Micah Chapter 7

Israel’s Misery Turned to Hope

¹ Misfortune is waiting for me!

      I feel like people that pick fruit and gather grapes

                  but have no clusters to eat

                  or first-ripe figs to satisfy their hunger.

² Godly people have disappeared;

                  there aren’t any good ones left.

      They all premeditate murder;

                  each hunts the other with a net.

³ Both hands do evil well,

      officials and judges both demand bribes,

                  influential people vie for preferential treatment;

      together they weave injustice.

Mic 7:1-3

⁴ The best of them are like briars;

      the most godly are like a thorn hedge.

They can post a watchman,

      but their punishment will still come;

      their confusion is at hand.

⁵ Don’t trust your neighbor,

      don’t confide in a friend,

      be careful what you tell your wife.

⁶ Son treats father with contempt;

      daughter defies mother,

      daughter-in-law defies mother-in-law;

      people have enemies in their own families.

Mic 7:4-6

⁷ But I will look to the LORD;

      I’ll wait for God, who keeps me safe.

      He’ll listen to me.

⁸ Don’t gloat over me, adversary.

      Though I fall, I’ll get up;

      though I live in the dark, the LORD’s my light.         

Mic 7:7-8

⁹ I’ll bear the LORD’s indignation

      because admittedly I’ve sinned against him;

      then he’ll give me justice against my enemy.

He’ll bring me out to the light,

      and I’ll be able to see his goodness.

¹⁰ As a result, my enemy will see it too

      and be put to shame who said,

                  “Where’s the LORD your God?”

      I’ll watch while he’s tramped on

                  like dirt on a road.

¹¹ It’ll be a time, Israel, for rebuilding your walls

                  and extending your boundaries,

         ¹²a day when people come to you

      from Assyria and the cities of Egypt—

                  from Egypt to the Euphrates,

                  from sea to sea and mountain to mountain.

¹³ But first the land will become desolate

      because of what its people have done.

Mic 7:9-13

¹⁴ Shepherd your people with your staff,

      your flock that lives alone in a woods

                  surrounded by productive fields.

      Let them pasture in Bashan and Gilead

                  like they did in the old days.

¹⁵ “I’ll show you amazing miracles

      like I did when you came out of Egypt.”

¹⁶ Nations will see them

      and be embarrassed at their own weakness.

They’ll put their hand over their mouth in awe,

      and their ears will pop.

¹⁷ They’ll lick dust like a snake,

      like a reptile in the dirt.

They’ll come cringing out of their fortresses

      and turn to the LORD our God.                                   

Mic 7:14-17

The LORD’s Compassion for Israel

¹⁸ What God is like you, that pardons sin

      and passes over the rebellious acts

      the remnant of his permanent possession has done?

¹⁹ You’ll show us mercy again,

      tread our iniquities underfoot,

      throw our sins in the sea.

²⁰ You’ll show covenant faithfulness to Jacob,

      enduring love to Abraham

      like you swore to our ancestors so long ago.             

Mic 7:18-20

Version by Virgil Warren: christir.org