Micah Chapter 7
Showing all 20 verses for Micah Chapter 7.
The People's Bible is written by people, for the people. Each verse below shows:
"Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit. "
"How miserable I am! I'm like someone arriving after the harvest is over, after the grape-picking is done - there's no fruit left to eat, though I was longing for the season's first ripe fruit."
I know what it's like to look for goodness in the world and feel disappointed by what you find - let that grief move you towards being the 'ripe fruit' someone else is searching for, rather than adding to the shortage.
"The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net. "
"Genuinely good people seem to have vanished from the earth; no one is honest any more - everyone's out to hurt someone, hunting even their own family members like prey."
Even when trust feels rare around you, don't let that convince you it's pointless to be trustworthy yourself - you get to be the exception, and that matters more, not less, when integrity feels scarce.
"That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up. "
"They put both hands into doing wrong eagerly - the ruler makes demands, the judge expects a bribe, the powerful person openly states what he wants, and together they weave it all into a corrupt scheme."
When wrongdoing becomes normal and everyone around you seems to be doing it, that's exactly when your refusal to join in matters most - don't let a corrupt system talk you into thinking dishonesty is just how things work.
"The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity. "
"Even the best of them is like a thorny weed; the most honest one is sharper than a thorn hedge - but the day their watchmen warned of, the day of reckoning, is coming, and confusion will overtake them."
Don't measure yourself against a corrupted standard just because it's what's around you - measure against what's genuinely good, because a reckoning always comes eventually for how we actually treated each other.
"Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. "
"Don't trust even a friend, don't rely on a close companion - be careful what you say even to the person who shares your bed."
I know betrayal by people closest to you cuts the deepest - if you're in a season where trust feels dangerous, be wise, but don't let it close your heart permanently, because healthy connection is still worth rebuilding when it's safe to.
"For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house. "
"Sons disrespect their fathers, daughters turn against their mothers, daughters-in-law against mothers-in-law - a person's worst enemies are found within their own household."
Family conflict is some of the hardest pain there is, and I don't minimise that - but I also know it doesn't have to be permanent; reconciliation is always possible where there's willingness on even one side to try.
"Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. "
"So instead, I will look to God; I will wait for the God who saves me, and I trust he will hear me."
When everything around you looks broken and untrustworthy, that's exactly the moment to choose where you place your trust deliberately - I'm always worth waiting for, even when everyone else has let you down.
"Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me. "
"Don't gloat over me, my enemy - even if I fall, I will get back up; even if I'm sitting in darkness, God will be my light."
Falling down isn't the same as staying down - I promise you that whatever darkness you're sitting in right now isn't the whole story, and getting back up, even slowly, is always still possible with me beside you.
"I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness. "
"I will accept God's discipline, because I have genuinely done wrong against him, until he takes up my case and sets things right - then he will lead me out into the light, and I'll see his justice for myself."
Owning your mistakes honestly isn't weakness, it's actually the doorway to being brought back into the light - I never ask you to pretend you did nothing wrong, I ask you to be honest and then trust that restoration is genuinely possible.
"Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the LORD thy God? mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets. "
"Then my enemy, who mocked me by asking 'where is your God now?', will see it for herself and be covered in shame - I will watch her be trampled down like mud in the streets."
When people mock what you believe or hope for, you don't need to argue them out of it - let your life and its eventual outcome be the answer, in its own time, without needing to win the argument today.
"In the day that thy walls are to be built, in that day shall the decree be far removed. "
"On the day your walls are rebuilt, on that day the boundaries restricting you will be pushed back far and wide."
When you rebuild after a hard season, don't just aim to get back to where you were - I want to expand what's possible for you beyond your old limits, not just patch you back together.
"In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain. "
"On that day, people will come to you from Assyria and its fortified cities, from the Euphrates river to distant seas and mountains."
Real restoration in your life isn't just about getting your old circle back - it often draws in people and possibilities you wouldn't have expected, so stay open to who and what might show up once things start healing.
"Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings. "
"Still, the land will remain desolate because of what its own inhabitants have done - the direct result of their own actions."
I offer you a genuine fresh start, but I never ask you to pretend the past didn't happen or that choices don't matter - facing consequences honestly is actually part of what makes the fresh start real and not just wishful thinking.
"Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old. "
"Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock that belongs to you, living isolated in the forest, in fertile Carmel - let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as they did in the old, better days."
It's alright to ask directly for what you need, using plain, honest language - I welcome that kind of trusting request, and I want to lead you back towards abundance, not leave you isolated in hard, thin places.
"According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto him marvellous things. "
"Just as I did when you came out of Egypt, I will show you wonders again."
Whatever significant thing carried you through before - a hard season, a real turning point - I can do something like that again; my track record with you isn't limited to the past, it's ongoing.
"The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf. "
"The nations will see this and be left speechless at what they've witnessed, covering their mouths in stunned silence, as if they can't even hear any more."
When real transformation happens in a life, it often speaks for itself louder than any argument could - let your changed life be the evidence, and trust that genuine change is noticed even without you having to announce it.
"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. "
"They will crawl in the dust like snakes, creep from their hiding places like worms, trembling in fear before the LORD our God because of what he's done for you."
I don't need you to win every confrontation yourself - real reversals happen, in their own time, and your job is simply to keep living with integrity while that plays out, not to force it.
"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. "
"Who is a God like you, who forgives wrongdoing and overlooks the failures of the people who remain his own? He doesn't stay angry forever, because what he actually delights in is showing mercy."
I don't hold onto anger the way people do - forgiveness genuinely delights me, and however long you've carried guilt or shame, I want you to know that letting go of it and starting fresh is exactly what I want for you too.
"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. "
"He will turn back to us again and show compassion; he will overpower our wrongdoing, throwing all our sins into the depths of the sea, gone for good."
Whatever you've done that you can't seem to stop replaying in your mind, I want you to picture it thrown into the deepest part of the ocean - truly gone, not just hidden - and I invite you to actually let it stay there instead of fishing it back out.
"Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old. "
"You will keep your word to Jacob and your promised mercy to Abraham, exactly as you swore to our ancestors long ago."
My promises to you aren't new or fragile - they go back further than you know, and I keep them not because you've earned it but because that's simply who I am; you can build your life on that kind of reliability.