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This is the last chapter of Micah. Next up, Nahum.
āMicah 7:1-20 MSGā¬
[1-6] Iām overwhelmed with sorrow! sunk in a swamp of despair! Iām like someone who goes to the garden to pick cabbages and carrots and corn And returns empty-handed, finds nothing for soup or sandwich or salad. Thereās not a decent person in sight. Right-living humans are extinct. Theyāre all out for one anotherās blood, animals preying on each other. Theyāve all become experts in evil. Corrupt leaders demand bribes. The powerful rich make sure they get what they want. The best and brightest are thistles. The top of the line is crabgrass. But no longer: Itās exam time. Look at them slinking away in disgrace! Donāt trust your neighbor, donāt confide in your friend. Watch your words, even with your spouse. Neighborhoods and families are falling to pieces. The closer they areāsons, daughters, in-lawsā The worse they can be. Your own family is the enemy. * * * [7] But me, Iām not giving up. Iām sticking around to see what God will do. Iām waiting for God to make things right. Iām counting on God to listen to me. [8-10] Donāt, enemy, crow over me. Iām down, but Iām not out. Iām sitting in the dark right now, but God is my light. I can take Godās punishing rage. I deserve itāI sinned. But itās not forever. Heās on my side and is going to get me out of this. Heāll turn on the lights and show me his ways. Iāll see the whole picture and how right he is. And my enemy will see it, too, and be discreditedāyes, disgraced! This enemy who kept taunting, āSo where is this God of yours?ā Iām going to see it with these, my own eyesā my enemy disgraced, trash in the gutter. * * * [11-13] Oh, that will be a day! A day for rebuilding your city, a day for stretching your arms, spreading your wings! All your dispersed and scattered people will come back, old friends and family from faraway places, From Assyria in the east to Egypt in the west, from across the seas and out of the mountains. But thereāll be a reversal for everyone elseāmassive depopulationā because of the way they lived, the things they did. [14-17] Shepherd, O God, your people with your staff, your dear and precious flock. Uniquely yours in a grove of trees, centered in lotus land. Let them graze in lush Bashan as in the old days in green Gilead. Reproduce the miracle-wonders of our exodus from Egypt. And the godless nations: Put them in their placeā humiliated in their arrogance, speechless and clueless. Make them slink like snakes, crawl like cockroaches, come out of their holes from under their rocks And face our God. Fill them with holy fear and trembling. * * * [18-20] Where is the god who can compare with youā wiping the slate clean of guilt, Turning a blind eye, a deaf ear, to the past sins of your purged and precious people? You donāt nurse your anger and donāt stay angry long, for mercy is your specialty. Thatās what you love most. And compassion is on its way to us. Youāll stamp out our wrongdoing. Youāll sink our sins to the bottom of the ocean. Youāll stay true to your word to Father Jacob and continue the compassion you showed Grandfather Abrahamā Everything you promised our ancestors from a long time ago.

