Michaeas 7

1 Alas for me! for I am become as one gathering straw in harvest, and as [one gathering] grape-gleanings in the vintage, when there is no cluster for me to eat the first-ripe fruit: alas my soul!

Sorrow is mine! for I am as when they have got in the summer fruits, like the last of the grapes: there is nothing for food, not even an early fig for my desire.

2 For the godly is perished from the earth; and there is none among men that orders [his way] aright: they all quarrel even to blood: they grievously afflict every one his neighbour:

The good man is gone from the earth, there is no one upright among men: they are all waiting secretly for blood, every man is going after his brother with a net.

3 they prepare their hands for mischief, the prince asks [a reward], and the judge speaks flattering words; it is the desire of their soul:

Their hands are made ready to do evil; the ruler makes requests for money, and the judge is looking for a reward; and the great man gives decisions at his pleasure, and the right is twisted.

4 therefore I will take away their goods as a devouring moth, and as one who acts by a [rigid] rule in a day of visitation. Woe, woe, thy times of vengeance are come; now shall be their lamentations.

The best of them is like a waste plant, and their upright ones are like a wall of thorns. Sorrow! the day of their fate has come; now will trouble come on them.

5 Trust not in friends, and confide not in guides: beware of thy wife, so as not to commit anything to her.

Put no faith in a friend, do not let your hope be placed in a relation: keep watch on the doors of your mouth against her who is resting on your breast.

6 For the son dishonours his father, the daughter will rise up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law: those in his house [shall be] all a man's enemies.

For the son puts shame on his father, the daughter goes against her mother and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's haters are those of his family.

7 But I will look to the Lord; I will wait upon God my Saviour: my God will hearken to me.

But as for me, I am looking to the Lord; I am waiting for the God of my salvation: the ears of my God will be open to me.

8 Rejoice not against me, mine enemy; for I have fallen [yet] shall arise; for though I should sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light to me.

Do not be glad because of my sorrow, O my hater: after my fall I will be lifted up; when I am seated in the dark, the Lord will be a light to me.

9 I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he make good my cause: he also shall maintain my right, and shall bring me out to the light, [and] I shall behold his righteousness.

I will undergo the wrath of the Lord, because of my sin against him; till he takes up my cause and does what is right for me: when he makes me come out into the light, I will see his righteousness;

10 And she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shall clothe herself with shame, who says, Where [is] the Lord thy God? mine eyes shall look upon her: now shall she be for trampling as mire in the ways.

And my hater will see it and be covered with shame; she who said to me, Where is the Lord your God? my eyes will see their desire effected on her, now she will be crushed under foot like the dust of the streets.

11 [It is] the day of making of brick; that day shall be thine utter destruction, and that day shall utterly abolish thine ordinances.

A day for building your walls! in that day will your limits be stretched far and wide.

12 And thy cities shall be levelled, and parted among the Assyrians; and thy strong cities shall be parted from Tyre to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.

In that day they will come to you from Assyria and the towns of Egypt, and from Egypt even to the River, and from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.

13 And the land shall be utterly desolate together with them that inhabit it, because of the fruit of their doings.

But the land will become a waste because of its people, as the fruit of their works.

14 Tend thy people with thy rod, the sheep of thine inheritance, those that inhabit by themselves the thicket in the midst of Carmel: they shall feed in the land of Basan, and in the land of Galaad, as in the days of old.

Keep your people safe with your rod, the flock of your heritage, living by themselves in the woods in the middle of Carmel: let them get their food in Bashan and Gilead as in the past.

15 And according to the days of thy departure out of Egypt shall ye see marvellous [things].

As in the days when you came out from the land of Egypt, let us see things of wonder.

16 The nations shall see and be ashamed; and at all their might they shall lay their hands upon their mouth, their ears shall be deafened.

The nations will see and be shamed because of all their strength; they will put their hands on their mouths, their ears will be stopped.

17 They shall lick the dust as serpents crawling on the earth, they shall be confounded in their holes; they shall be amazed at the Lord our God, and will be afraid of thee.

They will take dust as their food like a snake, like the things which go flat on the earth; they will come shaking with fear out of their secret places: they will come with fear to the Lord our God, full of fear because of you.

18 Who is a God like thee, cancelling iniquities, and passing over the sins of the remnant of his inheritance? and he has not kept his anger for a testimony, for he delights in mercy.

Who is a God like you, offering forgiveness for evil-doing and overlooking the sins of the rest of his heritage? he does not keep his wrath for ever, because his delight is in mercy.

19 He will return and have mercy upon us; he will sink our iniquities, and they shall be cast into the depth of the sea, [even] all our sins.

He will again have pity on us; he will put our sins under his feet: and you will send all our sins down into the heart of the sea.

20 He shall give blessings truly to Jacob, and mercy to Abraam, as thou swarest to our fathers, according to the former days.

You will make clear your good faith to Jacob and your mercy to Abraham, as you gave your oath to our fathers from times long past.