The prophet’s lament over the wickedness of the people
7
📚Woe is me 📖! For I am likethose who gather summer fruits,
like those gleaning the vineyard.
There is no cluster to eat
of the first ripe fruit my soul craves 📖.
2 📚The good man has perished
from the earth,
and there is no one upright
among men 📖.
They all lie in wait for blood,
each one of them hunts his brother
with a net.
3 📚They do evil with both hands eagerly.
The ruler and the judge demand
a bribe 📖,
and the man in a high position
speaks out his evil desire.
So they weave their plots.
4 📚The best of them is like a briar,
the most upright worse than a
thorn 📖 hedge.
The day of your watchmen 📖 and
your punishment is coming.
Now will be the time of
their confusion.
5 📚Do not trust in a friend;
do not put confidence in a guide.
Guard the doors of your mouth
from her who lies in your bosom.
7:5 This reveals how much lying and deceitfulness (Micah 6:12) had corrupted the people as a whole.⚜
6 📚For the son dishonours the father;
the daughter rises up against her mother,
the daughter-in-law against her
mother-in-law;
a man’s enemies are the individuals
of his own house.
Hope in God
7 📚Therefore I will look to the LORD.
I will wait for the God of my salvation.
My God will hear me.
7:1-7 Micah speaks. He begins by expressing his sorrow and ends with hope.⚜
8 📚Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy 📖.
When I fall 📖, I will arise 📖;
when I sit in darkness,
the LORD will be a light 📖 to me.
9 📚I will bear the indignation
of the LORD, because I have sinned
against him,
until he pleads my case and
executes judgment for me.
He will bring me out to the light,
and I will see
his righteousness.
Future well-being of Jerusalem
10 📚Then my enemy will see it,
and shame will cover her,
the one who said to me,
“Where is the LORD your God?”
My eyes will see her.
Now she will be trampled down
like the mire of the streets.
7:8-10 It seems that in these verses the city of Jerusalem (representing the people of Israel) speaks. The time is in the future.⚜
11 📚At the time when your walls are
to be built,
on that day the decree
will go out to distant places.
12 📚And on that day he will come
to you from Assyria,
and from the fortified cities,
and from the fortress
to the River, and from sea to sea,
and from mountain
to mountain.
13 📚However, the land will be desolate
because of those who live in it,
7:11-13 It seems Micah speaks again to Jerusalem (and, of course, God is speaking through Micah).⚜
God will forgive the sins of His people, forget those sins forever, and deal with His people lovingly
as the fruit of their deeds.
14 📚Shepherd 📖 your people
with your rod,
the flock of your inheritance 📖,
which lives alone in the forest,
in the midst of Carmel.
Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead 📖,
as in the days of old.
7:14 Either Israel or Micah speaks, representing the future godly remnant of Israel. This prayer God will answer.⚜
15 📚“As in the days of your coming out
of the land of Egypt I will show him
marvellous things 📖”.
7:15 God speaks again.⚜
16 📚The nations will see and be ashamed
of all their might.
They will lay their hand
on their mouth.
Their ears will be deaf.
17 📚They will lick the dust like a serpent.
They will move out of their holes
like things that crawl on the earth.
They will be afraid of the LORD
our God, and will fear because of you.
18 📚Who is a God like you 📖,
who pardons wickedness,
and passes over 📖 the transgression
of the remnant 📖 of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger
forever 📖, because he delights
in mercy 📖.
19 📚Once more he will have compassion 📖
on us. He will subdue our wicked deeds.
And you will cast all their sins
into the depths of the sea 📖.
20 📚You will grant 📖 the truth to Jacob,
and mercy to Abraham,
which you have sworn to our fathers
from the days of old.
7:16-20 Micah speaks again and gives a fitting conclusion to his prophecy.⚜