Israel’s Great Misery
1 Misery is mine!
Indeed, I am like one who gathers the summer fruits,
as gleanings of the vineyard.
There is no cluster of grapes to eat
nor the early fig which I crave.
2 The godly man has perished from the earth,
and there is no one upright among men.
They all lie in wait for blood.
Every man hunts his brother with a net.
3 Their hands are diligently doing that which is evil.
The ruler and the judge ask for a bribe,
and the powerful man dictates his evil desire,
and they all conspire together.
4 The best of them is like a brier.
The most upright is worse than a thorn hedge.
The day of your watchmen,
the day of your punishment has come.
Now is the time of confusion.
5 Do not put your trust in a neighbor.
Do not have confidence in a friend.
Be careful of the words you speak
with the woman lying in your embrace!
6 For the son dishonors the father;
the daughter rises up against her mother,
the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
A man’s enemies are the men in his own house.
Israel Looks to the Lord
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 rejoice over me, my enemy.
Though I fall, I will rise.
Though I sit in darkness,
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 pleads my case
and executes judgment for me.
He will bring me to the light,
and I will see his righteousness.
10 Then my enemy will see it,
and shame will cover the one who said to me,
“Where is the Lord your God?”
Then my enemy will see me and will cover her shame.
Now she will be trodden down like the mire of the streets.
11 A day will come to rebuild your walls—
In that day, he will extend your territory.
12 In that day they will come to you
from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,
and from Egypt to the River,
and from sea to sea,
and mountain to mountain.
13 Yet the land will be desolate
because of those who dwell in it,
for the fruit of their deeds.
God’s Compassion on Israel
14 Shepherd your people with your staff,
the flock of your heritage,
who dwell by themselves in a forest.
In the midst of fertile pasture land, let them feed.
In Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
15 As in the days of your coming out of the land of Egypt,
I will show them marvelous things.
16 The nations will see and be ashamed of all their might.
They will lay their hand on their mouth.
Their ears will be deaf.
17 They will lick the dust like a serpent.
Like crawling things of the earth,
they shall come trembling out of their dens.
They will come with fear to the Lord our God,
and will be afraid because of you.
18 Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity
and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage?
He does not stay angry forever
because he delights in loving kindness.
19 He will again have compassion on us.
He will crush our iniquities under foot,
and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
20 You will give truth to Jacob
and mercy to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.