Micah 7 - Contemporary English Version 1995

Israel Is Corrupt

¹ I feel so empty inside— like someone starving for grapes or figs, after the vines and trees have all been picked clean.

² No one is loyal to God; no one does right. Everyone is brutal and eager to deceive everyone else.

³ People cooperate to commit crime. Judges and leaders demand bribes, and rulers cheat in court.

⁴ The most honest of them is worse than a thorn patch. Your doom has come! Lookouts sound the warning, and everyone panics.

⁵ Don't trust anyone, not even your best friend, and be careful what you say to the one you love.

⁶ Sons refuse to respect their own fathers, daughters rebel against their own mothers, and daughters-in-law despise their mothers-in-law. Your family is now your enemy.

The Nation Turns to God

⁷ But I trust the Lord God to save me, and I will wait for him to answer my prayer.

⁸ My enemies, don't be glad because of my troubles! I may have fallen, but I will get up; I may be sitting in the dark, but the Lord is my light.

⁹ I have sinned against the Lord. And so I must endure his anger, until he comes to my defense. But I know that I will see him making things right for me and leading me to the light.

A Bright Future

¹⁰ You, my enemies, said, “The Lord God is helpless.” Now each of you will be disgraced and put to shame. I will see you trampled like mud in the street.

¹¹ Towns of Judah, the day is coming when your walls will be rebuilt, and your boundaries enlarged.

¹² People will flock to you from Assyria and Egypt, from Babylonia and everywhere else.

Micah's Prayer and the 's Answer

¹³ Those nations will suffer disaster because of what they did.

¹⁴ Lead your people, Lord! Come and be our shepherd. Grasslands surround us, but we live in a forest. So lead us to Bashan and Gilead, and let us find pasture as we did long ago.

¹⁵ I, the Lord, will work miracles just as I did when I led you out of Egypt.

¹⁶ Nations will see this and be ashamed because of their helpless armies. They will be in shock, unable to speak or hear,

No One Is Like God

The people said:

¹⁷ because of their fear of me, your Lord and God. Then they will come trembling, crawling out of their fortresses like insects or snakes, lapping up the dust.

¹⁸ Our God, no one is like you. We are all that is left of your chosen people, and you freely forgive our sin and guilt. You don't stay angry forever; you're glad to have pity

¹⁹ and pleased to be merciful. You will trample on our sins and throw them in the sea.

²⁰ You will keep your word and be faithful to Jacob and to Abraham, as you promised our ancestors many years ago.