Micah 7

1Woe is me! For I have become like the gatherers of summer fruit, like the gleanings of the grape harvest: there is no cluster to eat, no first-ripe fig that my soul desires.

2The faithful has perished from the land, and there is no upright one among mankind. All of them lie in wait for blood; each hunts his brother with a net.

3Their hands are on evil, to do it well: the prince asks, and the judge is for a bribe, and the great man speaks the desire of his soul; thus they weave it together.

4The best of them is like a brier; the upright is worse than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, your punishment, has come; now their confusion will be.

5Do not trust in a neighbor; do not put confidence in a close companion. From the woman who lies in your bosom, guard the doors of your mouth.

6For a son treats his father with contempt; a daughter rises up against her mother; a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.

7But as for me, I will watch for Yahweh; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.

8Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, Yahweh will be a light to me.

9I will bear the indignation of Yahweh, because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me out to the light; I will look upon his righteousness.

10Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover her—the one who said to me, “Where is Yahweh your God?” My eyes will look on her; now she will be trampled down like mud in the streets.

11A day for building your walls—on that day the boundary will be far removed.

12That day—they will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt to the River, from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.

13But the land will become a desolation because of its inhabitants, because of the fruit of their deeds.

14Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, dwelling alone in a forest in the midst of Carmel; let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as in days of old.

15As in the days when you came out from the land of Egypt, I will show him wondrous things.

16Nations will see and be ashamed of all their might; they will put their hand over their mouth; their ears will become deaf.

17They will lick the dust like a snake; like crawling things of the earth they will come trembling out of their strongholds. To Yahweh our God they will turn in dread, and they will be afraid because of you.

18Who is a God like you, bearing iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.

19He will again have compassion on us; he will subdue our iniquities. He will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

20You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, which you swore to our fathers from days of old.