Forgotten Ground Regained

You Delight in Mercy and Manifest Love

Micah 7 in Alliterative Verse
  • I moan in woe—what misery is mine!
  • Like a late gleaner who goes to the fields,
  • I can grasp no figs or grapes worth eating.
  • The godly men are gone from the world;
  • not an upright man remains on earth.
  • All are lurking to ambush their foes;
  • these wicked brutes are bent on blood.
  • Every brother strains to snare his brother.

  • Both hands are at work to hurt and harm;
  • princes and judges deliver injustice,
  • plotting with powerful ones who proffer bribes.
  • The best of these men is a wounding briar
  • or a tangled thornbush that traps and tears.
  • The day of your watchmen, the day of your prophets,
  • the day you are punished, perplexed, and panicked,
  • this terrifying day now takes its toll.

  • Neither trust nor confide in a friend or neighbor;
  • safeguard your words even from your wife.
  • For an arrogant son dishonors his father;
  • a mocking daughter dishonors her mother;
  • a daughter-in-law flouts her mother-in-law:
  • the foes of a man are found in his home!

  • Therefore I will look to the Lord my God;
  • for my very God, the God of my salvation,
  • will surely hear and help me in my need.

  • I will bear God’s anger spawned by my sinful acts,
  • until He pleads my case and justifies my cause.

  • Who is a God like You, O Lord, who forgives offenses
  • and pardons the sins of Your people’s remnant?
  • You do not stay angry forever and ever—
  • You delight in mercy and manifest love.
  • You will show compassion again to Your people:
  • our trespasses You will tread and trample underfoot.
  • Into the depths of the sea You will cast our sins.
  • To father Abraham and father Jacob,
  • You will fulfill Your vows in faithful truth.
Copyright © Kathryn Ann Hill, 2025
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