Micah 7
1 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.
Woe is me! for I am as in the gathering of the summer-fruits, as in the grape-gleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat, no first-ripe fruit for which my soul longeth.
2 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.
The pious hath disappeared out of the land; and the upright among men there is none; all of them lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.
3 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.
For the evil of your hands you expect good? while the prince demandeth [bribes], and the judge acteth for pay; and the great man is only speaking the wilful pleasure of his soul: and so do they make a network [of wrong].
4 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.
The best of them is like a brier; the most upright is [sharper] than a thorn-hedge: the day of thy watchmen, thy punishment, is come; now shall be perplexity among them.
5 Don't trust a neighbor, don't rely on a friend. Watch what you say even to the one who lies in your arms.
Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a confidant: from her that lieth in thy bosom guard the doors of thy mouth.
6 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.
For the son disgraceth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.
7 But as for me, I look to the Lord. I will wait for the God who saves me. My God will hear me.
But I—I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.
8 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.
Rejoice not, O my enemy, over me: though I am fallen, I rise again: though I should sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light unto me.
9 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.
The indignation of the Lord will I bear, because I have sinned against him; until that he plead my cause, and execute justice for me: [when] he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.
10 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.
Then she that is my enemy will see it, and shame shall cover her, who said unto me, Where is the Lord thy God? My eyes shall complacently see her [suffer]: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.
11 On that day it will be time to build your walls. On that day your boundaries will be extended.
The day that thy fences are to be built—that same day, the ordained, is yet far removed.
12 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.
It is a day when men shall come to thee from Assyria, and the cities of Mazor, and from Mazor even to the river, and from sea to sea, and [from] mountain to mountain.
13 But the rest of the earth will become desolate because of what those who live there have done.
While the land [of the nations] shall be made desolate because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their doings.
14 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.
Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thy heritage, which dwell in solitude in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gil'ad, as in the days of old.
15 Like the time when you left the land of Egypt, I will do miracles for you.
As in the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I let them see marvelous things.
16 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.
Nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deafened.
17 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.
They shall lick the dust like the serpent; like those that crawl on the earth, shall they come forth trembling out of their close places: unto the Lord our God shall they hasten in dread, and shall be afraid of thee.
18 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.
Who is a god like unto thee, pardoning iniquity, and forgiving transgression to the residue of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in kindness.
19 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.
He will again have mercy on us, he will suppress our iniquities; yea, thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
20 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.
Thou wilt show faithfulness unto Jacob, and kindness unto Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers in the days of old.
