Micah 7

1Woe is me! I am like one who comes when the summer fruit is gathered, when the grape harvest has been gleaned: not a cluster of grapes is left to eat, not one of the early figs I long for. 2The faithful have vanished from the land; there is not one upright person left. They all lie in wait to shed blood; they hunt one another with nets. 3Their hands are skilled at doing evil; the official makes demands, the judge asks for a bribe, and the powerful man speaks out what he craves, and together they twist it. 4The best of them is like a brier, the most upright worse than a hedge of thorns. The day your watchmen warned of has come, the day of your punishment; now is the time of their confusion. 5Do not trust a neighbor; put no confidence in a friend. Even with the woman who lies in your arms, guard the doors of your mouth. 6For a son treats his father with contempt, a daughter rises against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a person’s enemies are the people of their own household. 7But I will keep watch for the LORD; I will put my hope in the God who saves me; my God will hear me. 8Do not gloat over me, my enemy! I have fallen, but I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD is my light.

9I will bear the anger of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he takes up my case and wins justice for me. He will bring me out into the light, and I will see his righteousness. 10Then my enemy will see it, and shame will cover her, she who taunted me, “Where is the LORD your God?” My eyes will watch her downfall; now she will be trodden down like mud in the streets. 11A day is coming for building your walls; on that day your boundary will be extended far. 12On that day people will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, from Egypt as far as the Euphrates, from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain. 13But the earth will become desolate because of those who live in it, as the result of what they have done.

14Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock that belongs to you, which lives alone in a forest in the middle of Carmel. Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as they did long ago. 15As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them wonders. 16The nations will see and be ashamed, for all their power; they will lay their hands on their mouths; their ears will be deafened. 17They will lick the dust like a serpent, like creatures that crawl on the ground. They will come trembling out of their fortresses; they will turn in dread to the LORD our God and will be afraid of you. 18Who is a God like you, who forgives wrongdoing and passes over rebellion for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not keep his anger forever, because he delights in loyal love. 19He will again show us compassion and trample our wrongdoings underfoot. You will hurl all their sins into the depths of the sea. 20You will show faithfulness to Jacob and loyal love to Abraham, as you promised our ancestors on oath long ago.