¹Alas for me,

For I am like those doing the summer ingathering and the vintage gleaning.

But there is no bunch of grapes to eat

Or early fruit which my being longs for.

²The kind have disappeared from the earth,

And there is no-one upright among men;

They all lie in wait for blood,

And a man hunts his brother with a net.

³Their hands are intent on prospering through evil.

The prince asks for favours,

And the judge asks for a bribe,

And the important man speaks of his personal wishes,

And they pervert the case.

⁴Their goodness is like a briar,

Their uprightness is thornier than a thorn-hedge.

The day your watchmen are looking out for

– The day of your visitation – is coming.

At that time they will be in confusion.

⁵Do not put faith in a neighbour;

Do not put trust in the local leader

Any more than in her who lies in your bosom.

Guard the portals of your mouth.

⁶For the son despises his father,

And the daughter rises up against her mother,

And the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

A man's enemies are the men of his household.

⁷But I will watch for the Lord;

I will wait for the God of my salvation.

My God will hear me.

⁸Do not rejoice,

You enemy of mine.

If I fall,

I will rise,

And if I sit in darkness,

The Lord is my light.

⁹I will bear the anger of the Lord,

For I have sinned against him,

Until he pleads my case,

And he passes judgment concerning me.

He will bring me out into the light,

And I will see his righteousness.

¹⁰Then my enemy will see it,

And shame will cover her

Who said to me,

“Where is the Lord your God?”

My eyes will see her.

Now she will be trodden down,

Like the mud of the out-fields.

¹¹It is a day of building your walls.

On that day,

The boundary will be pushed back.

¹²On that day,

He will come to you from Assyria,

And from fortified cities,

And from the fortification to the river,

And from sea to sea,

And from mountain to mountain.

¹³And the land shall be a desolation on its inhabitants

On account of the fruit of their works.

¹⁴Feed your people with your sceptre

– The sheep of your inheritance –

Dwelling solitarily in the forest in the midst of Carmel.

Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead,

As in days of age-old time.

¹⁵As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,

I will show him wonders.

¹⁶The Gentiles will see

And be ashamed of all their might.

They will put their hand to their mouth;

Their ears will be deaf.

¹⁷They will lick the dust like the snake;

Like the crawling things of the earth,

They will come trembling out of their confined spaces.

They will fear the Lord our God

And be afraid because of you.

¹⁸Who is a God like you,

Forgiving iniquity and pardoning transgressions

For the remnant of his inheritance?

He will not retain his anger in perpetuity,

For he delights in kindness.

¹⁹He will again have mercy on us;

He will trample our iniquities underfoot.

And you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

²⁰You will impart truth to Jacob,

And kindness to Abraham,

Which you swore to our fathers

In days of old.

Reference(s) in Chapter 7: v.6 ↔ Matthew 10:35, Matthew 10:36, Mark 13:12, Luke 12:53.