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New Testament
Micah 7
The Prophet's Lament
71I am miserable.
I have become like someone gathering summer fruit
when it is time to glean the vineyard.
There is no bunch of grapes to eat,
none of the early figs I crave.
There is no one upright among mankind.
They all lie in wait for blood.
Each one hunts his brother with a net.
3Both hands are skilled at evil.
The officials ask for bribes,
and the judges as well.
The important man says what he wants.
Together, they plot it out.
4The best of them is like a brier bush,
the most upright like a hedge of thorns.
The day for your watchman,
the day for your punishment, has come.
5Do not trust a neighbor.
Do not put confidence in a close friend.
Watch what comes out of your mouth,
even when you lie down with the wife you embrace.
6For a son will declare that his father is a fool.
A daughter will rise up against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
A man's enemies are the members of his own household.
7But as for me, I will keep watching for the Lord.
I will wait for God my Savior.
My God will hear me.
God's People Will Rise Again
8Do not rejoice over me, my enemy.
When I fall, I will rise.
When I sit in the darkness, the Lord will be a light for me.
9Because I have sinned against him, I will bear the Lord's wrath,
until he pleads my case and obtains a favorable verdict for me.
He will bring me to the light.
I will see his righteousness.
10Then my enemy will see this and will be covered with shame,
she who said to me, “Where is the Lord your God?”
My eyes will see her as she is being trampled like mud in the streets.
11It will be a day to rebuild city walls.
On that day your boundary will be extended.
12On that day people will come to you
from the lands of Assyria and the cities of Egypt,
from Egypt even to the River Euphrates,
from sea to sea and mountain to mountain.
13The land will be laid waste because of its inhabitants,
as a result of the fruit of their deeds.
14Shepherd your people with your staff,
the flock that is your inheritance,
which dwells by itself in a forest,
in the middle of fertile pastureland.
Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as in days of old.
The Lord's Response
15As I did in the days you came out from the land of Egypt,
I will show you wonderful miracles.
The People's Praise
16The nations will see and be ashamed of their lack of strength.
They will place their hand over their mouth.
Their ears will be deaf.
17They will lick up dust like a snake,
like the things that creep on the earth.
They will come from their hiding places, shaking with fear.
They will come trembling to the Lord our God,
and they will be afraid in your presence.
18Who is a God like you, who forgives guilt,
and who passes over the rebellion of the survivors from his inheritance?
He does not hold onto his anger forever.
He delights in showing mercy.
19He will have compassion on us again.
He will overcome our guilty deeds.
You will throw all their sins into the depths of the sea.
20You will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham,
as you swore to our fathers from days of old.