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The Total Corruption of the People

Woe is me! For I have become like one who,

after the summer fruit has been gathered,

after the vintage has been gleaned,

finds no cluster to eat;

there is no first-ripe fig for which I hunger.

The faithful have disappeared from the land,

and there is no one left who is upright;

they all lie in wait for blood,

and they hunt each other with nets.

Their hands are skilled to do evil;

the official and the judge ask for a bribe,

and the powerful dictate what they desire;

thus they pervert justice.

The best of them is like a brier,

the most upright of them a thorn hedge.

The day of their sentinels, of their punishment, has come;

now their confusion is at hand.

Put no trust in a friend,

have no confidence in a loved one;

guard the doors of your mouth

from her who lies in your embrace;

for the son treats the father with contempt,

the daughter rises up against her mother,

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

your enemies are members of your own household.

But as for me, I will look to the L ord,

I will wait for the God of my salvation;

my God will hear me.

Penitence and Trust in God

Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy;

when I fall, I shall rise;

when I sit in darkness,

the L ord will be a light to me.

I must bear the indignation of the L ord,

because I have sinned against him,

until he takes my side

and executes judgment for me.

He will bring me out to the light;

I shall see his vindication.

Then my enemy will see,

and shame will cover her who said to me,

“Where is the L ord your God?”

My eyes will see her downfall;

now she will be trodden down

like the mire of the streets.

A Prophecy of Restoration

A day for the building of your walls!

In that day the boundary shall be far extended.

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.

But the earth will be desolate

because of its inhabitants,

for the fruit of their doings.

Shepherd your people with your staff,

the flock that belongs to you,

which lives alone in a forest

in the midst of a garden land;

let them feed in Bashan and Gilead

as in the days of old.

As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,

show us marvelous things.

The nations shall see and be ashamed

of all their might;

they shall lay their hands on their mouths;

their ears shall be deaf;

they shall lick dust like a snake,

like the crawling things of the earth;

they shall come trembling out of their fortresses;

they shall turn in dread to the L ord our God,

and they shall stand in fear of you.

God’s Compassion and Steadfast Love

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity

and passing over the transgression

of the remnant of your possession?

He does not retain his anger forever,

because he delights in showing clemency.

He will again have compassion upon us;

he will tread our iniquities under foot.

You will cast all our sins

into the depths of the sea.

You will show faithfulness to Jacob

and unswerving loyalty to Abraham,

as you have sworn to our ancestors

from the days of old.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Prophet pursues the subject we discussed yesterday, — that liberty, in iniquity, bad arrived to its highest point, for no faithfulness remained among men; nay, there was no more any humanity; for the son performed not his duty towards his father, nor the daughter-in-law towards her mother-in-law; in short, there was then no mutual love and concord. He does not here speak of that false confidence, by which many deceive themselves, who rely on mortals, and transfer to them the glory which belongs to God. Those therefore without any reason, philosophize here, who say, that we ought not to trust in men; for this was not the design of the Prophet. But our Prophet complains of his times according to the tenor of Ovid’s description of the iron age, who says -

“—A guest is not safe from his host;
Nor a brother-in-law from a son-in-law; and brotherly love is rare:
A husband seeks the death of his wife, and she, of her husband;
Cruel stepmothers mingle the lurid poison;
The son, before the day, inquires into the years of his father.” ¹⁸⁷¹⁸⁷ See Ov. Met. Lib. I. 144-148.

So also our Prophet says, that there was no regard to humanity among men; for the wife was ready to betray her husband, the son treated his father with reproach; in short, they had all forgotten humanity or natural affection. We now then understand what the Prophet means by saying, Trust not a friend; ¹⁸⁸¹⁸⁸ Ne fidatis amico: it is rather, Believe not in a friend, that is, in what he says, אל-תאמינו ברע. The next expression is that which signifies reliance, trust or confidence. אלוף, is a leader; ηγουμενος in Sept., one who leads the way. Diodati gives its true meaning, — “A conductor, the most trusty friend, who is one’s usual counselor in every difficulty and perplexity.” Jerome refers to scriptural instances as to the persons here mentioned: the friend, Ahitophel and Judas, — the counselor, Abimelek, who was made king by the men of Sichem, and oppressed them, — domestics, Absalom and the wives of Esau. The word used for “dishonoring” is very strong; מנבל, one who counts a thing worthless or abominable; it means not only to dishonor, but to regard with disdain and contempt. “The contempt and violation of the laws of domestic duties,” Henry justly observes, “are a sad symptom of an universal corruption of manners. Those are never likely to come to good who are undutiful to their parents, and study to be provoking to them and cross them.” — Ed. that is, if any one hopes for any thing from a friend, he will be deceived; for nothing can be found among men but perfidy.

Put no faith in a counselor So I render the word אלוף, aluph; some translate it, an elder brother; but there is no necessity to constrain us to depart from the proper and true meaning of the word. As then the Prophet had spoken of an associate or a friend, so he now adds a counselor. And it proves what he had in view, when he says in the next clause, that no enemies are worse than domestics. We hence see that the Prophet simply means, that the men of his age were not only avaricious and cruel to one another, but that without any regard to human feelings the son rebelled against his father, and thus subverted the whole order of nature; So that they had none of those affections, which seem at the same time to be incapable of being extinguished in men. Let us now proceed —

¹⁸⁷ See Ov. Met. Lib. I. 144-148.

¹⁸⁸ Ne fidatis amico: it is rather, Believe not in a friend, that is, in what he says, אל-תאמינו ברע. The next expression is that which signifies reliance, trust or confidence. אלוף, is a leader; ηγουμενος in Sept., one who leads the way. Diodati gives its true meaning, — “A conductor, the most trusty friend, who is one’s usual counselor in every difficulty and perplexity.” Jerome refers to scriptural instances as to the persons here mentioned: the friend, Ahitophel and Judas, — the counselor, Abimelek, who was made king by the men of Sichem, and oppressed them, — domestics, Absalom and the wives of Esau. The word used for “dishonoring” is very strong; מנבל, one who counts a thing worthless or abominable; it means not only to dishonor, but to regard with disdain and contempt. “The contempt and violation of the laws of domestic duties,” Henry justly observes, “are a sad symptom of an universal corruption of manners. Those are never likely to come to good who are undutiful to their parents, and study to be provoking to them and cross them.” — Ed.