7 ·Poor [Woe to] me! I am like a hungry man,
    and all the summer fruit has been picked—
there are no grapes left to eat,
    none of the early figs I ·love [crave].
² All of the faithful people ·are gone [^Lhave perished from the land/earth];
    there is not one ·good [upright] person left in this country.
Everyone ·is waiting to kill someone [^Llies in wait for blood];
    everyone ·is trying to trap someone else [^Lhunts his brother with a net].
³ With both hands they are doing evil.
    Rulers ask for ·money [gifts],
    and judges’ decisions are bought for a ·price [bribe].
·Rich [Influential; Great] people ·tell what they want [make demands],
    and they get it.
⁴ Even the best of them is like a ·thornbush [brier];
    the most ·honest [upright] of them is worse than a ·prickly plant [thorn hedge].
The day ·that your watchmen warned you about [^Lof your watchmen; ^Cthe coming exile predicted by the prophets] has come.
    Now they will be confused [^Cwithout the guidance of the prophets].
⁵ Don’t ·believe [trust] your neighbor
    or ·trust [put confidence in] a friend.
·Don’t say anything [^LGuard the doors of your mouth],
    even to ·your wife [^Lthe one who lies on your bosom].
⁶ A son will not honor his father,
    a daughter will ·turn against [defy; rise up against] her mother,
and a daughter-in-law will be against her mother-in-law;
    a person’s enemies will be ·members of his own family [or the servants of his household; ^Lthe men/people of his house; Matt. 10:36].

⁷ Israel says, “I will look to the Lord for help.
    I will wait for God ·to save me [my savior];
    my God will hear me.
⁸ Enemy, don’t ·laugh at [gloat over] me.
    I have fallen, but I will get up again.
I sit in ·the shadow of trouble now [^Ldarkness],
    but the Lord will be a light for me.
⁹ I sinned against the Lord,
    so ·he was angry with me [^LI will bear the wrath of the Lord],
but he will ·defend my case in court [plead my case].
    He will ·bring about what is right [accomplish justice] for me.
Then he will bring me out into the light,
    and I will see ·him set things right [his righteousness/justice/vindication].
¹⁰ Then my enemies will see this,
    and they will be ·ashamed [^Lcovered wth shame],
those who said to me,
    ‘Where is the Lord your God?’
I will ·look down on [gloat over] them.
    They will ·get walked on [be trampled down], like mud in the street.”

¹¹ The ·time [^Lday] will come when your walls will be built again,
    when your ·country will grow [borders will be extended].
¹² ·At that time [^LIn that day] your people will come back to you
    from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,
and from Egypt to the ·Euphrates River [^LRiver],
    and from sea to sea and mountain to mountain.
¹³ The earth will be ·ruined [desolate] ·for [or because of] the people who live in it
    ·because [^Lfor the fruit] of their deeds.

¹⁴ So shepherd your people with your ·stick [shepherd’s staff];
    tend the flock of ·people who belong to you [^Lyour inheritance/possession].
That flock now lives alone in the forest
    in the middle of ·a garden land [pasturelands; or Carmel].
Let them ·feed [graze] in Bashan and Gilead
    as in days long ago.