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.
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 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 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 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.
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 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.
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 Don't trust a neighbor, don't rely on a friend. Watch what you say even to the one 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 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 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 look to the Lord. I will wait for the God who saves me. My God will hear me.
And I—in YHWH I watch, I wait for the God of my salvation, My God hears 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 On that day it will be time to build your walls. On that day your boundaries will be extended.
The day to build your walls! That day—removed is the limit.
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.
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 But the rest of the earth will become desolate because of what those who live there have done.
And the land has been for a desolation, Because of its inhabitants, Because of 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.
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 Like the time when you left the land of Egypt, I will do miracles for you.
“According to the days of your coming forth out of the land of Egypt, I show it wonderful 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 turns back, He pities us, He subdues our iniquities, And You 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.
You give truth to Jacob, kindness to Abraham, That You have sworn to our fathers, from the days of antiquity!
