Israel’s misery

7 What misery is mine!
I am like one who gathers summer fruit
    at the gleaning of the vineyard;
there is no cluster of grapes to eat,
    none of the early figs that I crave.
² The faithful have been swept from the land;
    not one upright person remains.
Everyone lies in wait to shed blood;
    they hunt each other with nets.
³ Both hands are skilled in doing evil;
    the ruler demands gifts,
the judge accepts bribes,
    the powerful dictate what they desire –
    they all conspire together.
⁴ The best of them is like a brier,
    the most upright worse than a thorn hedge.
The day God visits you has come,
    the day your watchmen sound the alarm.
    Now is the time of your confusion.
⁵ Do not trust a neighbour;
    put no confidence in a friend.
Even with the woman who lies in your embrace
    guard the words of your lips.
⁶ For a son dishonours his father,
    a daughter rises up against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law –
    a man’s enemies are the members of his own household.

⁷ But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord,
    I wait for God my Saviour;
    my God will hear me.

Israel will rise

⁸ Do not gloat over me, 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 will bear the Lord’s wrath,
until he pleads my case
    and upholds my cause.
He will bring me out into the light;
    I will see his righteousness.
¹⁰ Then my enemy will see it
    and will be covered with shame,
she who said to me,
    ‘Where is the Lord your God?’
My eyes will see her downfall;
    even now she will be trampled underfoot
    like mire in the streets.

¹¹ The day for building your walls will come,
    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 The earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants,
    as the result of their deeds.

Prayer and praise

¹⁴ Shepherd your people with your staff,
    the flock of your inheritance,
which lives by itself in a forest,
    in fertile pasture-lands.
Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead
    as in days long ago.

¹⁵ ‘As in the days when you came out of Egypt,
    I will show them my wonders.’

¹⁶ Nations will see and be ashamed,
    deprived of all their power.
They will put their hands over their mouths
    and their ears will become deaf.
¹⁷ They will lick dust like a snake,
    like creatures that crawl on the ground.
They will come trembling out of their dens;
    they will turn in fear to the Lord our God
    and will be afraid of you.
¹⁸ Who is a God like you,
    who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
    of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry for ever
    but delight to show mercy.
¹⁹ You will again have compassion on us;
    you will tread our sins underfoot
    and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.
²⁰ You will be faithful to Jacob,
    and show love to Abraham,
as you pledged on oath to our ancestors
    in days long ago.