ris3n's Apologetics Codex
Micah 7.18-19
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Passage

Micah 7.18-19

Book: Micah · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

16. The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might; they shall lay their hand upon their mouth; their ears shall be deaf. 17. They shall lick the dust like a serpent; like crawling things of the earth they shall come trembling out of their close places; they shall come with fear unto Jehovah our God, and shall be afraid because of thee.

18. Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in lovingkindness. 19. He will again have compassion upon us; he will tread our iniquities under foot; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

  1. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the lovingkindness to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old. (Micah 7:16-20, ASV)
WEB

16. The nations will see and be ashamed of all their might. They will lay their hand on their mouth. Their ears will be deaf. 17. They will lick the dust like a serpent. Like crawling things of the earth they shall come trembling out of their dens. They will come with fear to Yahweh our God, and will be afraid because of you.

18. Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn’t retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving kindness. 19. He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities under foot; and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

  1. You will give truth to Jacob, and mercy to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old. (Micah 7:16-20, WEB)
KJV

16. The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf. 17. They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the LORD our God, and shall fear because of thee. worms: or, creeping things

18. Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. 19. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

  1. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old. (Micah 7:16-20, KJV)
YLT

16. See do nations, and they are ashamed of all their might, They lay a hand on the mouth, their ears are deaf. 17. They lick dust as a serpent, as fearful things of earth, They tremble from their enclosures, Of Jehovah our God they are afraid, Yea, they are afraid of Thee.

18. Who [is] a God like Thee? taking away iniquity, And passing by the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance, He hath not retained for ever His anger, Because He, He delighteth [in] kindness. 19. He doth turn back, He pitieth us, He doth subdue our iniquities, And Thou castest into the depths of the sea all their sins.

  1. Thou givest truth to Jacob, kindness to Abraham, That thou hast sworn to our fathers, from the days of antiquity! (Micah 7:16-20, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: The prophet, speaking for the community in the book's closing hymn, first about God ("he") and then to him ("thou wilt cast").
  • Audience: God, in praise and confidence, with the remnant joining.
  • Location: Judah, after the judgments the book has announced.
  • Time period: Late eighth century BC, in the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah of Judah (Micah 1:1), the same years as Isaiah; Jeremiah 26:18 remembers Micah prophesying "in the days of Hezekiah".

Theological reading

Six verbs of mercy. The two verses pile up what God does with sin. He "pardoneth" iniquity, "passeth over" transgression, "retaineth not his anger," "will again have compassion," "will tread our iniquities under foot," and "wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." The book that spent six chapters naming sins ends by listing the ways God disposes of them.

Three pictures of forgiveness.

  1. Carried away. "Pardoneth" renders a verb that means to lift or bear. The same verb describes the land-grabbers who "take away" houses (Micah 2:2). They lifted what was not theirs; God lifts away what his people cannot carry.
  2. Trampled. "He will tread our iniquities under foot." Sin is pictured as an enemy to be subdued, not merely a debt to be cancelled.
  3. Drowned. "Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea," the fate of Pharaoh's army in the exodus. See Micah 7:19.

From "he" to "thou." Verse 18 opens by addressing God ("like unto thee") and then speaks of him in the third person; verse 19 ends by speaking to him again: "thou wilt cast." The hymn moves from confession about God to confidence in him. For the Sinai vocabulary of verse 18, see Micah 7:18; for the oath that closes the book, see Micah 7:20.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Lexicon:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.