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The Total Corruption of the People

7Woe is me! For I have become like one who,
   after the summer fruit has been gathered,
   after the vintage has been gleaned,
finds no cluster to eat;
   there is no first-ripe fig for which I hunger.
² The faithful have disappeared from the land,
   and there is no one left who is upright;
they all lie in wait for blood,
   and they hunt each other with nets.
³ Their hands are skilled to do evil;
   the official and the judge ask for a bribe,
and the powerful dictate what they desire;
   thus they pervert justice.^*
4 The best of them is like a brier,
   the most upright of them a thorn hedge.
The day of their^* sentinels, of their^* punishment, has come;
   now their confusion is at hand.
⁵ Put no trust in a friend,
   have no confidence in a loved one;
guard the doors of your mouth
   from her who lies in your embrace;
⁶ for the son treats the father with contempt,
   the daughter rises up against her mother,
the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
   your enemies are members of your own household.
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.

Penitence and Trust in God

⁸ Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy;
   when I fall, I shall rise;
when I sit in darkness,
   the Lord will be a light to me.
⁹ I must bear the indignation of the Lord,
   because I have sinned against him,
until he takes my side
   and executes judgement for me.
He will bring me out to the light;
   I shall see his vindication.
¹⁰ Then my enemy will see,
   and shame will cover her who said to me,
   ‘Where is the Lord your God?’
My eyes will see her downfall;^*
   now she will be trodden down
   like the mire of the streets.

A Prophecy of Restoration

¹¹ A day for the building of your walls!
   In that day the boundary shall be far extended.
¹² In that day they will come to you
   from Assyria to^* Egypt,
and from Egypt to the River,
   from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.
¹³ But the earth will be desolate
   because of its inhabitants,
   for the fruit of their doings.

¹⁴ Shepherd your people with your staff,
   the flock that belongs to you,
which lives alone in a forest
   in the midst of a garden land;
let them feed in Bashan and Gilead
   as in the days of old.
¹⁵ As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
   show us^* marvellous things.
¹⁶ The nations shall see and be ashamed
   of all their might;
they shall lay their hands on their mouths;
   their ears shall be deaf;
¹⁷ they shall lick dust like a snake,
   like the crawling things of the earth;
they shall come trembling out of their fortresses;
   they shall turn in dread to the Lord our God,
   and they shall stand in fear of you.

God’s Compassion and Steadfast Love

¹⁸ Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
   and passing over the transgression
   of the remnant of your^* possession?
He does not retain his anger for ever,
   because he delights in showing clemency.
¹⁹ He will again have compassion upon us;
   he will tread our iniquities under foot.
You will cast all our^* sins
   into the depths of the sea.
²⁰ You will show faithfulness to Jacob
   and unswerving loyalty to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our ancestors
   from the days of old.