 1 Woe is me. For I am like the gatherings of summer fruits, like the grape gleanings of the vintage. There is no cluster to eat. My soul desires the first ripe fruit. 2 The pious has perished from the earth, and there is none upright among men. For they all lie in wait for blood. Each one hunts his brother with a net. 3 Both hands are on evil, to do it well. The ruler asks for a bribe, and the judge also. And the great man speaks the evil desire of his soul. So they weave it together. 4 The best of them is like a briar. The most upright is sharper than a hedge of thorns. The day of your watchmen and your punishment comes. Now their shame will come. 5 Put no trust in a friend. Put no hope in a guide. Keep the door of your mouth from her who lies in your bosom. 6 For the son dishonors the father. The daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law. A man's enemies are the men of his own household. 7 Therefore I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. 8 Do not rejoice against me my enemy. For if I fall I will rise. If I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. 9 I will bear the fury of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my cause and brings out judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light, and I will behold His righteousness. 10 Then my enemy will see it. And shame will cover her who said to me, Where is the Lord your God? my eyes will behold her. Now she will be trampled like the mud of the streets. 11 In the day that your walls are to be built, in that day the decree will be far removed. 12 In that day he will come even to you from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the siege even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain. 13 But the land will be wasted because of those who live in it, for the fruit of their doings. 14 Feed your people with your rod, the flock of your inheritance, who live alone in the woods, in the midst of Carmel. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old. 15 According to the days of your coming out of the land of Egypt I will show to him marvelous things. 16 The nations will see and be ashamed at all their might. They will lay their hand on their mouth. Their ears will be deaf. 17 They will lick the dust like a snake. They will move out of their holes like worms of the earth. They will dread the Lord our God, and will fear because of you. 18 Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity and passes by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not keep His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. 19 He will turn again. He will have pity on us. He will trample our iniquities. Yes, you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. 20 You will perform the truth in faithfulness to Jacob and mercy to Abraham that you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.
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