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7 ‎[1] The personality of the prophet is not a prominent feature of this book, but here he expresses his own feelings. A true prophet not only hears the word of God, he is also more sensitive than others to the people’s sins, flaws, and sorrows. Since he is aware of the forthcoming punishments, the suffering and pain of the entire nation rest on his shoulders. **Woe is me, as I have become like the last of the fig harvest, **the poor-quality figs that remain at the end of summer, **like the gleanings, **the lone grapes,** of the grape harvest; there is no cluster to eat or first fig that my soul desires. **The word cluster is a metaphor for great, righteous personalities. The prophet feels that he is in the company of small-minded, miserable people, and at the end of an era.
‎[2] The prophet clarifies his meaning. **The virtuous one, **who excels in piety and righteousness,** is lost from the land and the upright among people is no more. They all lie in wait for blood, **monetary corruption ultimately leads to bloodshed;** each man hunts his brother with a net. **
‎[3] **They extend their hands to benefit the evildoer;** they give bribes for evildoers to be exonerated. **The prince solicits, **he is not ashamed to ask explicitly for special favors,** and the judge is **ready** **to do the prince’s bidding **for payment, **a bribe;** **and** the **ostensibly** great **and respectable man **speaks his selfish desires, **or the desires that will do evil to his soul; **and it is woven together. **These people twist and subvert justice and integrity.
‎[4] **Their best is like a thornbush, **a prickly plant used for fences;** the upright is worse than a hedge, **a partition of dry branches; on** your day of expectation, **when people anticipate good tidings, **your decree, **your decreed punishment, **arrives; **and** now, **when it arrives,** will be their confoundedness. **
‎[5] Deception has spread everywhere. **Do not trust a friend; do not rely on an official, **important people and guides with whom you are on friendly terms;** guard the pronouncements of your mouth **even **from she who lies in your bosom, **your wife, she who is supposed to be entirely loyal to you; she hears everything, and might repeat your statements to those who should not hear them.
‎[6] **For the son is contemptuous to the father **by speaking contemptibly about him,** the daughter rises **up** against her mother, the daughter-in-law **likewise rises up **against her mother-in-law; the members of his household are a man’s enemies. **
‎[7] **But I, I will await the Lord; I will long **and hope** for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. **
‎[8] **Do not rejoice, my enemy, about me; **do not be happy, gentile nations, for what has befallen me.** Though I fell, I will **later **rise; though I sit in darkness, the Lord is a light for me. **
‎[9] The prophet now speaks as the people’s representative: **I will bear the anger of the Lord; **I suffer and absorb blows, not without reason, but** because I sinned against Him. **Nevertheless, my troubles will last only** until He will champion my cause and execute justice for me. **When my sin has been cleansed, God will be with me.** He will take me out **from darkness **into the light; I will behold His righteousness **in His salvation or in His judgment.
‎[10] **My enemy will see **my salvation,** and shame will cover him. **It was **he,** my enemy,** who said to me: Where is the Lord your God? **His presence is not felt at all. Now, therefore, **my eyes will see it, **my enemy’s** **disgrace; **now he, **my enemy,** will be for trampling like mud in the streets, **on which everyone steps.
‎[11] If you, my enemy, expect that after the reversals you will suffer, there will come **the day to build your fences; the time of that day will be constantly distant. **That day is far from arriving.
‎[12] **There is a day **of judgment and vengeance,** and it will come against you, **my enemy, **from Assyria to the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt to the **Euphrates **River, and from sea to sea and **from** mountain to mountain. **The vengeance will strike throughout.
‎[13] **The land **of the enemies **will become a desolation **together** with its inhabitants, **all **from the fruit of their actions. **
‎[14] The book concludes with words of consolation, starting with a request to God: **Shepherd Your people with Your staff. **You alone** **rule over us, as we are **the flock of Your inheritance, **the people **who dwell alone, **just as You do. Tend to us **in a forest **that is **in the midst of a fertile field, **the Carmel, a region blessed with forestry and vegetation;** let them, **the children of Israel,** graze in Bashan and Gilad, as in days of old. **They will once again live in those places where they dwelled in the good years.
‎[15] God replies:** Like the days of your exodus from the land of Egypt, I will show it, **my people,** wonders. **God will once again perform miracles and wonders as He did upon the exodus from Egypt.
‎[16] Then **nations will see and they will be ashamed for all their might, **which will be useless for them against Israel. **They will place hand over mouth, **like one unable to speak, as they will have no reason to boast, and **their ears will be deafened **from astonishment.
‎[17] **They will lick dust like a snake, like crawlers of the earth; they will tremble **in shock** from their strongholds. **Their sense of stability will be shattered. **They will fear the Lord our God, and they will be afraid of You. **
‎[18] **Who is God like You? **There is no other who is **bearing iniquity and overlooking transgression for the remnant of His inheritance, **Israel.** He does not maintain His wrath forever, because He desires kindness. **Accordingly, He will have mercy upon us despite our imperfections.
‎[19] **He will again have mercy upon us; He will suppress **or hide **our iniquities, **where they cannot be seen from above, as it were,** and You will cast all their, **Israel’s,** sins into the depths of the sea, **and the people will thereby be cleansed and purified.
‎[20] **You will give** the **truth [*****emet*****] **of** **Your promise and assistance** to Jacob, **and **kindness to Abraham, **through their descendants. Grant us mercy and faithfulness,** as You took an oath to our forefathers from days of old. **Some explain that the term *emet*, which usually means truth, here denotes faithfulness.** **
Version: The Steinsaltz Tanakh - English
Source: https://korenpub.com/collections/the-steinsaltz-tanakh/products/steinsaltz-tanakh
License: Copyright: Steinsaltz Center