Micah 7
1 I am very miserable/frustrated! I am like [SIM] someone who is hungry, [who searches for fruit to pick] after all the fruit had been picked and who finds no grapes or figs to eat.
Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer-fruits, as the grape-gleanings of the vintage. There is no cluster to eat; there is no early fruit [which] my soul desired.
2 [All] the godly people have disappeared from this land; there is not one of them left. [The people who are left] are all murderers [MTY]; [it is as though] everyone is eager to kill his fellow countryman.
The godly [man] hath perished out of the land, and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood, they hunt every man his brother with a net.
3 They [all] use both hands to do what is evil. [Government] officials and judges [all] ask for bribes. Important people tell others what they want, and they plot/scheme together [about how to get it done].
Both hands are for evil, to do it well. The prince asketh, and the judge [is there] for a reward; and the great [man] uttereth his soul's greed: and [together] they combine it.
4 [Even] the best people are [as worthless] [SIM] as briers; the people [who are considered by others to be] [IRO] the most honest are worse than clumps of thornbushes. But, [Yahweh] will soon judge them; now is the time that he will punish people, a time when they will be [very] confused [because of being defeated].
The best of them is as a briar; the most upright, [worse] than a thorn-fence. The day of thy watchmen, thy visitation is come; now shall be their perplexity.
5 [So], do not trust anyone! Do not trust [even] a friend; [even] be careful what you say to your wife whom you love!
Believe ye not in a companion, put not confidence in a familiar friend: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.
6 Boys will despise their fathers, and girls will defy their mothers. Women will defy their mothers-in-law. Your enemies will be those who live in your own houses.
For the son dishonoureth 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 household.
7 As for me, I wait for Yahweh [to help me]. I confidently expect that God, my Savior, will answer me [when I pray].
But as for me, I will look unto Jehovah; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.
8 You who are our enemies, do not gloat/rejoice about [what has happened to] us, [because even] if we have experienced disasters, [those disasters will end and] we will be restored. [Even] if [it is as though] we are sitting in the darkness, Yahweh will be our light.
Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: though I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, Jehovah shall be a light unto me.
9 We must be patient while Yahweh punishes us because we have sinned against him. But later, [it will be as though] he will go to court and defend us, and he will make sure that the judge makes a right decision about us. [It will be as though] he will bring us out into the light, and we will see it when he rescues us.
I will bear the indignation of Jehovah — for I have sinned against him — until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light; I shall behold his righteousness.
10 Our enemies will [also] see that, and they will be disgraced because they [ridiculed us], saying “Why is [RHQ] Yahweh, that God of yours, [not helping you]?” But with our own eyes we will see them when they are defeated; we will see them trampled like [SIM] mud in the streets.
And mine enemy shall see [it], and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is Jehovah thy God? Mine eyes shall behold her; now shall she be trodden down, as the mire of the streets.
11 [You people of Israel, ] at that time your cities will be rebuilt, and your territory will become larger.
In the day when thy walls shall be built, on that day shall the established limit recede.
12 [People from many countries will come to honor you]: people from Assyria and from [near] the [Euphrates] River [in the east] and from Egypt [in the south], from distant seas, and from many mountains.
In that day they shall come to thee from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.
13 But [the other countries on] the earth will become desolate because of the [evil] things that their people have done.
But the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.
14 Yahweh, protect your people like [MET] [a shepherd protects his sheep] by using his walking stick; lead your people [MET] whom you have chosen to belong to you. [Even though some of them] live by themselves in a forest, give them the fertile pastureland in the Bashan and Gilead [regions] that they possessed long ago.
Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine inheritance, dwelling alone in the forest, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
15 [Yahweh says/replies], “[Yes], I will perform miracles for you like the miracles that I performed when I rescued your [ancestors] from [being slaves in] Egypt.”
— As in the days of thy coming forth out of the land of Egypt, will I shew them marvellous things.
16 [People from many] nations will see [what Yahweh does for you], and they will be ashamed because they do not have any power. They will put their hands over their mouths and their ears [because they will be very amazed because of what Yahweh does], [and they will not be able to say anything or hear anything].
— The nations shall see, and be ashamed for all their might: they shall lay [their] hand upon [their] mouth, their ears shall be deaf.
17 [Being very humiliated, ] they will crawl on the ground [MTY] like [SIM] snakes. They will come out of their homes trembling, and stand revering Yahweh our God. They will be very afraid of him, and will tremble in front of him.
They shall lick dust like the serpent; like crawling things of the earth, they shall come trembling forth from their close places. They shall turn with fear to Jehovah our God, and shall be afraid because of thee.
18 [Yahweh], there is no [RHQ] God like you; you forgive the sins [DOU] that were committed by the people who have survived, the people who belong to you. You do not remain angry forever; you are very happy [to show us] that you faithfully love [us].
Who is a God like unto thee, that forgiveth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in loving-kindness.
19 You will again act kindly/compassionately toward us. You will get rid of [the scroll on which you have written] the sins that we have committed [as though you were] trampling it under your feet or throwing it into the deep ocean.
He will yet again have compassion on us, he will tread under foot our iniquities: and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
20 You will show that you faithfully [do what you promised for us] and faithfully love us, just like you solemnly promised long ago to our ancestors Abraham and Jacob that you would do.
Thou wilt perform truth to Jacob, loving-kindness to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers, from the days of old.
