Micah 7:1-15

Micah Laments Judah’s Sin

7:1 I am depressed!

Indeed, it is as if the summer fruit has been gathered,

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 from the land;

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 her mother,

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.

Jerusalem Will Be Vindicated

7:8 My enemies, do not gloat over me!

Though I have fallen, I will get up.

Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.

7:9 I must endure the Lord’s anger,

for I have sinned against him.

But then he will defend my cause,

and accomplish justice on my behalf.

He will lead me out into the light;

I will experience firsthand his deliverance.

7:10 When my enemies see this, they will be covered with shame.

They say to me, “Where is the Lord your God?”

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.

A Closing Prayer

7:12 In that day people will come to you

from Assyria as far as Egypt,

from Egypt as far as the Euphrates River,

from the seacoasts and the mountains.

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.

7:15 “As in the days when you departed from the land of Egypt,

I will show you miraculous deeds.”