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Micah 7

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1 οἴμμοι ὅτι ἐγενόμην ὡς συνάγων καλάμην ἐν ἀμήτῳ καὶ ὡς ἐπιφυλλίδα ἐν τρυγήτῳ οὐχ ὑπάρχοντος βότρυος τοῦ φαγεῖν τὰ πρωτόγονα οἴμμοι ψυχή 2 ὅτι ἀπόλωλεν εὐλαβὴς ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς καὶ κατορθῶν ἐν ἀνθρώποις οὐχ ὑπάρχει πάντες εἰς αἵματα δικάζονται ἕκαστος τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ ἐκθλίβουσιν ἐκθλιβῇ 3 ἐπὶ τὸ κακὸν τὰς χεῖρας αὐτῶν ἑτοιμάζουσιν ὁ ἄρχων αἰτεῖ καὶ ὁ κριτὴς εἰρηνικοὺς λόγους ἐλάλησεν καταθύμιον ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ ἐστιν καὶ ἐξελοῦμαι 4 τὰ ἀγαθὰ αὐτῶν ὡς σὴς ἐκτρώγων καὶ βαδίζων ἐπὶ κανόνος ἐν ἡμέρᾳ σκοπιᾶς οὐαὶ οὐαί αἱ ἐκδικήσεις σου ἥκασιν νῦν ἔσονται κλαυθμοὶ αὐτῶν

1 Your tears for Sion! Not more pitiful work is gleaning when the vintage is done; never a cluster to eat; for the ripe figs belly craves in vain. 2 Fled is piety, vanished honesty, from human kind; murderous plots afoot; the hunt is up everywhere, man spreading his nets for man. 3 Ever the wrong done, and fair names devised for it; ruler must have his benevolence, and judge his gratuity, and tyrant makes known what is his earnest wish; they know well how to wrap it up.[1] 4 Cruel as thorns they be, that are kindliest of them, close as thorn-hedge, that are honest above the rest. Surely this is the day thy watchmen foretold, surely thou wilt call them to account; not long delayed their last extremity!

1

Væ mihi, quia factus sum sicut qui colligit in autumno racemos vindemiæ!
non est botrus ad comedendum,
præcoquas ficus desideravit anima mea. 2
Periit sanctus de terra,
et rectus in hominibus non est:
omnes in sanguine insidiantur;
vir fratrem suum ad mortem venatur. 3
Malum manuum suarum dicunt bonum:
princeps postulat, et judex in reddendo est;
et magnus locutus est desiderium animæ suæ,
et conturbaverunt eam. 4
Qui optimus in eis est, quasi paliurus,
et qui rectus, quasi spina de sepe.
Dies speculationis tuæ, visitatio tua venit:
nunc erit vastitas eorum.

5 μὴ καταπιστεύετε ἐν φίλοις καὶ μὴ ἐλπίζετε ἐπὶ ἡγουμένοις ἀπὸ τῆς συγκοίτου σου φύλαξαι τοῦ ἀναθέσθαι τι αὐτῇ 6 διότι υἱὸς ἀτιμάζει πατέρα θυγάτηρ ἐπαναστήσεται ἐπὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτῆς νύμφη ἐπὶ τὴν πενθερὰν αὐτῆς ἐχθροὶ ἀνδρὸς πάντες οἱ ἄνδρες οἱ ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ 7 ἐγὼ δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν κύριον ἐπιβλέψομαι ὑπομενῶ ἐπὶ τῷ θεῷ τῷ σωτῆρί μου εἰσακούσεταί μου ὁ θεός μου

5 Trust no man, give thy heart to no man, though he be friend and counsellor of thine; against the wife that lies on thy bosom, guard the entry of thy lips; 6 here, where son fools father, and daughter her mother, and son’s wife her mother-in-law, where a man’s own household are his enemies! 7 On the Lord my eyes are set; it is to God I look for my protection; my own God, and will he deny me audience?

5
Nolite credere amico,
et nolite confidere in duce:
ab ea quæ dormit in sinu tuo custodi claustra oris tui. 6
Quia filius contumeliam facit patri,
et filia consurgit adversus matrem suam:
nurus adversus socrum suam,
et inimici hominis domestici ejus. 7

Ego autem ad Dominum aspiciam;
exspectabo Deum, salvatorem meum:
audiet me Deus meus.

8 μὴ ἐπίχαιρέ μοι ἡ ἐχθρά μου ὅτι πέπτωκα καὶ ἀναστήσομαι διότι ἐὰν καθίσω ἐν τῷ σκότει κύριος φωτιεῖ μοι 9 ὀργὴν κυρίου ὑποίσω ὅτι ἥμαρτον αὐτῷ ἕως τοῦ δικαιῶσαι αὐτὸν τὴν δίκην μου καὶ ποιήσει τὸ κρίμα μου καὶ ἐξάξει με εἰς τὸ φῶς ὄψομαι τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ 10 καὶ ὄψεται ἡ ἐχθρά μου καὶ περιβαλεῖται αἰσχύνην ἡ λέγουσα πρός με ποῦ κύριος ὁ θεός σου οἱ ὀφθαλμοί μου ἐπόψονται αὐτήν νῦν ἔσται εἰς καταπάτημα ὡς πηλὸς ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς

8 City that Sion hatest, never triumph over her fall; fall I, it is but to rise again, sit I in darkness, the Lord will be my light. 9 The Lord’s displeasure I must bear, I that have sinned against him, till at last he admits my plea, and grants redress. Out into the light he will bring me, to find him faithful still. 10 Sore abashed that enemy of mine shall behold it; only yesterday she was crying, What is become of thy God now? Welcome the sight, when she is trampled down like mire in the streets![2]

8
Ne læteris, inimica mea, super me, quia cecidi:
consurgam cum sedero in tenebris:
Dominus lux mea est. 9
Iram Domini portabo,
quoniam peccavi ei,
donec causam meam judicet,
et faciat judicium meum.
Educet me in lucem:
videbo justitiam ejus. 10
Et aspiciet inimica mea,
et operietur confusione,
quæ dicit ad me: Ubi est Dominus Deus tuus?
Oculi mei videbunt in eam:
nunc erit in conculcationem ut lutum platearum.

11 ἡμέρας ἀλοιφῆς πλίνθου ἐξάλειψίς σου ἡ ἡμέρα ἐκείνη καὶ ἀποτρίψεται νόμιμά σου 12 ἡ ἡμέρα ἐκείνη καὶ αἱ πόλεις σου ἥξουσιν εἰς ὁμαλισμὸν καὶ εἰς διαμερισμὸν Ἀσσυρίων καὶ αἱ πόλεις σου αἱ ὀχυραὶ εἰς διαμερισμὸν ἀπὸ Τύρου ἕως τοῦ ποταμοῦ Συρίας ἡμέρα ὕδατος καὶ θορύβου 13 καὶ ἔσται ἡ γῆ εἰς ἀφανισμὸν σὺν τοῖς κατοικοῦσιν αὐτὴν ἐκ καρπῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων αὐτῶν 14 ποίμαινε λαόν σου ἐν ῥάβδῳ σου πρόβατα κληρονομίας σου κατασκηνοῦντας κα{Q'} ἑαυτοὺς δρυμὸν ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ Καρμήλου νεμήσονται τὴν Βασανῖτιν καὶ τὴν Γαλααδῖτιν καθὼς αἱ ἡμέραι τοῦ αἰῶνος 15 καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἡμέρας ἐξοδίας σου ἐξ Αἰγύπτου ὄψεσθε θαυμαστά 16 ὄψονται ἔθνη καὶ καταισχυνθήσονται ἐκ πάσης τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτῶν ἐπιθήσουσιν χεῖρας ἐπὶ τὸ στόμα αὐτῶν τὰ ὦτα αὐτῶν ἀποκωφωθήσονται 17 λείξουσιν χοῦν ὡς ὄφεις σύροντες γῆν συγχυθήσονται ἐν συγκλεισμῷ αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τῷ κυρίῳ θεῷ ἡμῶν ἐκστήσονται καὶ φοβηθήσονται ἀπὸ σοῦ

11 Day of pell-mell disorder it shall be, the day of thy walls’ rebuilding; 12 a day when folk shall resort to thee from all the lands that lie between Assyria and the towns of Egypt, between Egypt and … Euphrates, between sea and sea, mountain-range and mountain-range.[3] 13 By then, the whole country-side will be lying desolate, such reward the inhabitants of it have earned by their ill-doing. 14 With that staff of thine gather thy people in, the flock that is thy very own, scattered now in the forest glades, with rich plenty all around them; Basan and Galaad for their pasture-grounds, as in the days of old. 15 Now for such wondrous evidences of power as marked thy rescuing of them from Egypt! 16 Here is a sight to make the Gentiles hold their valour cheap, stand there dumb; ay, and why not deaf too? 17 Let them lick the dust, serpent-fashion, crawl out from their homes, like scared reptiles, in terror of the Lord our God; much cause they shall have to fear him.

11
Dies, ut ædificentur maceriæ tuæ;
in die illa longe fiet lex. 12
In die illa et usque ad te veniet de Assur,
et usque ad civitates munitas,
et a civitatibus munitis usque ad flumen,
et ad mare de mari,
et ad montem de monte. 13
Et terra erit in desolationem propter habitatores suos,
et propter fructum cogitationum eorum. 14

Pasce populum tuum in virga tua,
gregem hæreditatis tuæ, habitantes solos, in saltu, in medio Carmeli.
Pascentur Basan et Galaad juxta dies antiquos. 15
Secundum dies egressionis tuæ de terra Ægypti,
ostendam ei mirabilia. 16
Videbunt gentes,
et confundentur super omni fortitudine sua.
Ponent manum super os,
aures eorum surdæ erunt. 17
Lingent pulverem sicut serpentes;
velut reptilia terræ perturbabuntur in ædibus suis.
Dominum Deum nostrum formidabunt,
et timebunt te.

18 τίς θεὸς ὥσπερ σύ ἐξαίρων ἀδικίας καὶ ὑπερβαίνων ἀσεβείας τοῖς καταλοίποις τῆς κληρονομίας αὐτοῦ καὶ οὐ συνέσχεν εἰς μαρτύριον ὀργὴν αὐτοῦ ὅτι θελητὴς ἐλέους ἐστίν 19 αὐτὸς ἐπιστρέψει καὶ οἰκτιρήσει ἡμᾶς καταδύσει τὰς ἀδικίας ἡμῶν καὶ ἀπορριφήσονται εἰς τὰ βάθη τῆς θαλάσσης πάσας τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν 20 δώσεις ἀλήθειαν τῷ Ιακωβ ἔλεον τῷ Αβρααμ καθότι ὤμοσας τοῖς πατράσιν ἡμῶν κατὰ τὰς ἡμέρας τὰς ἔμπροσθεν

18 Was there ever such a God, so ready to forgive sins, to overlook faults, among the scattered remnant of his chosen race? He will exact vengeance no more; he loves to pardon. 19 He will relent, and have mercy on us, quashing our guilt, burying our sins away sea-deep. 20 Thou wilt keep thy promise to Jacob, shew mercy to Abraham, thy promised mercies of long ago.

18
Quis, Deus, similis tui,
qui aufers iniquitatem,
et transis peccatum reliquiarum hæreditatis tuæ?
Non immittet ultra furorem suum,
quoniam volens misericordiam est. 19
Revertetur, et miserebitur nostri;
deponet iniquitates nostras,
et projiciet in profundum maris omnia peccata nostra. 20
Dabis veritatem Jacob,
misericordiam Abraham,
quæ jurasti patribus nostris a diebus antiquis.

[1] The interpretation of this verse is difficult; the meaning given above seems to fit the Latin best.

[2] We have no means of determining whether the last thirteen words are part of what the rival city used to say about Sion, or part of what Sion will say about the rival city.

[3] The passage is obscure, and there is some reason to doubt whether the text has been preserved accurately. It runs literally, ‘Day for the building of thy walls, that (is a) day the limit is removed far off; that (is a) day and he (or, people) shall come all the way to thee, all the way from Assur and the cities of Mazor, all the way from Mazor and to the River, and the sea from the sea and the mountain the mountain’. ‘Limit’ can hardly mean ‘frontier’, a notion which is always expressed elsewhere by a different word (over two hundred times in the Old Testament). The phrase ‘limit is removed’ is a jingle of words, probably meant to suggest confusion, like our ‘higgledy-piggledy’. Mazor is translated as a proper noun (‘fortress’) in the Latin version. It is hard to see why the space between Assyria and Egypt should be regarded as different from the space between Egypt and the Euphrates; possibly something has dropped out.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd