Passage

Micah 7.18-20

Book: Micah · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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. 20. 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. 20. 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. 20. 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. 20. 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, closing the book with a hymn addressed to God.
Audience: God, in praise, with the faithful 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

The book's last word. Micah began with God coming down in judgment "for the transgression of Jacob" (Micah 1:5). It ends with God who "passeth over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage." The closing hymn does not deny the judgments; it says what lies beyond them.

Three movements.

Incomparable in pardon (7:18). "Who is a God like unto thee" plays on the prophet's name, "Who is like Yah?", and gathers the Sinai words for iniquity, transgression and lovingkindness. See Micah 7:18.
Sin subdued and drowned (7:19). God treads iniquities under foot and casts sins "into the depths of the sea," as he once cast Pharaoh's army. See Micah 7:18-19 and Micah 7:19.
Faithful to his oath (7:20). "Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the lovingkindness to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old." See Micah 7:20.

The answer to the worshipper's question. In Micah 6:7 a worshipper asked whether he should give his firstborn "for the sin of my soul." Micah 6:8 told him how to live. This hymn answers the question about sin: it is not removed by the size of an offering but by the character of God, who "delighteth in lovingkindness." The book moves from what God requires to what God himself does.

Forgiveness grounded in promise. The basis of the pardon is not that the people have earned it but that God swore it to Abraham and Jacob. The hymn rests the future of a judged people on the oath of a faithful God.

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.

H6588 - pesha, pesha, Strong's H6588
H0571 - emet, emet, Strong's H0571
H5771 - avon, avon, Strong's H5771
H0410 - el, el, Strong's H0410
H2617 - hesed, hesed, Strong's H2617
H2388 - chazaq, chazaq, Strong's H2388

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

100 Verses of Compassion and God's Goodness, via Micah 7.18, Micah 7.19
No Longer Sinners, via Micah 7.18-19
OT vs NT God Objection, via Micah 7.18-19

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.