Micah 7

New International Reader's Version

Israel’s Sin Brings Suffering

7 I’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 favors.
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 neighbors.
    Don’t put your faith in your friends.
Be careful what you say
    even to your own wife.
⁶Sons don’t honor 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 Savior.
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 stomped 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 Euphrates River.
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 forever.
    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.