7:1 I am depressed!
Indeed,
and the grapes have been harvested.
There is no grape cluster to eat,
no fresh figs that I crave so much.
7:2 Faithful men have disappeared
there are no godly men left.
They all wait in ambush so they can shed blood;
they hunt their own brother with a net.
7:3 They are determined to be experts at doing evil;
government officials and judges take bribes,
prominent men make demands,
and they all do what is necessary to satisfy them.
7:4 The best of them is like a thorn;
the most godly among them are more dangerous than a row of thorn bushes.
The day you try to avoid by posting watchmen –
your appointed time of punishment – is on the way,
and then you will experience confusion.
7:5 Do not rely on a friend;
do not trust a companion!
Don’t even share secrets with the one who lies in your arms!
7:6 For a son thinks his father is a fool,
a daughter challenges
and a daughter-in-law her mother-in-law;
a man’s enemies are his own servants.
7:7 But I will keep watching for the Lord;
I will wait for the God who delivers me.
My God will hear my lament.
7:8 My enemies,
Though I have fallen, I will get up.
Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.
7:9 I must endure
for I have sinned against him.
But then
and accomplish justice on my behalf.
He will lead me out into the light;
I will experience firsthand
7:10 When my enemies see this, they will be covered with shame.
They say
I will gloat over them.
Then they will be trampled down
like mud in the streets.
7:11 It will be a day for rebuilding your walls;
in that day your boundary will be extended.
7:12 In that day people
from Assyria as far as
from Egypt as far as the Euphrates River,
from the seacoasts
7:13 The earth will become desolate
because of what its inhabitants have done.
7:14 Shepherd your people with your shepherd’s rod,
the flock that belongs to you,
the one that lives alone in a thicket,
in the midst of a pastureland.
Allow them to graze in Bashan and Gilead,
as they did in the old days.