Don’t trust in a neighbor. Don’t put confidence in a friend. With the woman lying in your embrace, be careful of the words of your mouth!
Parallel translations
- KJV Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.
- BSB Do not rely on a friend; do not trust in a companion. Seal the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms.
- NKJV Do not trust in a friend; Do not put your confidence in a companion; Guard the doors of your mouth From her who lies in your bosom.
- NASB Do not trust in a neighbor; Do not have confidence in a close friend. Guard your lips From her who lies in your arms.
- NLT Don’t trust anyone— not your best friend or even your wife!
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
So pervasive is treachery that one cannot trust a neighbor, friend, or even a spouse. It pictures the breakdown of the closest human bonds.
Overview
Micah warns against confiding even in a friend or the wife in one's embrace, because betrayal has infected every relationship. The collapse of trust shows how deeply sin corrodes community. Jesus would later quote the next verses regarding division (Matthew 10), and the passage reminds us that ultimate security is found not in people but in the faithful God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Jer 9:4“Everyone beware of his neighbor, and don’t trust in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go about with slanders.
- Ps 118:8–9It is better to take refuge in Yahweh, than to put confidence in man.
- Matt 10:16“Behold, I send you out as sheep among wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
- Job 6:14–15“To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend; even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
- Judg 16:5–20The lords of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her, “Entice him, and see in which his great strength lies, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 7:5 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.