Wait for the God of Salvation

¹Woe is me! For I have become

uas when the summer fruit has been gathered,

as when the grapes have been gleaned:

there is no cluster to eat,

no vfirst-ripe fig that my soul desires.

²wThe godly has perished from the earth,

and xthere is no one upright among mankind;

ythey all lie in wait for blood,

and zeach hunts the other with a net.

³aTheir hands are on what is evil, to do it well;

bthe prince and cthe judge ask for a bribe,

and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul;

thus they weave it together.

⁴The best of them is dlike a brier,

the most upright of them a thorn hedge.

The day of eyour watchmen, of your punishment, has come;

fnow their confusion is at hand.

⁵gPut no trust in a neighbor;

have no confidence in a friend;

guard hthe doors of your mouth

from her who lies in your arms;1

⁶for ithe son treats the father with contempt,

the daughter rises up against her mother,

the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;

ja man's enemies are the men of his own house.

⁷But as for me, I will look to the Lord;

kI will wait for the God of my salvation;

my God will hear me.

⁸lRejoice not over me, O mmy enemy;

nwhen I fall, I shall rise;

owhen I sit in darkness,

the Lord will be a light to me.

⁹pI will bear the indignation of the Lord

because I have sinned against him,

until qhe pleads my cause

and executes judgment for me.

rHe will bring me out to the light;

I shall look upon his vindication.

¹⁰Then smy enemy will see,

and shame will cover her who tsaid to me,

“Where is the Lord your God?”

uMy eyes will look upon her;

now she will be trampled down

vlike the mire of the streets.

¹¹wA day for the building of your walls!

In that day the boundary shall be far extended.

¹²In that day they2 will come to you,

yfrom Assyria and the cities of Egypt,

and from Egypt to zthe River,3

afrom sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.

¹³But bthe earth will be desolate

because of its inhabitants,

for the fruit of their deeds.

¹⁴cShepherd your people dwith your staff,

the flock of your inheritance,

who dwell alone in a forest

ein the midst of fa garden land;4

let them graze in Bashan and Gilead

as in the days of old.

¹⁵gAs in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,

I will show them5 marvelous things.

¹⁶hThe nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might;

ithey shall lay their hands on their mouths;

their ears shall be deaf;

¹⁷jthey shall lick the dust like a serpent,

like the crawling things of the earth;

kthey shall come trembling out of their strongholds;

lthey shall turn in dread to the Lord our God,

and they shall be in fear of you.

God's Steadfast Love and Compassion

¹⁸mWho is a God like you, npardoning iniquity

and passing over transgression

nfor the remnant of his inheritance?

oHe does not retain his anger forever,

because he delights in steadfast love.

¹⁹He will pagain have compassion on us;

qhe will tread our iniquities underfoot.

rYou will cast all our6 sins

into the depths of the sea.

²⁰sYou will show faithfulness to Jacob

and steadfast love to Abraham,

tas you have sworn to our fathers

from the days of old.