Micah 7

Woe is me!
I am like one gathering summer fruit, like one gleaning after the grape harvest.
There is no cluster to eat;
my soul craves an early fig. The godly have perished from the land;
there is no one upright among mankind.
All lie in wait for bloodshed;
each hunts his brother with a net. Both hands are skilled at evil.
The prince demands, the judge acts for payment, and the powerful man speaks the desire of his soul;
together they weave it. The best of them is like a brier, the most upright worse than a thorn hedge.
The day of your watchmen, your punishment, has come.
Now their confusion will come. Do not trust a neighbor;
do not put confidence in a close friend.
Guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms. For a son treats his father with contempt;
a daughter rises against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
A man’s enemies are those of his own household. But as for me, I will look to the LORD;
I will wait for the God of my salvation.
My God will hear me. “Do not rejoice over me, my enemy.
Though I have fallen, I will rise;
though I sit in darkness, the LORD is a light to me. I will bear the LORD’s indignation because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes justice for me.
He will bring me out to the light, and I will see his righteousness. My enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, ‘Where is the LORD your God?’ My eyes will look upon her;
now she will be trampled like mud in the streets.” A day will come for building your walls;
on that day the boundary will be extended far. On that day people will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, from Egypt to the River, from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain. But the land will become desolate because of its inhabitants, as the fruit of their deeds. Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, dwelling alone in the forest, in the midst of fruitful land.
Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old. “As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show him wonders.” Nations will see and be ashamed of all their might.
They will put their hands over their mouths;
their ears will become deaf. They will lick dust like a snake;
like crawling creatures of the earth they will come trembling from their strongholds.
They will turn in dread to the LORD our God and be afraid of you. Who is a God like you, forgiving iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not hold on to his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us;
he will subdue our iniquities.
You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. You will give faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you swore to our fathers from the days of old.

Rights and attribution