Micah 7

The Total Corruption of the People

⁷Woe is me! For I have become like one who,

after the summer fruit has been gathered,

after the vintage has been gleaned,

finds no cluster to eat;

there is no first-ripe fig for which I hunger.^*

²The faithful have disappeared from the land,

and there is no one left who is upright;

they all lie in wait for blood,

and they hunt each other with nets.^*

³Their hands are skilled to do evil;

the official and the judge ask for a bribe,

and the powerful dictate what they desire;

thus they pervert justice.^a*

⁴The best of them is like a brier,

the most upright of them a thorn hedge.

The day of their^b sentinels, of their^c punishment, has come;

now their confusion is at hand.^*

⁵Put no trust in a friend;

have no confidence in a loved one;

guard the doors of your mouth

from her who lies in your embrace,

⁶for the son treats the father with contempt,

the daughter rises up against her mother,

the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;

your enemies are members of your own household.^*

⁷But as for me, I will look to the Lord;

I will wait for the God of my salvation;

my God will hear me.^*

Penitence and Trust in God

⁸Do not rejoice over me, my enemies;^d

when I fall, I shall rise;

when I sit in darkness,

the Lord will be a light to me.^*

⁹I must bear the indignation of the Lord

because I have sinned against him,

until he takes my side

and executes judgment for me.

He will bring me out to the light;

I shall see his vindication.^*

¹⁰Then my enemies^e will see,

and shame will cover those^f who said to me,

“Where is the Lord your God?”

My eyes will see their^g downfall;^h

now theyⁱ will be trodden down

like the mire of the streets.^*

A Prophecy of Restoration

¹¹A day for the building of your walls!

On that day the boundary shall be far extended.^*

¹²On that day they will come to you

from Assyria to^j Egypt

and from Egypt to the River,

from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.^*

¹³But the earth will be desolate

because of its inhabitants,

for the fruit of their doings.^*

¹⁴Shepherd your people with your staff,

the flock that belongs to you,

which lives alone in a forest

in the midst of a garden land;

let them feed in Bashan and Gilead

as in the days of old.

¹⁵As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,

show us^k marvelous things.^*

¹⁶The nations shall see and be ashamed

of all their might;

they shall lay their hands on their mouths;

their ears shall be deaf;^*

¹⁷they shall lick dust like a snake,

like the crawling things of the earth;

they shall come trembling out of their fortresses;

they shall turn in dread to the Lord our God,

and they shall stand in fear of you.^*

God’s Compassion and Steadfast Love

¹⁸Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity

and passing over the transgression

of the remnant of his possession?

He does not retain his anger forever

because he delights in showing steadfast love.^*

¹⁹He will again have compassion upon us;

he will tread our iniquities under foot.

You will cast all our^l sins

into the depths of the sea.^*

²⁰You will show faithfulness to Jacob

and steadfast love to Abraham,

as you have sworn to our ancestors

from the days of old.^*