Abraam, as you sware to our fathers, according to the former days.

You will give your trustworthy truth to the people of Jacob, your faithful love to the people of Abraham, as you promised our forefathers long ago.