| Berean Study Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1Woe is me! For I am like one gathering summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard; there is no cluster to eat, no early fig that I crave. | 1How miserable I am! I feel like the fruit picker after the harvest who can find nothing to eat. Not a cluster of grapes or a single early fig can be found to satisfy my hunger. |
| 2The godly man has perished from the earth; there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; they hunt one another with a net. | 2The godly people have all disappeared; not one honest person is left on the earth. They are all murderers, setting traps even for their own brothers. |
| 3Both hands are skilled at evil; the prince and the judge demand a bribe. When the powerful utters his evil desire, they all conspire together. | 3Both their hands are equally skilled at doing evil! Officials and judges alike demand bribes. The people with influence get what they want, and together they scheme to twist justice. |
| 4The best of them is like a brier; the most upright is sharper than a hedge of thorns. The day for your watchmen has come, the day of your visitation. Now is the time of their confusion. | 4Even the best of them is like a brier; the most honest is as dangerous as a hedge of thorns. But your judgment day is coming swiftly now. Your time of punishment is here, a time of confusion. |
| 5Do not rely on a friend; do not trust in a companion. Seal the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms. | 5Don’t trust anyone— not your best friend or even your wife! |
| 6For a son dishonors his father, a daughter rises against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies are the members of his own household. | 6For the son despises his father. The daughter defies her mother. The daughter-in-law defies her mother-in-law. Your enemies are right in your own household! |
| 7But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. | 7As for me, I look to the LORD for help. I wait confidently for God to save me, and my God will certainly hear me. |
| 8Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will arise; though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light. | 8Do not gloat over me, my enemies! For though I fall, I will rise again. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light. |
| 9Because I have sinned against Him, I must endure the rage of the LORD, until He argues my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me into the light; I will see His righteousness. | 9I will be patient as the LORD punishes me, for I have sinned against him. But after that, he will take up my case and give me justice for all I have suffered from my enemies. The LORD will bring me into the light, and I will see his righteousness. |
| 10Then my enemy will see and will be covered with shame—she who said to me, “Where is the LORD your God?” My eyes will see her; at that time she will be trampled like mud in the streets. | 10Then my enemies will see that the LORD is on my side. They will be ashamed that they taunted me, saying, “So where is the LORD— that God of yours?” With my own eyes I will see their downfall; they will be trampled like mud in the streets. |
| 11The day for rebuilding your walls will come—the day for extending your boundary. | 11In that day, Israel, your cities will be rebuilt, and your borders will be extended. |
| 12On that day they will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, even from Egypt to the Euphrates, from sea to sea and mountain to mountain. | 12People from many lands will come and honor you— from Assyria all the way to the towns of Egypt, from Egypt all the way to the Euphrates River, and from distant seas and mountains. |
| 13Then the earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants, as the fruit of their deeds. | 13But the land will become empty and desolate because of the wickedness of those who live there. The LORD’s Compassion on Israel |
| 14Shepherd with Your staff Your people, the flock of Your inheritance. They live alone in a woodland, surrounded by pastures. Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old. | 14O LORD, protect your people with your shepherd’s staff; lead your flock, your special possession. Though they live alone in a thicket on the heights of Mount Carmel, let them graze in the fertile pastures of Bashan and Gilead as they did long ago. |
| 15As in the days when you came out of Egypt, I will show My wonders. | 15“Yes,” says the LORD, “I will do mighty miracles for you, like those I did when I rescued you from slavery in Egypt.” |
| 16Nations will see and be ashamed, deprived of all their might. They will put their hands over their mouths, and their ears will become deaf. | 16All the nations of the world will stand amazed at what the LORD will do for you. They will be embarrassed at their feeble power. They will cover their mouths in silent awe, deaf to everything around them. |
| 17They will lick the dust like a snake, like reptiles slithering on the ground. They will crawl from their holes in the presence of the LORD our God; they will tremble in fear of You. | 17Like snakes crawling from their holes, they will come out to meet the LORD our God. They will fear him greatly, trembling in terror at his presence. |
| 18Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion? | 18Where is another God like you, who pardons the guilt of the remnant, overlooking the sins of his special people? You will not stay angry with your people forever, because you delight in showing unfailing love. |
| 19He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast out all our sins into the depths of the sea. | 19Once again you will have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean! |
| 20You will show faithfulness to Jacob and loving devotion to Abraham, as You swore to our fathers from the days of old. | 20You will show us your faithfulness and unfailing love as you promised to our ancestors Abraham and Jacob long ago. |
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