Micah 7:18

Legacy Standard Bible

Who is a God like You, who forgives iniquityAnd passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance?He does not hold fast to His anger foreverBecause He delights in lovingkindness.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Who is a God like you,forgiving iniquity and passing over rebellionfor the remnant of his inheritance?He does not hold on to his anger foreverbecause he delights in faithful love.

Hebrew Names Version
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 lovingkindness.

King James Version (1611)
Who is a God like vnto thee, that pardoneth iniquitie, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? hee retaineth not his anger for euer, because he delighteth in mercy.

King James 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.

English Standard Version
Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.

New American Standard Bible
Who is a God like You, who pardons wrongdoing And passes over a rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy.

New Century Version
There is no God like you. You forgive those who are guilty of sin; you don't look at the sins of your people who are left alive. You will not stay angry forever, because you enjoy being kind.

Amplified Bible
Who is a God like You, who forgives wickedness And passes over the rebellious acts of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He [constantly] delights in mercy and lovingkindness.

Geneva Bible (1587)
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.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in unchanging love.

Berean Standard Bible
Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance-who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?

Contemporary English Version
The people said: Our God, no one is like you. We are all that is left of your chosen people, and you freely forgive our sin and guilt. You don't stay angry forever; you're glad to have pity

Complete Jewish Bible
Who is a God like you, pardoning the sin and overlooking the crimes of the remnant of his heritage? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in grace.

Darby Translation
Who is a God like unto thee, that forgiveth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in loving-kindness.

Easy-to-Read Version
There is no God like you. You take away people's guilt. God will forgive his people who survive. He will not stay angry with them forever, because he enjoys being kind.

George Lamsa Translation
There is no God like thee, who pardons iniquity and removes the sins of the remnant of his inheritance; thou retainest not thy anger for ever, because thou delightest in mercy.

Good News Translation
There is no other god like you, O Lord ; you forgive the sins of your people who have survived. You do not stay angry forever, but you take pleasure in showing us your constant love.

Lexham English Bible
Who is a God like you, forgiving sin and passing over rebellion for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, for he delights in loyal love.

Literal Translation
Who is a God like You, forgiving iniquity and passing by the transgression of the remnant of His possession? He does not make strong His anger forever, for He delights in grace.

American Standard Version
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
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.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth the iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth not His anger for ever, because He delighteth in mercy.

Bishop's 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.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Who is a God like thee, cancelling iniquities, and passing over the sins of the remnant of his inheritance? and he has not kept his anger for a testimony, for he delights in mercy.

English Revised 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.

World English Bible
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 lovingkindness.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
God, who is lijk thee, that doist awei wickidnesse, and berist ouer the synne of relifs of thin eritage? He shal no more sende in his stronge veniaunce, for he is willynge merci; he schal turne ayen,

Update Bible Version
Who is a God like you, that pardons iniquity, and passes over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving-kindness.

Webster's Bible Translation
Who [is] a God like to 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.

New English Translation
There is no other God like you! You forgive sin and pardon the rebellion of those who remain among your people. You do not remain angry forever, but delight in showing loyal love.

New King James Version
Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy.

New Living Translation
Where is another God like you, who pardons the guilt of the remnant, overlooking the sins of his special people? You will not stay angry with your people forever, because you delight in showing unfailing love.

New Life Bible
Who is a God like You, Who forgives sin and the wrong-doing of Your chosen people who are left? He does not stay angry forever because He is happy to show loving-kindness.

New Revised Standard
Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of your possession? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in showing clemency.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Who is a GOD like unto thee, taking away the iniquity - and passing over the transgression - of the remnant of his inheritance? He hath not held fast, perpetually, his anger, for, one who delighteth in lovingkindness, is he!

Douay-Rheims Bible
Who is a God like to thee, who takest away iniquity, and passest by the sin of the remnant of thy inheritance? he will send his fury in no more, because he delighteth in mercy.

Revised Standard Version
Who is a God like thee, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger for ever because he delights in steadfast love.

Young's Literal Translation
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.

Miles 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:

THE MESSAGE
Where is the god who can compare with you— wiping the slate clean of guilt, Turning a blind eye, a deaf ear, to the past sins of your purged and precious people? You don't nurse your anger and don't stay angry long, for mercy is your specialty. That's what you love most. And compassion is on its way to us. You'll stamp out our wrongdoing. You'll sink our sins to the bottom of the ocean. You'll stay true to your word to Father Jacob and continue the compassion you showed Grandfather Abraham— Everything you promised our ancestors from a long time ago.

Contextual Overview

¹⁴Shepherd Your people with Your scepter,The flock of Your inheritanceWhich dwells by itself in the forest,In the midst of a fruitful orchard.Let them feed in Bashan and GileadAs in the ancient days. ¹⁵"As in the days when you came out from the land of Egypt,I will show you wondrous deeds." ¹⁶Nations will see and be ashamedOf all their might.They will put their hand on their mouth;Their ears will be deaf. ¹⁷They will lick the dust like a serpent,Like crawling things of the earth.They will come trembling out of their fortresses;To Yahweh our God they will come in dread,And they will be afraid before You. ¹⁸Who is a God like You, who forgives iniquityAnd passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance?He does not hold fast to His anger foreverBecause He delights in lovingkindness. ¹⁹He will again have compassion on us;He will subdue our iniquities.And You will cast all their sinsInto the depths of the sea. ²⁰You will give truth to JacobAnd lovingkindness to Abraham,Which You swore to our fathersFrom the days of old.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a God: Exodus 15:11, Deuteronomy 33:26, 1 Kings 8:23, Psalms 35:10, Psalms 71:19, Psalms 89:6, Psalms 89:8, Psalms 113:5, Psalms 113:6, Isaiah 40:18, Isaiah 40:25, Isaiah 46:8, Isaiah 46:9

that: Exodus 33:18, Exodus 33:19, Exodus 34:6, Exodus 34:7, Numbers 14:18, Numbers 14:19, Nehemiah 9:17, Psalms 65:3, Psalms 86:5, Psalms 86:15, Psalms 103:2, Psalms 103:3, Psalms 130:4, Psalms 130:7, Psalms 130:8, Isaiah 1:18, Isaiah 43:25, Isaiah 44:22, Isaiah 55:7, Jeremiah 31:34, Jeremiah 38:8, Jeremiah 50:20, Daniel 9:9, Jonah 4:2, Luke 24:47, Acts 13:38, Acts 13:39

passeth: Numbers 23:21, Amos 7:8, Amos 8:2

the remnant: Micah 7:14, Micah 2:12, Micah 4:7, Micah 5:3, Micah 5:7, Micah 5:8, Joel 2:32, Romans 11:4, Hebrews 8:9-12

he retaineth: Psalms 77:6-10, Psalms 85:4, Psalms 85:5, Psalms 103:9, Isaiah 57:10, Isaiah 57:16, Jeremiah 3:5, Jeremiah 3:12, Lamentations 3:31, Lamentations 3:32

he delighteth: Isaiah 62:5, Isaiah 65:19, Jeremiah 32:41, Ezekiel 33:11, Zephaniah 3:17, Luke 15:5-7, Luke 15:9, Luke 15:10, Luke 15:23, Luke 15:24, Luke 15:32, Ephesians 2:4, Ephesians 2:5, James 2:13

Reciprocal: Genesis 18:14 - Is Genesis 18:32 - I will not Genesis 19:16 - the Lord Leviticus 6:7 - make Deuteronomy 4:31 - the Lord Deuteronomy 9:27 - look not Deuteronomy 28:63 - rejoiced over 2 Samuel 7:22 - none 2 Samuel 12:13 - The Lord 2 Samuel 24:14 - for his 1 Kings 21:29 - I will not 2 Kings 13:23 - the Lord 1 Chronicles 21:13 - great 2 Chronicles 6:14 - keepest covenant 2 Chronicles 6:21 - forgive 2 Chronicles 6:39 - forgive 2 Chronicles 30:9 - the Lord Nehemiah 9:32 - keepest Job 7:21 - take away Job 15:28 - desolate Job 33:24 - Then Psalms 23:3 - restoreth Psalms 25:6 - for they Psalms 32:1 - transgression Psalms 51:1 - O God Psalms 51:9 - Hide Psalms 62:12 - mercy Psalms 79:5 - wilt Psalms 85:2 - forgiven Psalms 103:12 - so far Psalms 108:4 - thy mercy Psalms 111:4 - gracious Psalms 138:2 - and praise Psalms 145:8 - Lord is gracious Proverbs 3:3 - mercy Proverbs 16:6 - mercy Isaiah 30:18 - for the Lord Isaiah 33:24 - shall be forgiven Isaiah 38:17 - thou hast cast Isaiah 53:10 - the pleasure Isaiah 64:9 - remember Jeremiah 9:24 - for Jeremiah 31:7 - remnant Jeremiah 31:20 - I will Jeremiah 33:8 - General Jeremiah 50:19 - he shall Jeremiah 51:5 - though Lamentations 3:22 - because Ezekiel 18:23 - not that Ezekiel 33:16 - General Daniel 9:4 - the great Hosea 3:1 - according Hosea 11:9 - for Joel 2:13 - for Amos 1:11 - kept Nahum 1:2 - reserveth Zephaniah 3:15 - hath taken Zechariah 3:9 - remove Zechariah 8:15 - have Zechariah 10:6 - for I have Matthew 7:11 - how Matthew 9:6 - that the Matthew 18:13 - he rejoiceth Mark 2:7 - who Luke 7:42 - he Luke 15:20 - But Luke 23:43 - To day Acts 3:19 - that Acts 10:43 - him Romans 4:7 - General Romans 5:20 - But Romans 9:15 - I will have 2 Corinthians 1:3 - the Father of mercies Galatians 3:18 - but Ephesians 1:7 - the forgiveness Titus 3:5 - according James 5:11 - the Lord is 1 Peter 5:10 - the God

Cross-References

Exodus 14:28
And the waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh's entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of them remained.

Job 22:16
Who were snatched away before their time,Whose foundations were washed away by a river?

Psalms 69:15
May the flood of water not overflow meNor the deep swallow me up,Nor the pit shut its mouth on me.

Psalms 104:26
There the ships move along,And Leviathan, which You have formed to play in it.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Who [is] a God like unto thee,.... There is no God besides him, none so great, so mighty, as he; none like him for the perfections of his nature; for the works of his hands; for the blessings of his goodness, both of providence and grace; and particularly for his pardoning grace and mercy, as follows:

that pardoneth iniquity: that "lifts" it up, and "takes" it away, as the word t signifies; thus the Lord has taken the sins of his people off of them, and laid them on Christ, and he has bore them, and carried them away, as the antitype of the scapegoat, never to be seen and remembered any more; and whereas the guilt of sin lies sometimes as a heavy burden upon their consciences, he lifts it up, and takes it away, by sprinkling the blood of Christ upon them, and by applying his pardoning grace and mercy to them: pardon of sin is peculiar to God; none can forgive it but he against whom it is committed; forgiveness of sin is with him, promised by him in covenant, proclaimed in Christ, by him obtained and published in the Gospel:

and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? the people of God are his portion, his lot, and his inheritance; they are a remnant according to the election of grace, chosen of God, taken into his covenant, redeemed by Christ, and called by grace, and brought to repent and believe; these God forgives, even all their transgressions, sins, and iniquities of every kind; which is here expressed by another word, "passing [them] by", or "passing over [them]": sin is a transgression or passing over the law, and pardon is a passing over sin; God taking no notice of it, as if he saw it not; not imputing it to his people, or calling them to an account for it; or condemning and punishing them according to the desert of it; but hiding his face from it, and covering it:

he retaineth not his anger for ever; that which he seemed to have against his people, and appeared in some of the dispensations of his providence, is not continued and lengthened out, and especially for ever, but it disappears; he changes the course of his providence, and his conduct and behaviour to his people, and, hews them his face and favour, and manifests his forgiving love; which is a turning himself from his anger; see Psalms 85:2;

because he delighteth [in] mercy; which is natural to him, abundant with him, and exercised according to his sovereign will and pleasure, very delightful to him; he takes pleasure in showing mercy to miserable creatures, and in those that hope in it, Psalms 147:11; this is the spring of pardon, which streams through the blood of Christ.

t נשא "tollens", Montanus, Tigurine version, Calvin; "aufercus", Drusius; "qui aufers", Grotius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Who is a God - (and, as the word means, A Mighty God,) like unto Thee? He saith not, “Who hast made heaven and earth, the sea and all that therein is” Exodus 20:11; nor, “Who telleth the number of the stars; and calleth them all by their names” Psalms 147:4; nor, “Who by His strength setteth fast the mountains and is girded about with power” Psalms 65:6; but who forgivest! For greater is the work of Redemption than the work of Creation. “That pardoneth”, and beareth and taketh away also, “and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage”, that is, His heritage, which is a remnant still when “the rest are blinded” Romans 11:7; and this, not of its merits but of His mercy; since it is not His nature to “retain His anger forever”; not for anything in them, but “because He delighteth in mercy”, as He saith, “I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger forever” Jeremiah 3:12. “I am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine oum sake, and will not remember thy sins” Isaiah 43:25. : “For although God for a time is angry with His elect, chastening them mercifully in this life, yet in the end He hath compassion on them, giving them everlasting consolations.”

Moses, after the completion of his people’s deliverance at the Red Sea, used the like appeal to God, in unmingled joy. Then the thanksgiving ran, “glorious in holiness, awful in praises, doing wonders” Exodus 15:11. Now, it ran in a more subdued, yet even deeper, tone, taken from God’s revelation of Himself after that great transgression on Mount Sinai “forgiving iniquity and trasgression and sin”. With this, Micah identified his own name . This was the one message which he loved above all to proclaim; of this, his own name was the herald to his people in his day. who is like the Lord, the Pardoner of sin, the Redeemer from its guilt, the Subduer of its power? For no false god was ever such a claim made. The pagan gods were symbols of God’s workings in nature; they were, at best, representatives of His government and of His displeasure at sin. But, being the creatures of man’s mind, they could hot freely pardon, for man dared not ascribe to them the attribute of a freely-pardoning mercy, for which be dared not hope. Who is a God like to Thee, mighty, not only to destroy but to pardon? is the wondering thanksgiving of time, the yet greater amazement of eternity, as eternity shall unveil the deep blackness of sin over-against the light of God, and we, seeing God, as He Is, shall see what that Holiness is, against Which we sinners sinned, The soul, which is truly penitent, never wearies of the wondering love, who is a God like unto Thee?

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Micah 7:18. Who is a God like unto thee, c. — Here is a challenge to all idol worshippers, and to all those who take false views of the true God, to show his like. See his characters they are immediately subjoined.

1. He pardoneth iniquity. This is the prerogative of God alone; of that Being who alone has power to save or to destroy.

2. He passeth by transgression. He can heal backsliding, and restore them that are fallen.

3. He retaineth not his anger forever. Though, justly displeased because of sin, he pours out his judgments upon the wicked; yet when they return to him, he shows "that he retaineth not his anger forever," but is indescribably ready to save them.

4. He delighteth in mercy. Judgment is his strange work: he is ever more ready to save than to destroy. Nothing can please him better than having the opportunity, from the return and repentance of the sinner, to show him that mercy without which he must perish everlastingly.

5. Because he is such a God -

1. "He will turn again." His face has been long turned from us, because of our sins.

2. "He will have compassion upon us" pity our state, and feel for our sorrows.

3. "He will subdue our iniquities." Though they have been mighty, he will bring them down, and bruise them under our feet.

4. "He will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." Will fully pardon them, and never more remember them against us. Instead of חטאתם chattotham, THEIR sins, five MSS. of Kennicott's and De Rossi's, with the Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, and Arabic read חטאתינו chattotheynu, OUR sins. He will plunge them into eternal oblivion, never more to come into sight or remembrance; like a stone dropped into the "depths of the sea."