Micah 7:4

4 The best of them [is] like a brier; [the most] upright [worse] than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchman, your punishment, has come; now their confusion will come.

Micah 7:4 Meaning and Commentary

Micah 7:4

The best of them [is] as a brier
Good for nothing but for burning, very hurtful and mischievous, pricking and scratching those that have to do with them: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge;
which, if a man lays hold on to get over, or attempts to pass through, his hands will be pricked, his face scratched, and his clothes tore off his back; so the best of these princes, judges, and great inch, who put on a show of goodness, and pretended to do justice, yet fetched blood, and got money out of everyone they were concerned with, and did them injury in one respect or another; or the best and most upright of the people of the land in general, that made the greatest pretensions to religion and virtue, yet in their dealings were sharp, and biting, and tricking; and took every fraudulent method to cheat, and overreach, and hurt men in their property: the day of thy watchmen;
either which the true prophets of the Lord, sometimes called watchmen, foretold should come, but were discredited and despised, will now most assuredly come; and it will be found to be true what they said should come to pass: or the day of the false prophets, as Kimchi and Ben Melech; either which they predicted as a good day, and now it should be seen whether it would be so or not; or the day of their punishment, for their false prophecies and deception of the people: [and] thy visitation cometh;
the time that God would punish the people in general for their iniquities, as! well as their false prophets, princes, judges, and great men; who also may be designed by watchmen: now shall be their perplexity:
the prince, the judge, and the great man, in just retaliation for their perplexing the cause of the poor; or of all the people, who would be surrounded and entangled with calamities and distresses, and not know which way to turn themselves, or how to get out of them.

Micah 7:4 In-Context

2 The faithful [person] has perished from the land, and there is none who is upright among humankind. All of them lie in wait; each hunts his brother [with] a net.

3 Their hands [are] upon evil, to do [it] well; the official and the judge ask for the bribe, and the great [man] utters the evil desire of his soul; and they weave [it] together.

4 The best of them [is] like a brier; [the most] upright [worse] than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchman, your punishment, has come; now their confusion will come.

5 Do not put faith in a friend; put no trust in a close friend. Guard the doorways of your mouth from the one who lies in your lap.

6 For a son treats a father with contempt; a daughter rises up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; [the] enemies of a man [are] the men of his own house.