ris3n's Apologetics Codex
Micah 7.19
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Passage

Micah 7.19

Book: Micah · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

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 7:17-20, ASV)
WEB

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 7:17-20, WEB)
KJV

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 7:17-20, KJV)
YLT

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 7:17-20, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: The prophet, speaking for the community in the closing hymn of the book (7:18-20).
  • Audience: God, addressed directly in the second half of the verse ("thou wilt cast").
  • Location: Judah, remembering the exodus: "As in the days of thy coming forth out of the land of Egypt will I show unto them marvellous things" (7:15).
  • 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

Compassion again. "He will again have compassion upon us." The word "again" assumes a history: God has shown compassion before, the people have sinned since, and the hymn trusts that he will turn back to them once more. Forgiveness here is not a single event but God's repeated return to his people.

Sin trampled. "He will tread our iniquities under foot." The KJV renders it "he will subdue our iniquities," using the same verb as Genesis 1:28, "replenish the earth, and subdue it." Iniquity is treated as a hostile power that God brings under control. Forgiveness in this verse is not only a release from penalty but a victory over sin itself.

Into the depths of the sea. "Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." Micah has just recalled the exodus (7:15), and the image matches the Song of the Sea: "Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea... The deeps cover them: They went down into the depths like a stone" (Exodus 15:4-5). What was done to Israel's oppressor is done to Israel's sins: they go under and do not come back. Jewish tradition later took this verse as the basis of Tashlikh, the custom of praying at a body of water at the new year; the name comes from the verb "thou wilt cast." On the whole hymn, see Micah 7:18-20.

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.

Quoted in

Concepts:

Lexicon:

Notes

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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.