Israel Is Corrupt
1 I feel so empty inside—
like someone starving
for grapes or figs,
after the vines and trees
have all been picked clean.
2 No one is loyal to God;
no one does right.
Everyone is brutal
and eager to deceive
everyone else.
3 People cooperate to commit crime.
Judges and leaders demand bribes,
and rulers cheat in court.
4 The most honest of them
is worse than a thorn patch.
Your doom has come!
Lookouts sound the warning,
and everyone panics.
5 Don’t trust anyone,
not even your
best friend,
and be careful what you say
to the one you
love.
6 Sons refuse to respect
their own fathers,
daughters rebel against
their own mothers,
and daughters-in-law despise
their mothers-in-law.
Your family is now your enemy.
7 But I trust the Lord God
to save me,
and I will wait for him
to answer my prayer.
8 My enemies, don’t be glad
because of my
troubles!
I may have fallen,
but I will get
up;
I may be sitting in the dark,
but the Lord is
my light.
9 I have sinned against the Lord.
And so I must endure his anger,
until he comes
to my defense.
But I know that I will see him
making things right for me
and leading me
to the light.
10 You, my enemies, said,
“The Lord
God is helpless.”
Now each of you
will be disgraced
and put to shame.
I will see you trampled
like mud in the
street.
11 Towns of Judah, the day is coming
when your walls will be rebuilt,
and
your boundaries enlarged.
12 People will flock to you
from
Assyria and Egypt,
from Babylonia
and
everywhere else.
13 Those nations will suffer disaster
because
of what they did.
14 Lead your people, Lord!
Come
and be our shepherd.
Grasslands surround us,
but
we live in a forest.
So lead us to Bashan and Gilead,
and let us find pasture
as
we did long ago.
15 I, the Lord, will work miracles
just as I did when I led you
out
of Egypt.
16 Nations will see this
and be ashamed because
of
their helpless armies.
They will be in shock,
unable
to speak or hear,
17 because of their fear of me,
your
Lord and God.
Then they will come trembling,
crawling out of their fortresses
like
insects or snakes,
lapping
up the dust.
The people said:
18 Our God, no one is like you.
We are all that is left
of
your chosen people,
and you freely forgive
our
sin and guilt.
You don’t stay angry forever;
you’re glad to have pity
19 and pleased to be merciful.
You will trample on our sins
and
throw them in the sea.
20 You will keep your word
and be faithful to Jacob
and
to Abraham,
as you promised our ancestors
many
years ago.