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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?
Micah 7:18 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB 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.
  • KJV 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.
  • NKJV 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.
  • NASB 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.
  • NLT 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.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Micah marvels that no God is like the LORD, who pardons sin and delights in steadfast love rather than holding anger forever. It celebrates God's incomparable forgiving grace.

Overview

In a soaring hymn of praise, the prophet asks "Who is a God like you?", a play on his own name ("Who is like Yahweh?"), exalting the God who pardons iniquity and passes over the remnant's sin because He delights in loving kindness. God's willingness to forgive is His glory. This pardoning love is fully revealed and secured at the cross, where God is both just and the justifier of sinners.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 40

  • Isa 43:25I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.
  • Isa 44:22I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.
  • Eph 2:4–5But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
  • Ps 103:8–9The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion.
  • Jer 50:20In those days and at that time, declares the LORD, a search will be made for Israel’s guilt, but there will be none, and for Judah’s sins, but they will not be found; for I will forgive the remnant I preserve.
  • Acts 13:38–39Therefore let it be known to you, brothers, that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.
  • Jer 32:41Yes, I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul.
  • Exod 15:11Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? Who is like You—majestic in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?
  • Jer 3:12Go, proclaim this message toward the north: ‘Return, O faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will no longer look on you with anger, for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will not be angry forever.
  • Lam 3:31–32For the Lord will not cast us off forever.
  • Ps 130:7–8O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is loving devotion, and with Him is redemption in abundance.
  • Ps 89:8O LORD God of Hosts, who is like You? O mighty LORD, Your faithfulness surrounds You.
  • Ps 86:15But You, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness.
  • Exod 34:6–7Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out: “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness,
  • Ps 65:3When iniquities prevail against me, You atone for our transgressions.
  • Heb 8:9–12It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not abide by My covenant, and I disregarded them, declares the Lord.
  • Ps 89:6For who in the skies can compare with the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD?
  • Luke 24:47and in His name repentance and forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.
  • Mic 2:12I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob; I will collect the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in the midst of its pasture—a noisy throng.
  • Mic 4:7And I will make the lame into a remnant, and the outcast into a strong nation. Then the LORD will rule over them in Mount Zion from that day and forever.
  • Exod 33:18–19Then Moses said, “Please show me Your glory.”
  • Joel 2:32And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has promised, among the remnant called by the LORD.
  • Ezek 33:11Say to them: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
  • 1 Kgs 8:23and said: “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth below, keeping Your covenant of loving devotion with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.
  • Deut 33:26“There is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to your aid, and the clouds in His majesty.
  • Zeph 3:17The LORD your God is among you; He is mighty to save. He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you with His love; He will rejoice over you with singing.”
  • Jas 2:13For judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
  • Mic 7:14Shepherd with Your staff Your people, the flock of Your inheritance. They live alone in a woodland, surrounded by pastures. Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
  • Ps 86:5For You, O Lord, are kind and forgiving, rich in loving devotion to all who call on You.
  • Isa 57:16For I will not accuse you forever, nor will I always be angry; for then the spirit of man would grow weak before Me, with the breath of those I have made.
  • Jonah 4:2So he prayed to the LORD, saying, “O LORD, is this not what I said while I was still in my own country? This is why I was so quick to flee toward Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion—One who relents from sending disaster.
  • Ps 71:19Your righteousness reaches to the heavens, O God, You who have done great things. Who, O God, is like You?
  • Isa 55:7Let the wicked man forsake his own way and the unrighteous man his own thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.
  • Luke 15:32But it was fitting to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
  • Isa 1:18“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool.
  • Isa 65:19I will rejoice in Jerusalem and take delight in My people. The sounds of weeping and crying will no longer be heard in her.
  • Exod 34:9“O Lord,” he said, “if I have indeed found favor in Your sight, my Lord, please go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our iniquity and sin, and take us as Your inheritance.”
  • Isa 46:8–9Remember this and be brave; take it to heart, you transgressors!
  • Ps 85:4–5Restore us, O God of our salvation, and put away Your displeasure toward us.
  • Dan 9:9To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, even though we have rebelled against Him

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Micah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Micah 7:18YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on MicahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Micah names the town — 'But you, Bethlehem... from you shall come forth one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origins are from of old' — the birthplace of the eternal King.

How Micah 7:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.