1I’m suffering very much! I’m like someone who gathers summer fruit in a vineyard after the good fruit has already been picked. No grapes are left to eat. None of the early figs I long for remain.2Faithful people have disappeared from the land. Those who are honest are gone. Everyone hides and waits to spill the blood of others. They use nets to try and trap one another.3They are very good at doing what is evil. Rulers require gifts. Judges accept money from people who want special favours. Those who are powerful always get what they want. All of them make evil plans together.4The best of these people are as harmful as thorns. The most honest of them are even worse. God has come to punish you. The time your prophets warned you about has come. Panic has taken hold of you.5Don’t trust your neighbours. Don’t put your faith in your friends. Be careful what you say even to your own wife.6Sons don’t honour their fathers. Daughters refuse to obey their mothers. Daughters-in-law are against their mothers-in-law. A man’s enemies are the members of his own family.7But I will look to the LORD. I’ll put my trust in God my Saviour. He will hear me.
Jerusalem will be rebuilt
8The people of Jerusalem say, ‘Don’t laugh when we suffer, you enemies of ours! We have fallen. But we’ll get up. Even though we sit in the dark, the LORD will give us light.9We’ve sinned against the LORD. So he is angry with us. His anger will continue until he takes up our case. Then he’ll do what is right for us. He’ll bring us out into the light. Then we’ll see him save us.10Our enemies will see it too. And they will be put to shame. After all, they said to us, “Where is the LORD your God?” But we will see them destroyed. Soon they will be trampled on like mud in the streets.’11People of Jerusalem, the time will come when your walls will be rebuilt. Land will be added to your territory.12At that time your people will come back to you. They’ll return from Assyria and the cities of Egypt. They’ll come from the countries between Egypt and the River Euphrates. They’ll return from the lands between the seas. They’ll come back from the countries between the mountains.13But the rest of the earth will be deserted. The people who live in it have done many evil things.
Prayer and praise
14LORD, be like a shepherd to your people. Take good care of them. They are your flock. They live by themselves in the safety of a forest. Rich grasslands are all around them. Let them eat grass in Bashan and Gilead just as they did long ago.15The LORD says to his people, ‘I showed you my wonders when you came out of Egypt long ago. In the same way, I will show them to you again.’16When the nations see those wonders, they will be put to shame. All their power will be taken away from them. They will be so amazed that they won’t be able to speak or hear.17They’ll be forced to eat dust like a snake. They’ll be like creatures that have to crawl on the ground. They’ll come out of their dens trembling with fear. They’ll show respect for the LORD our God. They will also have respect for his people.18LORD, who is a God like you? You forgive sin. You forgive your people when they do what is wrong. You don’t stay angry for ever. Instead, you take delight in showing your faithful love to them.19Once again you will show loving concern for us. You will completely wipe out the evil things we’ve done. You will throw all our sins into the bottom of the sea.20You will be faithful to Jacob’s people. You will show your love to Abraham’s children. You will do what you promised to do for our people. You made that promise long ago.
Micah 7
English Standard Version
Wait for the God of Salvation
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)