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Micah Laments Judah’s Sin

Woe is me!
For I am like those gathering fruit
and those harvesting grapes,
when there is no grape cluster to eat
and no fresh figs that my stomach[a] craves.
Faithful men have disappeared[b] from the land;
there are no godly men left.[c]
They all wait in ambush to shed blood;[d]
they hunt their own brother with a net.
They are experts at doing evil;[e]
government officials and judges take bribes,[f]
prominent men announce what they wish,
and then they plan it out.[g]

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Footnotes

  1. Micah 7:1 tn Heb “appetite, soul.”
  2. Micah 7:2 tn Or “have perished.”
  3. Micah 7:2 tn Heb “and an upright one among men there is not.”
  4. Micah 7:2 tn Heb “for bloodshed” (so NASB); TEV “for a chance to commit murder.”
  5. Micah 7:3 tn Heb “their hands [reach] to evil to do [it] well,” or with slight emendation “their hands are skillful at doing evil.”
  6. Micah 7:3 tn Heb “the official asks—and the judge—for a bribe.”
  7. Micah 7:3 tn More literally, “the great one announces what his appetite desires and they weave it together.” Apparently this means that subordinates plot and maneuver to make sure the prominent man’s desires materialize.

Israel’s Misery

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(A) that I crave.
The faithful have been swept from the land;(B)
    not one(C) upright person remains.
Everyone lies in wait(D) to shed blood;(E)
    they hunt each other(F) with nets.(G)
Both hands are skilled in doing evil;(H)
    the ruler demands gifts,
the judge accepts bribes,(I)
    the powerful dictate what they desire—
    they all conspire together.

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