מיכה ז

Woe is me!, v. 10), probably Samaria personified; cf. note at 6.16.
I am become like leavings of a fig harvest,
Like gleanings when the vintage is over,
There is not a cluster to eat,
Not a ripe fig I could desire.

The pious are vanished from the land,
None upright are left among its people;
All lie in wait to commit crimes,
One traps the other in a net.

They are eager to do evil:
The magistrate makes demands,
And the judge [judges] for a fee;
The rich one makes a crooked plea,
And they grant it.

The best of them is like a prickly shrub;
The [most] upright, worse than a barrier of thorns.
On the day you waited for, your doom has come—
Now their confusion shall come to pass.

Trust no friend,
Rely on no intimate;
Be guarded in speech
With her who lies in your bosom.

For son spurns father,
Daughter rises up against mother,
Daughter-in-law against mother-in-law—
A man’s own household
Are his enemies.

Yet I will look to GOD,
I will wait for the God who saves me,
My God will hear me.

Do not rejoice over me,
O my enemy!
Though I have fallen, I rise again;
Though I sit in darkness, GOD is my light.

I must bear GOD’s anger—
Against whom I have sinned,
Until my cause is championed
And my claim upheld.
I will be brought out into the light;
I will enjoy divine vindication.

When my enemy sees it,
She shall be covered with shame,
She who taunts me with “Where is this God of yours,
the ETERNAL One ?”
My eyes shall behold her [downfall];
Lo, she shall be for trampling
Like mud in the streets.

A day for mending your walls—
That is a far-off day.

This is rather a day when to you
[Tramplers] will come streaming
From Assyria and the towns of Egypt—
From [every land from] Egypt to the Euphrates,
From sea to sea and from mountain to mountain—

And your land shall become a desolation—
Because of those who dwell in it—
As the fruit of their misdeeds.

Oh, shepherd Your people with Your staff,
Your very own flock.
May they who dwell isolated
In a woodland surrounded by farmland
Graze Bashan and Gilead
As in olden days.

I will show him wondrous deeds
As in the days when You sallied forth from the land of Egypt.

Let nations behold and be ashamed
Despite all their might;
Let them put hand to mouth;
Let their ears be deafened!

Let them lick dust like snakes,
Like crawling things on the ground!
Let them come trembling out of their strongholds
To the ETERNAL our God;
Let them fear and dread You!

Who is a God like You,
Forgiving iniquity
And remitting transgression—
Not staying angry forever
Toward the remnant of Your own people,
Because You love graciousness!

[God] will take us back in love,
Quashing. our iniquities.
You will hurl all our sins
Into the depths of the sea.

You will keep faith with Jacob,
Loyalty to Abraham,
As You promised on oath to our fathers
In days gone by.