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Saturday, November 2nd, 2024
the Week of Proper 25 / Ordinary 30
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New Living Translation

Micah 7:4

Even the best of them is like a brier; the most honest is as dangerous as a hedge of thorns. But your judgment day is coming swiftly now. Your time of punishment is here, a time of confusion.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Depravity of Man;   Despondency;   Hedge;   Rulers;   Sin;   Thorn;   Wicked (People);   Thompson Chain Reference - Day;   Visitation;   The Topic Concordance - Removal;   Trust;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Day;   Hedges;   Uprightness;  

Dictionaries:

- Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Atonement;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Apple;   Brier;   Thorn;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Hedge;   Micah;   Thorn;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Brier;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Justification, Justify;   Micah, Book of;   Thorns, Thistles, Etc;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Briers;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Brier;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Hedge;   Thorns;   Visitation;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Eschatology;   Joshua B. Hananiah;  

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
Even the best of them is as crooked as a tangled thornbush. Your prophets said this day would come, and the day of your watchmen has come. Now you will be punished. Now you will be confused!
New American Standard Bible
The best of them is like a thorn bush, The most upright like a thorn hedge. The day when you post your watchmen, Your punishment is coming. Then their confusion will occur.
New Century Version
Even the best of them is like a thornbush; the most honest of them is worse than a prickly plant. The day that your watchmen warned you about has come. Now they will be confused.
Update Bible Version
The best of them is as a brier; the upright is [worse] than a thorn hedge: the day of your watchmen, even your visitation, has come; now shall be their perplexity.
Webster's Bible Translation
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.
Amplified Bible
The best of them is [injurious] like a briar; The most upright is [prickly] like a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen [that is, the time predicted by the prophets] And your punishment comes; Now shall be their confusion.
English Standard Version
The best of them is like a brier, the most upright of them a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, of your punishment, has come; now their confusion is at hand.
World English Bible
The best of them is like a brier. The most upright is worse than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, Even your visitation, has come; Now is the time of their confusion.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
He that is best in hem, is as a paluyre; and he that is riytful, is as a thorn of hegge. The dai of thi biholdyng, thi visityng cometh, now schal be distriyng of hem.
English Revised Version
The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is worse than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen, even thy visitation, is come; now shall be their perplexity.
Berean Standard Bible
The best of them is like a brier; the most upright is sharper than a hedge of thorns. The day you post your watchmen, your punishment will come; then their confusion will arise.
Contemporary English Version
The most honest of them is worse than a thorn patch. Your doom has come! Lookouts sound the warning, and everyone panics.
American Standard Version
The best of them is as a brier; the most upright is worse than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen, even thy visitation, is come; now shall be their perplexity.
Bible in Basic English
The best of them is like a waste plant, and their upright ones are like a wall of thorns. Sorrow! the day of their fate has come; now will trouble come on them.
Complete Jewish Bible
The best of them is a briar, the most upright worse than a thorn hedge. The time of your watchmen — of your punishment — has come; now they will be confused.
Darby Translation
The best of them is as a briar; the most upright, [worse] than a thorn-fence. The day of thy watchmen, thy visitation is come; now shall be their perplexity.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
The best of them is as a brier; the most upright is worse than a thorn hedge; the day of thy watchmen, even thy visitation, is come; now shall be their perplexity.
King James Version (1611)
The best of them is as a brier: the most vpright is sharper then a thorne hedge: the day of thy watchmen, and thy visitation commeth; now shall be their perplexitie.
New Life Bible
The best of them is like a thistle. The most honest of them is like a thorn bush. The day you have a watchman, you will be punished. Then their trouble will come.
New Revised Standard
The best of them is like a brier, the most upright of them a thorn hedge. The day of their sentinels, of their punishment, has come; now their confusion is at hand.
Geneva Bible (1587)
The best of them is as a brier, and the most righteous of them is sharper then a thorne hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation commeth: then shalbe their confusion.
George Lamsa Translation
They have rejected the best part of them, and have become like rags which are eaten by the moth; the day of your watchmen and your salvation is come; but now it shall be their mourning.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
The best of them, is as a sharp briar, and, the most upright, worse than a thorn hedge, The day of thy watchmen - of thy visitation, hath come, Now, shall be their confusion!
Douay-Rheims Bible
He that is best among them, is as a brier, and he that is righteous, as the thorn of the hedge. The day of thy inspection, thy visitation cometh: now shall be their destruction.
Revised Standard Version
The best of them is like a brier, the most upright of them a thorn hedge. The day of their watchmen, of their punishment, has come; now their confusion is at hand.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
The best of them is as bryer, and the most righteous of them is [sharper] then a thorne hedge: the day of thy watchmen, [and] of thy visitation commeth: then shalbe their confusion.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
therefore I will take away their goods as a devouring moth, and as one who acts by a rigid rule in a day of visitation. Woe, woe, thy times of vengeance are come; now shall be their lamentations.
Good News Translation
Even the best and most honest of them are as worthless as weeds. The day has come when God will punish the people, as he warned them through their watchmen, the prophets. Now they are in confusion.
Christian Standard Bible®
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.
Hebrew Names Version
The best of them is like a brier. The most upright is worse than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, Even your visitation, has come; Now is the time of their confusion.
King James Version
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.
Lexham English Bible
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.
Literal Translation
The best of them is like a thorn; the upright more than a hedge of thorns. The day of your watchers, your visitation is coming; now their shame shall be.
Young's Literal Translation
Their best one [is] as a brier, The upright one -- than a thorn-hedge, The day of thy watchmen -- Thy visitation -- hath come. Now is their perplexity.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The best off the is but as a thistle, and the most rightuous of them is but as a brere in the hedge But when the daye of thy preachers commeth, yt thou shalt be vysited: the shal they be waisted a waye.
New English Translation
The best of them is like a thorn; the most godly among them are more dangerous than a row of thorn bushes. The day you try to avoid by posting watchmen— your appointed time of punishment—is on the way, and then you will experience confusion.
New King James Version
The best of them is like a brier; The most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge; The day of your watchman and your punishment comes; Now shall be their perplexity.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
The best of them is like a briar, The most upright like a thorn hedge. The day when you post your watchmen, Your punishment will come. Then their confusion will occur.
Legacy Standard Bible
The best of them is like a briar,The most upright like a thorn hedge.The day when you post your watchmen,Your punishment will come.At that time their panic will happen.

Contextual Overview

1 How miserable I am! I feel like the fruit picker after the harvest who can find nothing to eat. Not a cluster of grapes or a single early fig can be found to satisfy my hunger. 2 The godly people have all disappeared; not one honest person is left on the earth. They are all murderers, setting traps even for their own brothers. 3 Both their hands are equally skilled at doing evil! Officials and judges alike demand bribes. The people with influence get what they want, and together they scheme to twist justice. 4 Even the best of them is like a brier; the most honest is as dangerous as a hedge of thorns. But your judgment day is coming swiftly now. Your time of punishment is here, a time of confusion. 5 Don't trust anyone— not your best friend or even your wife! 6 For the son despises his father. The daughter defies her mother. The daughter-in-law defies her mother-in-law. Your enemies are right in your own household!

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

is a, 2 Samuel 23:6, 2 Samuel 23:7, Isaiah 55:13, Ezekiel 2:6, Hebrews 6:8

the day: Ezekiel 12:23, Ezekiel 12:24, Hosea 9:7, Hosea 9:8, Amos 8:2

thy: Isaiah 10:3, Jeremiah 8:12, Jeremiah 10:15

now: Isaiah 22:5, Luke 21:25

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 1:17 - ye shall hear Judges 8:16 - thorns Nehemiah 6:2 - they thought Job 31:14 - when he Isaiah 33:15 - shaketh Jeremiah 5:5 - but these Jeremiah 6:15 - at the time Jeremiah 11:23 - the year Jeremiah 23:2 - I Jeremiah 23:12 - the year Jeremiah 46:21 - the day Jeremiah 48:44 - the year Ezekiel 9:9 - perverseness Ezekiel 28:24 - a pricking Ezekiel 33:7 - I have Nahum 1:10 - while they be Mark 13:12 - General Luke 9:7 - he 1 Timothy 6:10 - the love

Cross-References

Genesis 2:5
neither wild plants nor grains were growing on the earth. For the Lord God had not yet sent rain to water the earth, and there were no people to cultivate the soil.
Genesis 6:3
Then the Lord said, "My Spirit will not put up with humans for such a long time, for they are only mortal flesh. In the future, their normal lifespan will be no more than 120 years."
Genesis 6:7
And the Lord said, "I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them."
Genesis 6:13
So God said to Noah, "I have decided to destroy all living creatures, for they have filled the earth with violence. Yes, I will wipe them all out along with the earth!
Genesis 6:17
"Look! I am about to cover the earth with a flood that will destroy every living thing that breathes. Everything on earth will die.
Genesis 7:10
After seven days, the waters of the flood came and covered the earth.
Genesis 7:11
When Noah was 600 years old, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the underground waters erupted from the earth, and the rain fell in mighty torrents from the sky.
Genesis 7:12
The rain continued to fall for forty days and forty nights.
Genesis 7:17
For forty days the floodwaters grew deeper, covering the ground and lifting the boat high above the earth.
Genesis 7:21
All the living things on earth died—birds, domestic animals, wild animals, small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the people.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The best of them is as a brier - The gentlest of them is a thorn , strong, hard, piercing, which letteth nothing unresisting pass by but it taketh from it, “robbing the fleece, and wounding the sheep.” “The most upright”, those who, in comparison of others still worse, seem so, “is sharper than a thorn hedge”, (literally, the upright, them a thorn hedge.) They are not like it only, but worse, and that in all ways; none is specified, and so none excepted; they were more crooked, more tangled, sharper. Both, as hedges, were set for protection; both, turned to injury. Jerome: “So that, where you would look for help, thence comes suffering.” And if such be the best, what the rest?

The day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh - When all, even the good, are thus corrupted, the iniquity is full. Nothing now hinders the “visitation”, which “the watchmen”, or prophets, had so long foreseen and forewarned of. “Now shall be their perplexity” ; “now”, without delay; for the day of destruction ever breakcth suddenly upon the sinner. “When they say, peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them” 1 Thessalonians 5:3. : “whose destruction cometh suddenly at an instant”. They had perplexed the cause of the oppressed; they themselves were tangled together, intertwined in mischief, as a thorn-hedge. They should be caught in their own snare; they had perplexed their paths and should find no outlet.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Micah 7:4. The best of them is as a brier — They are useless in themselves, and cannot be touched without wounding him that comes in contact with them. He alludes to the thick thorn hedges, still frequent in Palestine.

The day of thy watchmen — The day of vengeance, which the prophets have foreseen and proclaimed, is at hand. Now shall be their perplexity; no more wrapping up, all shall be unfolded. In that day every man will wish that he were different from what he is found to be; but he shall be judged for what he is, and for the deeds he has done.


 
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