Micah 7:18

KJV1611 – Modern English

Who is a God like you, that pardons iniquity, and passes by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in mercy.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

מִי־אֵ֣ל כָּמ֗וֹךָ נֹשֵׂ֤א עָוֺן֙ וְעֹבֵ֣ר עַל־פֶּ֔שַׁע לִשְׁאֵרִ֖ית נַחֲלָת֑וֹ לֹא־הֶחֱזִ֤יק לָעַד֙ אַפּ֔וֹ כִּֽי־חָפֵ֥ץ חֶ֖סֶד הֽוּא׃

Transliteration

Who is-ʾēl like you, nōśēʾ ʿāwōn and ʿōbēr upon-pešaʿ for-šəʾērît his naḥălātô? Not-heḥĕzîq forever his ʾappô, for-ḥāpēṣ ḥesed he.

Grammar Details

• *mî*: interrogative pronoun - who
• *ʾēl*: masculine singular noun - God/deity
• *kāmôkā*: preposition with 2nd person masculine singular suffix - like you
• *nōśēʾ*: Qal participle, masculine singular - bearing/forgiving
• *ʿāwōn*: masculine singular noun - iniquity
• *wə*: conjunction - and
• *ʿōbēr*: Qal participle, masculine singular - passing over
• *ʿal*: preposition - upon
• *pešaʿ*: masculine singular noun - transgression
• *li-šəʾērît*: preposition + feminine singular construct noun - for remnant of
• *naḥălātô*: feminine singular noun with 3rd person masculine singular suffix - his inheritance
• *lō*: negative particle - not
• *heḥĕzîq*: Hiphil perfect, 3rd person masculine singular - he has retained/held
• *lā-ʿad*: preposition + masculine singular noun - forever
• *ʾappô*: masculine singular noun with 3rd person masculine singular suffix - his anger
• *kî*: conjunction - for/because
• *ḥāpēṣ*: Qal participle, masculine singular - delighting in
• *ḥesed*: masculine singular noun - lovingkindness/steadfast love
• *hû*: 3rd person masculine singular pronoun - he

Word Meanings

• *ʾēl*: God/deity/mighty one
• *nōśēʾ ʿāwōn*: bearing iniquity/forgiving sin/carrying guilt
• *ʿōbēr ʿal-pešaʿ*: passing over transgression/overlooking rebellion
• *šəʾērît naḥălātô*: remnant of his inheritance/remainder of his heritage
• *heḥĕzîq lā-ʿad ʾappô*: retained his anger forever/held onto his wrath
• *ḥāpēṣ ḥesed*: delights in mercy/loves kindness/desires lovingkindness

Other Translations

• Linguistic Bible Translation from Source Texts

  Who is a God like You, forgiving iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in steadfast love.

• King James Version 1769 (Standard Version)

  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.

• American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

  Who is a God{H410} like unto thee, that pardoneth{H5375} iniquity,{H5771} and passeth over{H5674} the transgression{H6588} of the remnant{H7611} of his heritage?{H5159} he retaineth{H2388} not his anger{H639} for ever,{H5703} because he delighteth{H2654} in lovingkindness.{H2617}

• King James Version with Strong's Numbers

  Who is a God{H410} like unto thee, that pardoneth{H5375}{(H8802)} iniquity{H5771}, and passeth by{H5674}{(H8802)} the transgression{H6588} of the remnant{H7611} of his heritage{H5159}? he retaineth{H2388}{(H8689)} not his anger{H639} for ever{H5703}, because he delighteth{H2654}{(H8804)} in mercy{H2617}.

• Coverdale Bible (1535)

  Where is there soch a God as thou? that pardonest wickednes, and forgeuest the offences of the remnaunt of thine heretage? He kepeth not his wrath for euer. And why? his delyte is to haue compassion:

• Geneva Bible (1560)

  Who is a God like vnto thee, that taketh away iniquitie, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage! He reteineth not his wrath for euer, because mercie pleaseth him.

• Bishops' Bible (1568)

  Who is such a God as thou, that pardonest wickednesse, and forgeuest the offences of the remnaunt of thyne heritage? He kepeth not his wrath for euer: for his delite is to haue compassion.

• Authorized King James Version (1611)

  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.

• Webster's Bible (1833)

  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.

• Young's Literal Translation (1862/1898)

  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.

• American Standard Version (1901)

  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.

• American Standard Version (1901)

  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.

• Bible in Basic English (1941)

  Who is a God like you, offering forgiveness for evil-doing and overlooking the sins of the rest of his heritage? he does not keep his wrath for ever, because his delight is in mercy.

• World English Bible (2000)

  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.

• NET Bible® (New English Translation)

  Who is a God like you? Who forgives sin and pardons the rebellion of those who remain among his people? Who does not stay angry forever, but delights in showing loyal love?

Referenced Verses

• Isa 43:25 : 25 I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins.
• Jer 32:41 : 41 Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.
• Jer 50:20 : 20 In those days and at that time, says the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon those whom I reserve.
• Mic 2:12 : 12 I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of you; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold; they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of people.
• Exod 15:11 : 11 Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?
• Ezek 33:11 : 11 Say to them, As I live, says the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?
• Mic 5:7-8 : 7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people like dew from the LORD, like showers upon the grass that do not wait for man nor wait for the sons of men. 8 And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he goes through, both treads down and tears in pieces, and none can deliver.
• Mic 4:7 : 7 And I will make the lame a remnant, and the outcast a strong nation, and the LORD shall reign over them in Mount Zion from now on, even forever.
• Ps 103:8-9 : 8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and rich in mercy. 9 He will not always rebuke: nor will He keep His anger forever.
• Exod 34:6-7 : 6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in goodness and truth," 7 "Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and by no means clearing the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation."
• Exod 34:9 : 9 And he said, "If now I have found grace in your sight, O Lord, forgive our iniquity and our sin, and accept us as your inheritance."
• Num 14:18-19 : 18 The LORD is longsuffering and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation. 19 Pardon, I beseech you, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your mercy, and as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.
• Num 23:21 : 21 He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has he seen perverseness in Israel; the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.
• Deut 33:26 : 26 There is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rides upon the heavens to help you, and in his majesty on the sky.
• 1 Kgs 8:23 : 23 And he said, LORD God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, who keeps covenant and mercy with your servants that walk before you with all their heart:
• Neh 9:17 : 17 They refused to obey, and were not mindful of Your wonders that You did among them. But they hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a leader to return to their bondage. But You are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in kindness, and did not forsake them.
• Ps 35:10 : 10 All my bones shall say, LORD, who is like you, who delivers the poor from him who is too strong for him, yes, the poor and the needy from him who plunders him?
• Ps 65:3 : 3 Iniquities prevail against me; as for our transgressions, You shall purge them away.
• Ps 71:19 : 19 Your righteousness also, O God, is very high, who has done great things; O God, who is like unto you!
• Ps 77:6-9 : 6 I call to remembrance my song in the night; I commune with my own heart, and my spirit diligently searches. 7 Will the Lord cast off forever? and will He be favorable no more? 8 Is His mercy completely gone forever? Does His promise fail forevermore? 9 Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies? Selah. 10 And I said, This is my infirmity; but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.
• Ps 85:4-5 : 4 Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause Your anger toward us to cease. 5 Will You be angry with us forever? Will You draw out Your anger to all generations?
• Ps 86:5 : 5 For You, Lord, are good and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all them that call upon You.
• Ps 86:15 : 15 But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion and gracious, slow to anger, and plentiful in mercy and truth.
• Ps 89:6 : 6 For who in the heavens can be compared to the LORD? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the LORD?
• Ps 89:8 : 8 O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like you? Or to your faithfulness around you?
• Ps 103:2-3 : 2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and do not forget all His benefits: 3 Who forgives all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases;
• Ps 103:13 : 13 As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him.
• Ps 113:5-6 : 5 Who is like the LORD our God, who dwells on high, 6 Who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and on the earth!
• Ps 130:4 : 4 But there is forgiveness with you, that you may be feared.
• Ps 130:7-8 : 7 Let Israel hope in the LORD, for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is abundant redemption. 8 And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
• Isa 1:18 : 18 Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
• Isa 40:18 : 18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him?
• Isa 40:25 : 25 To whom then will you liken me, or to whom shall I be equal? says the Holy One.
• Isa 44:22 : 22 I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, like a cloud, your sins: return to me; for I have redeemed you.
• Isa 46:8-9 : 8 Remember this, and show yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O you transgressors. 9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
• Isa 55:7 : 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
• Isa 57:10 : 10 You are wearied by the length of your way; yet you did not say, There is no hope: you have found the life of your hand; therefore you were not grieved.
• Isa 57:16 : 16 For I will not contend forever, neither will I be always angry; for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made.
• Isa 62:5 : 5 For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your sons marry you: and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.
• Isa 65:19 : 19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and delight in my people; the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
• Jer 3:5 : 5 Will he hold onto his anger forever? Will he keep it to the end? Behold, you have spoken and done evil things as you could.
• Jer 3:12 : 12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, backsliding Israel, says the LORD; and I will not cause my anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, says the LORD, and I will not keep anger forever.
• Jer 31:34 : 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
• Mic 5:3 : 3 Therefore he will give them up, until the time that she who labors has brought forth; then the remnant of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel.
• Lam 3:31-32 : 31 For the Lord will not cast off forever: 32 But though He causes grief, yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.
• Mic 7:14 : 14 Feed your people with your rod, the flock of your heritage, who dwell solitarily in the woodland, in the midst of Carmel; let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
• Zeph 3:17 : 17 The LORD your God in the midst of you is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over you with joy; he will rest in his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.
• Luke 15:5-7 : 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. 7 I say to you, that likewise there will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, more than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
• Luke 15:9-9 : 9 And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I lost. 10 Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
• Luke 15:23-24 : 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it; and let us eat and be merry: 24 For this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. And they began to be merry.
• Luke 15:32 : 32 It was right that we should make merry and be glad: for this your brother was dead and is alive again; and was lost and is found.
• Luke 24:47 : 47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
• Acts 13:38-39 : 38 Let it be known to you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins: 39 And by him all who believe are justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.
• Rom 11:4 : 4 But what is God's answer to him? I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
• Eph 2:4-5 : 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, made us alive together with Christ, (by grace you are saved;)
• Heb 8:9-9 : 9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in my covenant, and I did not regard them, says the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people: 11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more.
• Jas 2:13 : 13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
• Dan 9:9 : 9 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him;
• Joel 2:32 : 32 And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD has said, and among the remnant whom the LORD shall call.
• Amos 7:8 : 8 And the LORD said to me, Amos, what do you see? And I said, A plumbline. Then the Lord said, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not pass by them anymore:
• Amos 8:2 : 2 And He said, Amos, what do you see? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then the LORD said to me, The end has come upon my people Israel; I will not pass by them anymore.
• Jonah 4:2 : 2 And he prayed to the LORD, and said, I pray you, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled before to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and relent from doing harm.
• Exod 33:18-19 : 18 And he said, I beseech you, show me your glory. 19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.
• Jer 38:8 : 8 Ebedmelech went out of the king's house and spoke to the king, saying,