NIV

Micah 7

1<pb/><t>What misery is mine!</t> <t>I am like one who gathers summer fruit</t> <t>at the gleaning of the vineyard;</t> <t>there is no cluster of grapes to eat,</t> <t>none of the early figs that I crave.</t>
2<t>The faithful have been swept from the land;</t> <t>not one upright person remains.</t> <t>Everyone lies in wait to shed blood;</t> <t>they hunt each other with nets.</t>
3<t>Both hands are skilled in doing evil;</t> <t>the ruler demands gifts,</t> <t>the judge accepts bribes,</t> <t>the powerful dictate what they desire—</t> <t>they all conspire together.</t>
4<t>The best of them is like a brier,</t> <t>the most upright worse than a thorn hedge.</t> <t>The day God visits you has come,</t> <t>the day your watchmen sound the alarm.</t> <t>Now is the time of your confusion.</t>
5<t>Do not trust a neighbor;</t> <t>put no confidence in a friend.</t> <t>Even with the woman who lies in your embrace</t> <t>guard the words of your lips.</t>
6<t>For a son dishonors his father,</t> <t>a daughter rises up against her mother,</t> <t>a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—</t> <t>a man’s enemies are the members of his own household. <pb/></t>
7<t>But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD,</t> <t>I wait for God my Savior;</t> <t>my God will hear me.</t>
8<t>Do not gloat over me, my enemy!</t> <t>Though I have fallen, I will rise.</t> <t>Though I sit in darkness,</t> <t>the LORD will be my light.</t>
9<t>Because I have sinned against him,</t> <t>I will bear the LORD’s wrath,</t> <t>until he pleads my case</t> <t>and upholds my cause.</t> <t>He will bring me out into the light;</t> <t>I will see his righteousness.</t>
10<t>Then my enemy will see it</t> <t>and will be covered with shame,</t> <t>she who said to me,</t> <t>“Where is the LORD your God?”</t> <t>My eyes will see her downfall;</t> <t>even now she will be trampled underfoot</t> <t>like mire in the streets. <pb/></t>
11<t>The day for building your walls will come,</t> <t>the day for extending your boundaries.</t>
12<t>In that day people will come to you</t> <t>from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,</t> <t>even from Egypt to the Euphrates</t> <t>and from sea to sea</t> <t>and from mountain to mountain.</t>
13<t>The earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants,</t> <t>as the result of their deeds.</t>
14<t>Shepherd your people with your staff,</t> <t>the flock of your inheritance,</t> <t>which lives by itself in a forest,</t> <t>in fertile pasturelands.<f>[24]</f></t> <t>Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead</t> <t>as in days long ago. <pb/></t>
15<t>“As in the days when you came out of Egypt,</t> <t>I will show them my wonders.” <pb/></t>
16<t>Nations will see and be ashamed,</t> <t>deprived of all their power.</t> <t>They will put their hands over their mouths</t> <t>and their ears will become deaf.</t>
17<t>They will lick dust like a snake,</t> <t>like creatures that crawl on the ground.</t> <t>They will come trembling out of their dens;</t> <t>they will turn in fear to the LORD our God</t> <t>and will be afraid of you.</t>
18<t>Who is a God like you,</t> <t>who pardons sin and forgives the transgression</t> <t>of the remnant of his inheritance?</t> <t>You do not stay angry forever</t> <t>but delight to show mercy.</t>
19<t>You will again have compassion on us;</t> <t>you will tread our sins underfoot</t> <t>and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.</t>
20<t>You will be faithful to Jacob,</t> <t>and show love to Abraham,</t> <t>as you pledged on oath to our ancestors</t> <t>in days long ago.</t>