What Does Micah 7:18 Mean?
Who is a God like you, who lifts away crookedness and passes over the rebellion of the remnant of his inheritance? He does not grip his anger for the ages, for he delights in faithful love.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
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.THE KEY
The verse pictures pardon as God carrying crookedness and names faithful love as his delight.
THE MEANING
You meet God here as one who bears crookedness and passes over rebellion among the remnant of his inheritance. His anger is not held forever; his delight is faithful love. The verse places you before a God whose enduring nature is that love.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the fear that God’s anger is his final posture toward you: he does not retain it forever because faithful love delights him.
THE ROOT
נֹשֵׂא
nōśēʾ
GROWS FROM
נשׂא
nasa
To lift, carry, or bear.
“lifts away” in this verse is nōśēʾ. This verb gives pardon a bodily motion: the crookedness is lifted and borne, rather than reduced to an abstract verdict. The phrase carries the weight of what is pardoned.
ALSO GROWS
nasa: Lift, carry, or bear.
נָשָׂא
This base verb is the action in נֹשֵׂא: pardon is pictured as bearing the crookedness named after it.
massa: A load or burden.
מַשָּׂא
This related word keeps the weight in view, showing the burden-bearing sense beneath “pardoneth.”
חֶסֶד
chesed
GROWS FROM
חסד
ḥ-s-d
Faithful, loyal love.
Here, mercy names a steady, enacted love that belongs to God’s nature. The word “delighteth” marks this faithful love as his pleasure.
ALSO GROWS
chasad: To act loyally or show kindness.
חָסַד
This verbal form makes the love active: it is something expressed in action, not only felt.
chasid: A faithful or devoted person.
חָסִיד
This related form describes one marked by loyalty, echoing the faithful character of the love God delights in.
פֶּשַׁע
pesha
GROWS FROM
פשע
p-sh-ʿ
To rebel or break away.
Beneath “transgression,” pesha names rebellion and a breaking away. With “passeth by” beside it, the verse presents that rebellion as something God crosses over for the remnant of his heritage.
ALSO GROWS
pasha: To rebel or break away.
פָּשַׁע
The verb reveals the force of the noun in the verse: this is a rupture in relationship, not just an abstract mistake.
poshea: One who rebels.
פֹּשֵׁעַ
This form names the person through the same root, showing how pesha describes a breakaway from within a relationship.
THE PATTERN
God’s character is revealed in bearing wrongdoing while anger gives way to faithful love.
And the LORD passed by before his face, and called out, The LORD, The LORD God, compassionate and full of favor, slow to flare, abounding in faithful love and truth,The LORD is compassionate and full of favor, slow to flare, and abounding in faithful love.If we speak our shortcomings into the open, he is steady and aligned, to release our shortcomings, and to cleanse us from all crookedness.THE THREAD
You will give truth to Jacob, and faithful love to Abraham, which you swore to our fathers from the days of old.The Hebrew word behind “mercy” is חֶסֶד (chesed, faithful love), the same word named as God’s delight in verse 18. Here that love is paired with truth to Jacob and a sworn promise to Abraham, extending the verse’s delight into a kept commitment.
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