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¹ Woe is me! For I have become as when the summer fruit has been gathered, as when the vintage has been gleaned: there is no cluster to eat, no first-ripe fig which my soul desires.² The godly man has perished from the earth, and there is none upright among men; they all lie in wait for blood, and each hunts his brother with a net.³ Their hands are upon what is evil, to do it diligently; the prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul; thus they weave it together.⁴ The best of them is like a brier, the most upright of them a thorn hedge. The day of their watchmen, of their punishment, has come; now their confusion is at hand.⁵ Put no trust in a neighbor, have no confidence in a friend; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your bosom;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; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.

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 Rejoice not 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 will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me forth to the light; I shall behold his deliverance.¹⁰ Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, "Where is the LORD your God?" My eyes will gloat over her; 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 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 thy people with thy staff, the flock of thy inheritance, who dwell 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 I will show them 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 the dust like a serpent, like the crawling things of the earth; they shall come trembling out of their strongholds, they shall turn in dread to the LORD our God, and they shall fear because of thee.¹⁸ Who is a God like thee, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger for ever because he delights in steadfast love.¹⁹ He will again have compassion upon us, he will tread our iniquities under foot. Thou wilt cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.²⁰ Thou wilt show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as thou hast sworn to our fathers from the days of old.