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¹ Woe is me! For I have become like one who,
    after the summer fruit has been gathered,
    after the vintage has been gleaned,
finds no cluster to eat;
    there is no first-ripe fig for which I hunger.
² The faithful have disappeared from the land,
    and there is no one left who is upright;
they all lie in wait for blood,
    and they hunt each other with nets.
³ Their hands are skilled to do evil;
    the official and the judge ask for a bribe,
and the powerful dictate what they desire;
    thus they pervert justice.^[a]
4 The best of them is like a brier,
    the most upright of them a thorn hedge.
The day of their^[b] sentinels, of their^[c] punishment, has come;
    now their confusion is at hand.
⁵ Put no trust in a friend,
    have no confidence in a loved one;
guard the doors of your mouth
    from her who lies in your embrace;
⁶ for the son treats the father with contempt,
    the daughter rises up against her mother,
the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
    your enemies are members of your own household.
⁷ But as for me, I will look to the Lord,
    I will wait for the God of my salvation;
    my God will hear me.

⁸ Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy;
    when I fall, I shall rise;
when I sit in darkness,
    the Lord will be a light to me.
⁹ I must bear the indignation of the Lord,
    because I have sinned against him,
until he takes my side
    and executes judgment for me.
He will bring me out to the light;
    I shall see his vindication.
¹⁰ Then my enemy will see,
    and shame will cover her who said to me,
    "Where is the Lord your God?"
My eyes will see her downfall;^[d]
    now she will be trodden down
    like the mire of the streets.

¹¹ A day for the building of your walls!
    In that day the boundary shall be far extended.
¹² In that day they will come to you
    from Assyria to^[e] Egypt,
and from Egypt to the River,
    from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.
¹³ But the earth will be desolate
    because of its inhabitants,
    for the fruit of their doings.

¹⁴ Shepherd your people with your staff,
    the flock that belongs to you,
which lives alone in a forest
    in the midst of a garden land;
let them feed in Bashan and Gilead
    as in the days of old.
¹⁵ As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
    show us^[f] marvelous things.
¹⁶ The nations shall see and be ashamed
    of all their might;
they shall lay their hands on their mouths;
    their ears shall be deaf;
¹⁷ they shall lick dust like a snake,
    like the crawling things of the earth;
they shall come trembling out of their fortresses;
    they shall turn in dread to the Lord our God,
    and they shall stand in fear of you.

¹⁸ Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
    and passing over the transgression
    of the remnant of your^[g] possession?
He does not retain his anger forever,
    because he delights in showing clemency.
¹⁹ He will again have compassion upon us;
    he will tread our iniquities under foot.
You will cast all our^[h] sins
    into the depths of the sea.
²⁰ You will show faithfulness to Jacob
    and unswerving loyalty to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our ancestors
    from the days of old.