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I am like one after the summer fruit has been harvested,
who can find no clusters of grapes to eat,
nor any of the early figs that I crave.
2 The godly have perished from the land;
there is not one upright man remaining.
All the men lie in wait to shed blood;
each man hunts his brother with a net.
3 Both their hands are skilled at doing evil;
the ruler ask for gifts,
the judge demands a bribe,
the powerful man dictates his evil desire—
they all conspire together.
4 The best of them is like a brier,
the most upright worse than a hedge of thorns.
The day of your watchmen,
the day of your punishment has come.
Now comes your time of confusion.
5 Do not rely on a friend;
have no confidence in a close companion.
Guard the doors of your mouth
even from the woman you embrace.
6 For the son dishonours his father,
the daughter rises up against her mother,
the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
a man’s enemies are members of his 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.
8 Do not gloat over me, O my enemy!
Though I have fallen, I will rise.
Though I sit in darkness,
the Lord will be my light.
9 Because I have sinned against Him,
I must endure the Lord’s indignation,
until He pleads my case
and establishes justice for me.
He will bring me out into the light;
I will see His righteousness.
10 Then my enemy will see it,
and she will be covered with shame,
for she said to me,
“Where is the Lord your God?”
My eyes will see her downfall;
now she will be trampled down
like mud in the streets.
11 The day will come for rebuilding your walls,
the day for extending your boundaries.
12 In that day people will come to you
from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,
even from Egypt to the Euphrates,
and from sea to sea
and from mountain to mountain.
13 But the earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants,
and the fruit of their misdeeds.
14 Shepherd Your people with Your staff,
the flock of Your heritage.
They live alone in a forest
in the midst of Carmel.
Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead
as in days long ago.
15 “As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
I will show them My wonders.”
16 Nations will see and be confounded,
stripped of all their power.
They will lay their hands over their mouths;
their ears will become deaf.
17 They will lick dust like a snake;
they will crawl trembling from their holes like worms;
they will turn in dread to the Lord our God,
and they will stand in awe and fear of you.
18 Who is a God like you,
who pardons sin and passes over the transgressions
of the remnant of His possession?
He does not hold on to His anger forever,
because He delights in showing mercy.
19 He will again have compassion on us;
He will vanquish our iniquities.
You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
20 You will be faithful to Jacob,
and show steadfast love to Abraham,
as You swore on oath to our fathers
in days long ago.