Micah

¹ Woe is me!

For I am like one gathering summer fruit

at the gleaning of the vineyard;

there is no cluster to eat,

no early fig that I crave.

² The godly man has perished from the earth;

there is no one upright among men.

They all lie in wait for blood;

they hunt one another with a net.

³ Both hands are skilled at evil;

the prince and the judge demand a bribe.

When the powerful utters his evil desire,

they all conspire together.

⁴ The best of them is like a brier;

the most upright is sharper than a hedge of thorns.

The day for your watchmen has come,

the day of your visitation. ^[a]

Now is the time of their confusion.

⁵ Do not rely on a friend;

do not trust in a companion.

Seal the doors of your mouth

from her who lies in your arms. ^[b]

⁶ For a son dishonors his father,

a daughter rises against her mother,

and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

A man’s enemies are the members

of his own household. ^[c]

⁷ But as for me, I will look to the LORD;

I will wait for the God of my salvation.

My God will hear me.

⁸ Do not gloat over me, my enemy!

Though I have fallen, I will arise;

though I sit in darkness,

the LORD will be my light.

⁹ Because I have sinned against Him,

I must endure the rage of the LORD,

until He argues my case

and executes justice for me.

He will bring me into the light;

I will see His righteousness.

¹⁰ Then my enemy will see

and will be covered with shame—

she who said to me,

“Where is the LORD your God?”

My eyes will see her;

at that time she will be trampled

like mud in the streets.

¹¹ The day for rebuilding your walls will come—

the day for extending your boundary.

¹² On that day they will come to you

from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,

even from Egypt to the Euphrates, ^[d]

from sea to sea and mountain to mountain.

¹³ Then the earth will become desolate

because of its inhabitants,

as the fruit of their deeds.

¹⁴ Shepherd with Your staff Your people,

the flock of Your inheritance.

They live alone in a woodland,

surrounded by pastures. ^[e]

Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead,

as in the days of old.

¹⁵ As in the days when you came out of Egypt,

I will show My wonders.

¹⁶ Nations will see and be ashamed,

deprived of all their might.

They will put their hands over their mouths,

and their ears will become deaf.

¹⁷ They will lick the dust like a snake,

like reptiles slithering on the ground.

They will crawl from their holes

in the presence of the LORD our God;

they will tremble in fear of You.

¹⁸ Who is a God like You,

who pardons iniquity

and passes over the transgression

of the remnant of His inheritance—

who does not retain His anger forever,

because He delights in loving devotion? ^[f]

¹⁹ He will again have compassion on us;

He will vanquish our iniquities.

You will cast out all our sins

into the depths of the sea.

²⁰ You will show faithfulness to Jacob

and loving devotion to Abraham,

as You swore to our fathers

from the days of old.