4. Even the best of them is like a brier;the most honest is as dangerous as a hedge of thorns.But your judgment day is coming swiftly now.Your time of punishment is here, a time of confusion.
5. Don’t trust anyone—not your best friend or even your wife!
6. For the son despises his father.The daughter defies her mother.The daughter-in-law defies her mother-in-law.Your enemies are right in your own household!
7. As for me, I look to the lord for help.I wait confidently for God to save me,and my God will certainly hear me.
8. Do not gloat over me, my enemies!For though I fall, I will rise again.Though I sit in darkness,the lord will be my light.
9. I will be patient as the lord punishes me,for I have sinned against him.But after that, he will take up my caseand give me justice for all I have suffered from my enemies.The lord will bring me into the light,and I will see his righteousness.
10. Then my enemies will see that the lord is on my side.They will be ashamed that they taunted me, saying,“So where is the lord—that God of yours?”With my own eyes I will see their downfall;they will be trampled like mud in the streets.
11. In that day, Israel, your cities will be rebuilt,and your borders will be extended.
12. People from many lands will come and honor you—from Assyria all the way to the towns of Egypt,from Egypt all the way to the Euphrates River,and from distant seas and mountains.
13. But the land will become empty and desolatebecause of the wickedness of those who live there.