Micah 7:1-7

Israel's Moral Decline

1 How sad for me! For I am like one who- when the summer fruit has been gathered after the gleaning of the grape harvest- [finds] no grape cluster to eat, no early fig, which I crave.[a]
2 Godly people have vanished from the land; there is no one upright among the people.[b] All of them wait in ambush to shed blood; they hunt each other with a net.
3 Both hands are good at accomplishing evil: the official and the judge demand a bribe;[c] when the powerful man communicates his evil desire, they plot it together.
4 The best of them is like a brier; the most upright is worse than a hedge of thorns. The day of your watchmen, [the day of] your punishment, is coming; at this time their panic is here.
5 Do not rely on a friend; don't trust in a close companion. Seal your mouth from the woman who lies in your arms.
6 For a son considers his father a fool, a daughter opposes her mother, and a daughter-in-law is against her mother-in-law; a person's enemies are the people in his own home.[d]
7 But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation.[e] My God will hear me.

Micah 7:1-7 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO MICAH 7

This chapter begins with a lamentation of the prophet, in the name of the church and people of God, concerning the general depravity and corruption of the times in which he lived, Mic 7:1-6; then declares what he was determined to do for his relief in such circumstances, Mic 7:7; comforts himself and the church with a good hope and firm belief of its being otherwise and better with them, to the shame and confusion of their enemies that now rejoiced, though without just reason for it, Mic 7:8-10; with promises of deliverance, after a desolation of the land for some time, Mic 7:11-13; and with the answer returned to the prayers of the prophet, Mic 7:14,15; which would issue in the astonishment of the world, and their subjection to the church of God, Mic 7:16,17; and the chapter is concluded with admiration at the pardoning grace and mercy of God, and his faithfulness to his promises, Mic 7:18-20.

Footnotes 5

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