Micah 7
1 Woe is me! I am like someone gathering summer fruit, like one gleaning after the grape harvest: there is no cluster to eat, no early fig that I long for.
2 The faithful have vanished from the land, and there is no one upright among the people. Everyone lies in wait to shed blood; each hunts his brother with a net.
3 Their hands are skilled at doing evil: the ruler makes a demand, the judge asks for a payoff, the powerful speak as they please, and together they weave it all into a web.
4 The best of them is like a thornbush, the most upright worse than a thorn hedge. The day announced by your watchmen has come, the day of your punishment; now their confusion will come.
5 Do not trust a friend; do not put confidence in a close companion. Guard the words of your mouth from the one who lies in your arms.
6 For a son despises his father, a daughter rises against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a person's enemies are the members of his own household.
7 But I will watch for the LORD; I will wait for the God who saves me. My God will hear me.
8 Do not rejoice over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise; though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.
9 I will bear the LORD's indignation, because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my case and gives me justice. He will bring me out into the light, and I will see his justice.
10 My enemy will see this, and shame will cover the one who said to me, “Where is the LORD your God?” My eyes will see her; now she will be trampled like mud in the streets.
11 A day is coming to rebuild your walls! On that day the boundary will be extended far away.
12 On that day they will come to you from Assyria and the fortified cities, from Egypt to the River, from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.
13 The land will become desolate because of those who live in it, because of the fruit of their deeds.
14 Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, living alone in the forest, in the midst of Carmel. Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead, as in ancient days.
15 As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show him wonders.
16 The nations will see and be ashamed, despite all their might. They will put their hands over their mouths, and their ears will be deaf.
17 They will lick the dust like a serpent, like creatures that crawl on the earth. Trembling, they will come out of their hiding places; they will come in dread before the LORD our God and fear you.
18 Who is a God like you, who pardons guilt and passes over the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? He does not hold on to his anger forever, because he delights in faithful love.
19 He will again have compassion on us; he will trample our guilt underfoot. You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob and faithful love to Abraham, as you swore to our ancestors in the days of old.
Read and listen to this chapter in the Shalem app, free: narration, chapter video and reading progress. Get the app