Micah 7

English Standard Version

Wait for the God of Salvation

7 Woe is me! For I have become
    ^(A)as when the summer fruit has been gathered,
    as when the grapes have been gleaned:
there is no cluster to eat,
    no ^(B)first-ripe fig that my soul desires.
²^(C)The godly has perished from the earth,
    and ^(D)there is no one upright among mankind;
^(E)they all lie in wait for blood,
    and ^(F)each hunts the other with a net.
³^(G)Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well;
    ^(H)the prince and ^(I)the judge ask for a bribe,
and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul;
    thus they weave it together.
⁴The best of them is ^(J)like a brier,
    the most upright of them a thorn hedge.
The day of ^(K)your watchmen, of your punishment, has come;
    ^(L)now their confusion is at hand.
⁵^(M)Put no trust in a neighbor;
    have no confidence in a friend;
guard ^(N)the doors of your mouth
    from her who lies in your arms;^[a]
⁶for ^(O)the son treats the father with contempt,
    the daughter rises up against her mother,
the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
    ^(P)a man's enemies are the men of his own house.
⁷But as for me, I will look to the Lord;
    ^(Q)I will wait for the God of my salvation;
    my God will hear me.

⁸^(R)Rejoice not over me, O ^(S)my enemy;
    ^(T)when I fall, I shall rise;
^(U)when I sit in darkness,
    the Lord will be a light to me.
⁹^(V)I will bear the indignation of the Lord
    because I have sinned against him,
until ^(W)he pleads my cause
    and executes judgment for me.
^(X)He will bring me out to the light;
    I shall look upon his vindication.
¹⁰Then ^(Y)my enemy will see,
    and shame will cover her who ^(Z)said to me,
    “Where is the Lord your God?”
^(AA)My eyes will look upon her;
    now she will be trampled down
    ^(AB)like the mire of the streets.

¹¹^(AC)A day for the building of your walls!
    In that day the boundary shall be far extended.
¹²In that day they^[b] will come to you,
    ^(AD)from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,
and from Egypt to ^(AE)the River,^[c]
    ^(AF)from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.
¹³But ^(AG)the earth will be desolate
    because of its inhabitants,
    for the fruit of their deeds.

¹⁴^(AH)Shepherd your people ^(AI)with your staff,
    the flock of your inheritance,
who dwell alone in a forest
    ^(AJ)in the midst of ^(AK)a garden land;^[d]
let them graze in Bashan and Gilead
    as in the days of old.
¹⁵^(AL)As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
    I will show them^[e] marvelous things.
¹⁶^(AM)The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might;
^(AN)they shall lay their hands on their mouths;
    their ears shall be deaf;
¹⁷^(AO)they shall lick the dust like a serpent,
    like the crawling things of the earth;
^(AP)they shall come trembling out of their strongholds;
    ^(AQ)they shall turn in dread to the Lord our God,
    and they shall be in fear of you.

God's Steadfast Love and Compassion

¹⁸^(AR)Who is a God like you, ^(AS)pardoning iniquity
    and passing over transgression
    ^(AT)for the remnant of his inheritance?
^(AU)He does not retain his anger forever,
    because he delights in steadfast love.
¹⁹He will ^(AV)again have compassion on us;
    ^(AW)he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
^(AX)You will cast all our^[f] sins
    into the depths of the sea.
²⁰^(AY)You will show faithfulness to Jacob
    and steadfast love to Abraham,
^(AZ)as you have sworn to our fathers
    from the days of old.