Israel’s Great Misery

1Woe is me!
For I am like one gathering summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard; there is no cluster to eat, no early fig that I crave.

2The godly man has perished from the earth; there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; they hunt one another with a net.

3Both hands are skilled at evil; the prince and the judge demand a bribe. When the powerful utters his evil desire, they all conspire together.

4The best of them is like a brier; the most upright is sharper than a hedge of thorns. The day for your watchmen has come, the day of your visitation. ²¹
Now is the time of their confusion.

5Do not rely on a friend; do not trust in a companion. Seal the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms. ²²

6For a son dishonors his father, a daughter rises against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies are the members of his own household. ²³

Israel’s Confession and Comfort

7But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation.
My God will hear me.

8Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will arise; though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.

9Because I have sinned against Him, I must endure the rage of the LORD, until He argues my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me into the light; I will see His righteousness.

10Then my enemy will see and will be covered with shame— she who said to me, “Where is the LORD your God?” My eyes will see her; at that time she will be trampled
like mud in the streets.

11The day for rebuilding your walls will come— the day for extending your boundary.

12On that day they will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, even from Egypt to the Euphrates, ²⁴from sea to sea and mountain to mountain.

13Then the earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants,
as the fruit of their deeds.

God’s Compassion on Israel

14Shepherd with Your staff Your people, the flock of Your inheritance. They live alone in a woodland, surrounded by pastures. ²⁵Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.

15As in the days when you came out of Egypt, I will show My wonders.

16Nations will see and be ashamed, deprived of all their might. They will put their hands over their mouths, and their ears will become deaf.

17They will lick the dust like a snake, like reptiles slithering on the ground. They will come trembling from their strongholds in the presence of the LORD our God;
they will tremble in fear of You.

18Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance— who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion? ²⁶

19He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast out all our sins into the depths of the sea.

20You will show faithfulness to Jacob and loving devotion to Abraham, as You swore to our fathers from the days of old.