1Woe is me! For I have become as when the summer fruit has been gathered, as when the grapes have been gleaned: there is no cluster to eat, no first-ripe fig that my soul desires. (Isa 17:6; Isa 24:13; Ho 9:10)2The godly has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among mankind; they all lie in wait for blood, and each hunts the other with a net. (Ps 10:9; Ps 12:1; Ps 14:1; Ps 14:3; Isa 9:19; Isa 57:1; Ho 6:8)3Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well; the prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul; thus they weave it together. (Ps 82:1; Mic 3:11; Zep 3:7)4The best of them is like a brier, the most upright of them a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, of your punishment, has come; now their confusion is at hand. (2Sa 23:6; Isa 22:5; Eze 2:6; Eze 33:2; Mic 3:6; Na 1:10)5Put no trust in a neighbor; have no confidence in a friend; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms;[1] (Ps 141:3; Jer 9:4)6for the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house. (Eze 22:7; Mt 10:21; Mt 10:35; Mt 10:36; Lu 12:53)7But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. (La 3:26)8Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. (Ps 37:24; Ps 112:4; Jer 50:11; La 4:21; Mic 7:10)9I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication. (1Sa 24:15; Ps 37:6; Jer 10:19)10Then 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 down like the mire of the streets. (2Sa 22:43; Ps 18:42; Joe 2:17; Mic 4:11; Mic 7:8)11A day for the building of your walls! In that day the boundary shall be far extended. (Ps 102:13)12In that day they[2] will come to you, from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt to the River,[3] from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain. (Ge 31:21; Isa 11:11; Isa 11:16; Isa 19:23; Isa 27:13; Ho 11:11; Zec 9:10; Zec 10:10)13But the earth will be desolate because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their deeds. (Mic 6:13)14Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, who dwell alone in a forest in the midst of a garden land;[4] let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old. (Jos 19:26; Ps 23:4; Ps 28:9; Jer 50:19; Mic 5:4; Zec 10:10)15As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them[5] marvelous things. (Ps 78:12; Isa 11:16)16The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might; they shall lay their hands on their mouths; their ears shall be deaf; (Jud 18:19; Isa 26:11; Isa 52:15)17they shall lick the dust like a serpent, like the crawling things of the earth; they shall come trembling out of their strongholds; they shall turn in dread to the Lord our God, and they shall be in fear of you. (Ps 18:45; Ps 72:9; Isa 49:23; Mic 4:1)
God’s Steadfast Love and Compassion
18Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. (Ex 15:11; Ex 34:7; Ps 103:9; Jer 50:20)19He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our[6] sins into the depths of the sea. (Ps 80:14; Isa 38:17; Ro 6:14)20You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old. (Ps 105:9; Lu 1:72)