The godly man has perished out of the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts his brother with a net.
Parallel Translations
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The godly man has perished out of the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts his brother with a net.
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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.
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The godly man is perished out of the earth, and the upright among men is no more; they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.
Cross-references (16)
Passages linked to Micah 7:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 12:1 Help, Yahweh; for the godly man ceases. For the faithful fail from among the children of men.
- Psalms 14:1-3 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt. They have done abominable deeds. There is no one who does good. Yahweh looked down from heaven on the children of men, to see if there were any who understood, who sought after God. They have all gone aside. They have together become corrupt. There is no one who does good, no, not one.
- Isaiah 57:1 The righteous perish, and no one lays it to heart. Merciful men are taken away, and no one considers that the righteous is taken away from the evil.
- Isaiah 59:7 Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Desolation and destruction are in their paths.
- Jeremiah 5:26 For wicked men are found among my people. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They catch men.
- Proverbs 1:11 If they say, “Come with us. Let’s lay in wait for blood. Let’s lurk secretly for the innocent without cause.
- Jeremiah 16:16 “Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says Yahweh, “and they will fish them up. Afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain, from every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.
- 1 Samuel 24:11 Moreover, my father, behold, yes, see the skirt of your robe in my hand; for in that I cut off the skirt of your robe, and didn’t kill you, know and see that there is neither evil nor disobedience in my hand, and I have not sinned against you, though you hunt for my life to take it.
- 1 Samuel 26:20 Now therefore, don’t let my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of Yahweh; for the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as when one hunts a partridge in the mountains.”
- Psalms 57:6 They have prepared a net for my steps. My soul is bowed down. They dig a pit before me. They fall into the middle of it themselves.
- Proverbs 12:6 The words of the wicked are about lying in wait for blood, but the speech of the upright rescues them.
- Jeremiah 5:16 Their quiver is an open tomb. They are all mighty men.
- Lamentations 4:18 They hunt our steps, so that we can’t go in our streets. Our end is near. Our days are fulfilled, for our end has come.
- Micah 3:10 They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.
- Habakkuk 1:15-17 He takes up all of them with the hook. He catches them in his net, and gathers them in his dragnet. Therefore he rejoices and is glad. Therefore he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his dragnet, because by them his life is luxurious, and his food is good. Will he therefore continually empty his net, and kill the nations without mercy?
- Romans 3:10-18 As it is written, “There is no one righteous; no, not one. There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks after God. They have all turned away. They have together become unprofitable. There is no one who does good, no, not so much as one.” “Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have used deceit.” “The poison of vipers is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. The way of peace, they haven’t known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain In the second verse he expresses more clearly his…
In the second verse he expresses more clearly his mind, Perished, he says, has the righteous from the land, and there is none upright among men. Here now he does not personify the land. It was indeed a forcible and an emphatic language, when he complained at the beginning, that he groaned as though the land was ashamed of its dearth: but the Prophet now performs the office of a teacher, Perished, he says, has the righteous from the land; there is no one upright among men; all lay in wait for blood; every one hunts his brother as with a net In this verse the Prophet briefly shows, that all were full both of cruelty and perfidy, that there was no care for justice; as though he said, In vain are good men sought among this people; for they are all bloody, they are all fraudulent. When he says, that they all did lay in wait for blood, he no doubt intended to set forth their cruelty, as though he had said, that they were thirsting for blood. But when he adds, that each did lay in wait for their brethren, he alludes to their frauds or to their perfidy.
We now then perceive the meaning of the Prophet: and the manner he adopts is more emphatical than if God, in his own name, had pronounced the words: for, as men were fixed, and as though drowned, in their own carelessness, the Prophet introduces here the land as speaking, which accuses its own children, and confesses its own guilt; yea, it anticipates God’s judgment, and acknowledges itself to be contaminated by its own inhabitants, so that nothing pure remained in it. It follows —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He showeth that the prince, the judge, and the…
He showeth that the prince, the judge, and the rich man are linked together all to do evil, and to cloak the doings one of another.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Mic 7:2 The good [man] is perished out of…
Mic 7:2 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.
Ver. 2. The good man is perished out of the earth] Heb. The saint, or, gracious man, that out of mercy obtained from God, can extend mercy to men. Rari quippe boni. Of such it may be said, as one doth of faithful friends in this age, that they are all (for the most part) gone on pilgrimage; and their return is uncertain.
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And there is none upright among men] None (to speak of) that maketh straight paths for his feet, Heb 12:13, that foots it aright (ορθοπαδει), according to the truth of the gospel, Gal 2:14, that walketh evenly, Gen 17:1, and accurately (ακριβως), as it were by line and by rule, Eph 5:15, and that halts not between two opinions, as those Israelites; but is right in his judgment, and undefiled in his way, Psa 119:1, rather desiring to be good than to seem to be so: few such to be found surely; black swans you may count and call them.
“ Sed nec Brutus erit, Bruti nec avunculus usquam ”( Juven.).
They all lie in wait for blood] A company of sanguinaries, blood suckers, hunting for the precious lives of men; but especially of such as reprove them in the gate. If you touch them in their lusts, they will seek to touch you in your life, as Joash did Zechariah, and as the priests and people said of Jeremiah, This man worthy to die. All malice is bloody, and wisheth him out of the world whom it spiteth.
They hunt every man his brother with a net] They add fraud to their force and craft to their cruelty; these seldom go sundered: as some write of the asp, he never wanders alone without his companion with him; and as the Scripture speaks of those birds of prey and desolation, none of them shall want their mate, Isa 34:16. The matter is made the worse, because it is a brother whom they hunt: whether he be so by race, place, or grace, a brother should be better dealt with.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The good man; who loves and is kind to…
The good man; who loves and is kind to men in need, and is so from the sense of God’s goodness, and in a designed imitation of God, is godly in the frame of his heart and course of life towards God, and beneficent to men for God’s sake.
Is perished; is dead and gone, and left no heir of his godlike virtues.
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Out of the earth; out of Israel and Judah too, though Hezekiah was (probably) now their king.
None upright; an honest, plain-hearted man, who thinketh no deceit, but speaketh the truth, that is, without crooked and perverse designs; such a one may possibly, but not easily, be found among the people of the ten anti of the two tribes.
They all lie in wait for blood: this proves the prophet’s charge against this people, for the good and upright man imagineth not evil against any, but it is evident that in Israel (and Judah too) the temper of the most was sly, designing, and watching to do mischief, to the ruining of families, the murdering of. innocents, and seizing their estates, Ahab like, 1Ki 21; Pr 1:19.
They hunt; they proceed with all diligence, craft, and power, as a hunter that hath set his toils, and is now by all his arts endeavouring to bring the prey into the toils, that he may make his advantage by it.
Every man his brother; were they strangers they so hunted it were barbarous, but this is inhumanly barbarous, these bloody men hunt and destroy their brethren, the seed of Jacob, the worshippers of the God of Jacob, their own circumcised brethren.
With a net; which is spread beforehand, and laid close; so it is secret, premeditated cruelty and rapine they do universally exercise against each other.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain The good man is perished out of the earth,....…
The good man is perished out of the earth,.... Here the prophet expresses in plain words what he had before delivered in figurative terms. The "good" or "godly" man, as in Psa 12:1; is one that has received the grace of God, and blessings of grace from him, and lives a godly life and conversation; who has the good work of grace begun in him and is found in the performance of good works, and does his duty both to God and man from godly principles; and particularly is kind and merciful to the poor and needy, and those in distress. The complaint is, that there were few, or scarce any, of this character in the earth, in the land of Israel, where there used to be great numbers of them, but now they were all dead and gone; for this is to be understood, not of the perishing of their graces or comforts, much less of their perishing in their sins, or perishing eternally, but of their corporeal death:
and there is none upright among men; that are upright in heart and life; that have right spirits renewed in them, are Israelites indeed, in whom there is no guile; and walk uprightly, according to the rule of the divine word, truly honest, faithful men; very few such were to be found, scarce any; see Psa 12:1;
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they all lie in wait for blood; for the substance, wealth, and riches of men, which is as their blood and life; is their livelihood, that on which they live; this they wait for an opportunity to get from them, and, when it offers, greedily seize it; and stick not even to shed blood, and take away life, for the sake of gain:
they hunt every man his brother with a net; as men lay nets for fish, and fowl, and beasts, and hunt them till they have got them into them; so these men laid snares, not for strangers only, but for their own brethren, to entangle them in, and cheat and defraud them of their substance; and this they would do, even to the destruction of them, as some (s) render it; for the word also signifies "anathema", destruction, as well as a "net". So the Targum.
"betray or deliver his brother to destruction.''
(s) "ad necem", Tigurine version; "anathema, caedes", Drusius; "ad occasuinem", ibid.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 2. The good man is perished out of…
Verse 2. The good man is perished out of the earth] A similar sentiment may be found, Ps 12:1; Isa 57:1. As the early fig of excellent flavour cannot be found in the advanced season of summer, or a choice cluster of grapes after vintage, so neither can the good and upright man be discovered by searching in Israel. This comparison, says Bp. Newcome, is beautifully implied.
They hunt every man his brother with a net.] This appears to be an allusion to the ancient mode of duel between the retiarius and secutor. The former had a casting net, which he endeavoured to throw over the head of his antagonist, that he might then despatch him with his short sword. The other parried the cast; and when the retiarius missed, he was obliged to run about the field to get time to set his net in right order for another throw. While he ran, the other followed, that he might despatch him before he should be able to recover the proper position of his net; and hence the latter was called secutor, the pursuer, as the other was called retiarius, or the net man. I have explained this before on Job, and other places; but because it is rarely noticed by commentators, I explain the allusion here once more. Abp. Newcome by not attending to this, has translated איש את אחיהו יצודו חרם ish eth achihu yatsudu cherem, "They hunt every man his brother for his destruction;" though he put net in the margin.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The, good - or godly, or merciful, the English…
The, good - or godly, or merciful, the English margin
Man - The Hebrew word contains all. It is “he who loveth tenderly and piously” God, for His own sake, and man, for the sake of God. Mercy was probably chiefly intended, since it wits to this that the prophet had exhorted, and the sins which he proceeds to speak of, are against this. But imaginary love of God without love of man, or love of man without the love of God, is mere self-deceit. “Is perished out of the earth,” that is, by an untimely death. The good had either been withdrawn by God from the evil to come Isa 57:1, or had Leon cut off by those who laid wait for blood; in which case their death brought a double evil, through the guilt which such sin contracted, and then, through the loss of those who might be an example to others, and whose prayers God would hear. The loving and upright, all, who were men of mercy and truth, had ceased. They who were left, “all lie in wait for blood,” literally, bloods , that is, bloodshedding; all, as far as man can see; as Elijah complains that he was left alone.
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Amid the vast number of the wicked, the righteous were as though they were not. Isaiah, at the same time, complains of the like sins, and that it was as though there were none righteous; “Your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips hate spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth” Isa 59:2-3. Indirectly, or directly, they destroyed life . To violence they add treachery. The good and loving had perished, and all is now violence; the upright had ceased, and all now is deceit. “They hunt every man his brother with a net.” Every man is the brother of every man, because he is man, born of the same first parent, children of the same Father: yet they lay wait for one another, as hunters for wild beasts (Compare Psa 35:7; Psa 57:7; Psa 140:6; Jer 5:26).
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Holy man. Hebrew chasid, (Haydock) "the pious" Assidean, 2…
Holy man. Hebrew chasid, (Haydock) "the pious" Assidean, 2 Machabees xiv. 6. The disorder of Israel was great, though some were religious. (Calmet) --- Such expressions only mean that few could be found, and that the far greatest number rejected the prophet’s advice. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain The Hebrew expresses "one merciful and good in relation…
The Hebrew expresses "one merciful and good in relation to man," rather than to God.
is perished out of the earth-- (Psa 12:1).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 2. The good man] More fully rendered, ‘The pious…
2. The good man] More fully rendered, ‘The pious man,’ he who makes love his rule of action—love to God and love to man. ‘The idea of khâsîdh is not passive [he who experiences grace or love], for God Himself is called khâsîdh, Psa_145:17, but he who exercises khesedh (Pro_11:17), i.e. makes men, according to God’s will, and God Himself (comp. Jon_2:8, Psa_144:2) ‘the object of his loving endeavours’ (Delitzsch on Psa_16:10). Observe, ‘The pious man,’ not ‘pious men’ is the phrase employed, ‘indicating the fewness and isolation of these Abdiels.’ There is a striking parallel to the first half of this verse in Isa_57:1, ‘The righteous perisheth, and no man taketh it to heart, and men of piety are gathered,’ &c. Both passages must have been written in time of persecution.
they all lie in wait for blood] Not merely persecution, but anarchy seems to have been the order of the day: at least the rich and powerful were under no legal restraint; they did that which was right in their own eyes. Similar circumstances are described in many of the Psalms (see e. g. Psa_10:8-9).
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every man his brother] Although, as children of Abraham, they ought to love each other; comp. Lev_19:18.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (2) With a net.—The net, which in the Hebrew…
(2) With a net.—The net, which in the Hebrew term comes from a verb meaning to shut up, was used both by the fisherman and the fowler. “They lay wait for one another, as hunters for wild beasts.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain This verse explains the preceding comparison; the grape and…
This verse explains the preceding comparison; the grape and the early fig represent the righteous man. The good man; LXX, eusebhv , the godly, pious man. The Hebrew word (khasidh) implies one who exercises love to others, who is merciful, loving, and righteous. Is perished out of the earth; has disappeared from the world. (comp. Psa_14:2, Psa_14:3; and especially Isa_57:1) They all lie in wait for blood. They all practise violence and rapine, and meditate how they may pursue their evil designs, even to the shedding of blood. LXX, pantev eiv aimata dikazontai , which narrows the charge to one special kind of iniquity, vie. committing judicial murders. They hunt every man his brother with a net. They ought to love their brethren, their fellow countrymen, partakers of the same hope and privileges. (Lev_19:18) Instead of this, they pursue them as the fowler traps birds, or the hunter beasts. The word rendered "net" (cherem) is in most versions translated "destruction." Thus, Septuagint, ekylibousin ekylibh : Vulgate, ad mortem venatur; so the Syriac and Chaldee. In the present connection it is best taken as "net". (Hab_1:15)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain The good man is perished out of the earth
Mic_7:2-6
The good man is perished out of the earth
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The wail of a true patriot over the moral corruption of his country
He bemoans--
I.
The departure of excellence from his country. The good man is perished out of the earth. Probably they had emigrated to distant lands, perhaps they had gone into eternity. Goodmen are the lights of the world. Their influence penetrates the mass as salt, counteracts its tendency to corruption, removes its moral insipidity, gives it a new spirit--a spirit pungent and savoury.
II. The rampancy of avarice in this country.
1. The working amongst the general community. To get wealth for themselves was with them such a furious passion that the rights and lives of others were disregarded.
2. Its working amongst the higher classes. That they may do evil with broth 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. The idea seems to be this: that the great man, the prince, for some corrupt motive, seeks the condemnation of some innocent person; and the judge, for a bribe, gratifies his wish. A judge from avarice will pronounce an innocent man guilty. All this is done very industriously, with two hands. Possible, lest some event should start up to thwart them; and when it is done they wrap it up. So they wrap it up. Avarice, like all sinful passions, seeks to wrap up its crimes.
III. The mischievousness of the best in his country. The best of them is as a briar; the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge. There is a gradation of wickedness of the men in the country, but the best of them is like a prickly thorn, and worse than a thorn hedge. The prophet is so struck with this, that the thought of retribution takes hold of him, and he says, The day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh: now shall be their visitation. Another thing which the patriot here bemoans is--
IV. The lack of truthfulness in the country. Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide, etc. Place no faith in a companion; trust not a familiar friend; from her that lieth in thy bosom guard the doors of thy mouth. For the son despiseth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, a mans enemies are the members of his own family.--Henderson. All social faith was gone; a man had lost all confidence in his brother. Social scepticism and suspicion prevailed in all circles. No faith was to be put in a friend. (Homilist.)
The lack of good men
These words are the cause of the prophets sorrow. So deep a concern it was, that the words of Mic_7:1 may signify not only mourning but howling. It arises from the scarcity of men truly good. Such a passion as this for the want of good men became the prophet in all capacities, as a man, as a subject, and as a prophet. As a man, he could not but be concerned to see a nation of men so changed and degenerated by vice and luxury. As a subject, he could but consider what misery would suddenly betide the nation, for want of goodness and religion. As a prophet, he could but note how they slighted his errand, and were sturdy and resolute in their vices.
I. Wherein the goodness of this good man, the prophet mentions, did express itself. The Christian Church, as well as the prophet, may justly bewail her barren Christians, and the scarcity of men truly good. We call ourselves saints and elect, but where is the patience, the temper, and the spirit of them? Let our religion be never so primitive and apostolical, except it makes us really good it is but wrangling hypocrisy and noise.
1. True goodness doth express itself in plainness and sincerity in all our respective dealings with men.
2. Goodness expresses itself in the exercise of good nature, and charitable allowances for the errors of others.
3. The good man is of a spirit truly public, whose care and attention looks abroad.
4. The good man takes up religion only to serve a spiritual purpose. Religion without this good purpose is only fashion or faction, hypocrisy and formality, superstition or interest.
II. What grew up and prevailed in the prophets time in the place of true religion or goodness.
1. Superstition and false religion, which naturally produce trouble and disquiet in all governments.
2. Wicked lives in the professors of the true religion, which will surely cause misery and ruin in a nation.
3. Atheistical persuasions prevailed, or there was no religion at all.
III. What particular reasons may move us to bewail the want of real goodness.
1. The want of it is the principal cause of our distractions about religion.
2. Real goodness is the best way to unite us among ourselves. Real goodness purges our judgment, removes our prejudices. (Gregory Hascard, D. D.)
Ancient and modern pessimism
When we ourselves are down it is hard to believe that anybody else is up; when our prayer is choked in our throat it is easy to believe that God hears no prayer at all, nor cares for petitioning and supplicating men. We interpret all things by ourselves. There is a curious self-projection of the soul upon the disc of history, and we read according to the shadow which we throw upon that disc. This is what we call pessimism. We are always inventing strange words, and imagining that thereby we are making some kind of progress. Man has a fatal gift of giving names to things, and once give a name and it will be almost impossible to obliterate it. We call this pessimism,--that is, seeing all the wickedness, and none of the goodness; seeing all the darkness, and none of the light; seeing the utter desolation of all things, and not seeing in all the wilderness one green blade, one tiny flower, or hearing in the grim silence one trill of lark or soft note of thrush or nightingale. There are persons gifted with the genius of darkness. It may do us good to visit them occasionally; but on the whole it is better to live in the sunshine, and to hear the music, and to come under the influence of intelligent vivacity and cheerfulness. If people will shut themselves up in their own little houses--for the biggest house is little, the palace is a mere hut--and never keep any company but their own, they will go down. It is so ecclesiastically. There are persons who never see the universe except through their own church window, and as no window is as big as the horizon, there steals insidiously upon the mind a disposition to deny the existence of the horizon itself. It is so with reading. There are those who read only a certain set of books. They go down; there is no mental range, no scope, no variety, no mystery of colour, no hopefulness, no imagination. The very earth needs to have its crops changed. If you will go on growing the same crops you will cease to have any crop that is worth gathering. There is, on the other hand, what is termed optimism. That is the exact contrary of pessimism. Optimism sees the best of everything. There is a danger along that line also; the danger is that we may not be stern enough, real enough, penetrating enough, going into the heart and inmost fibre of things to find out reality and truth, how bad or good soever the case may be. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 7:2-6 The people of Israel were without law, justice,…
7:2-6 The people of Israel were without law, justice, or righteousness. Everyone took advantage of others for self-aggrandizement; they had created a society in which all forms of oppression were the norm.
7:2 not one honest person is left: This complaint is frequent in the prophets (see Isa 59:16; Jer 5:1; Ezek 22:30). • In the ancient Near East, people fished and hunted by setting traps and using nets (cp. Ps 10:9; Prov 1:17; Isa 51:20). • their own brothers: All fellow Israelites were regarded as brothers.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.