Chapter 7

The Prophet Acknowledges

1 Woe is me! For I am

Like the fruit pickers, like the agrape gatherers.

There is not a cluster of grapes to eat,

Or a bfirst-ripe fig which 1I crave.

2 The 1godly person has aperished from the land,

And there is no upright person among men.

All of them lie in wait for bbloodshed;

Each of them hunts the other with a cnet.

3 Concerning evil, both hands do it awell.

The prince asks, also the judge, for a bbribe,

And a great man speaks the desire of his soul;

So they weave it together.

4 The best of them is like a abriar,

The most upright like a bthorn hedge.

The day when you post your watchmen,

Your cpunishment will come.

Then their dconfusion will occur.

5 Do not atrust in a neighbor;

Do not have confidence in a friend.

From her who lies in your bosom

Guard 1your lips.

6 For ason treats father contemptuously,

Daughter rises up against her mother,

Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;

bA man’s enemies are the men of his own household.

God Is the Source of Salvation and Light

7 But as for me, I will awatch expectantly for the Lord;

I will bwait for the God of my salvation.

My cGod will hear me.

8 aDo not rejoice over me, O bmy enemy.

Though I fall I will crise;

Though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a dlight for me.

9 I will bear the indignation of the Lord

Because I have sinned against Him,

Until He apleads my case and executes justice for me.

He will bring me out to the blight,

And I will see His 1crighteousness.

10 Then my enemy will see,

And shame will cover her who asaid to me,

“Where is the Lord your God?”

My eyes will look on her;

1At that time she will 2be btrampled down

Like mire of the streets.

11 It will be a day for abuilding your walls.

On that day will your boundary be extended.

12 It will be a day when 1they will acome to you

From Assyria and the cities of Egypt,

From Egypt even to the 2Euphrates,

Even from sea to sea and mountain to mountain.

13 And the earth will become adesolate because of her inhabitants,

On account of the bfruit of their deeds.

14 aShepherd Your people with Your bscepter,

The flock of Your 1possession

Which dwells by itself in the woodland,

In the midst of 2a fruitful field.

Let them feed in cBashan and Gilead

dAs in the days of old.

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

I will show 1ayou miracles.”

16 Nations awill see and be ashamed

Of all their might.

They will bput their hand on their mouth,

Their ears will be deaf.

17 They will alick the dust like a serpent,

Like breptiles of the earth.

They will come ctrembling out of their 1fortresses;

To the Lord our God they will come in ddread

And they will be afraid before You.

18 Who is a God like You, who apardons iniquity

And passes over the rebellious act of the bremnant of His 1possession?

He does not cretain His anger forever,

Because He ddelights in 2unchanging love.

19 He will again have compassion on us;

aHe will tread our iniquities under foot.

Yes, You will bcast all 1their sins

Into the depths of the sea.

20 You will give 1atruth to Jacob

And 2unchanging love to Abraham,

Which You bswore to our forefathers

From the days of old.