|
Click a verse to see commentary
|
Select a resource above
|
The Total Corruption of the People7 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. 2 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. 3 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. 4 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. 5 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; 6 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. 7 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 God8 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. 9 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. 10 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 Restoration11 A day for the building of your walls! In that day the boundary shall be far extended. 12 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. 13 But the earth will be desolate because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their doings.
14 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. 15 As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, show us marvelous things. 16 The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might; they shall lay their hands on their mouths; their ears shall be deaf; 17 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 Love18 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. 19 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. 20 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.
|
In the second verse he expresses more clearly his mind, Perished, he says, has the righteous 182182 Justus, rendered in the text humanus, vel, mansuetus The Hebrew is חסיר, rendered by the Septuagint “ευσβης—godly, pious,”—by Marckius, “benignus — kind, benignant,” — by Newcome, “the good man,” — and by Henderson, “the pious.” It is sometimes rendered holy; but its meaning is, kind, benevolent, merciful, actively good, beneficent. In Psalm 12:1, it is rendered “godly,” and in Isaiah 57:1, “merciful.” — Ed. from the land, and there is none upright 183183 Rectus, ישר, rendered by the Septuagint, “κατορθων—one going straight to an object,”—by Newcome and Henderson, “upright.” It is one who proceeds in a straight course according to the rule of the law, without making any windings or turning aside into any devious path. — Ed. among men. Here now he does not personify the land. It was indeed a forcible and an emphatic language, when he complained at the beginning, that he groaned as though the land was ashamed of its dearth: but the Prophet now performs the office of a teacher, Perished, he says, has the righteous from the land; there is no one upright among men; all lay in wait for blood; every one hunts his brother as with a net In this verse the Prophet briefly shows, that all were full both of cruelty and perfidy, that there was no care for justice; as though he said, In vain are good men sought among this people; for they are all bloody, they are all fraudulent. When he says, that they all did lay in wait for blood, he no doubt intended to set forth their cruelty, as though he had said, that they were thirsting for blood. But when he adds, that each did lay in wait for their brethren, he alludes to their frauds or to their perfidy. We now then perceive the meaning of the Prophet: and the manner he adopts is more emphatical than if God, in his own name, had pronounced the words: for, as men were fixed, and as though drowned, in their own carelessness, the Prophet introduces here the land as speaking, which accuses its own children, and confesses its own guilt; yea, it anticipates God’s judgment, and acknowledges itself to be contaminated by its own inhabitants, so that nothing pure remained in it. It follows — |