Micah 7:4 “The best of them is like a brier; the most upright is sharper than a h…”

Micah 7:4

The best of them is like a brier; the most upright is sharper than a hedge of thorns. The day for your watchmen has come, the day of your visitation. Now is the time of their confusion.

Berean Standard Bible

Other translations

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.

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.

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.

Geneva Bible 1599

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.

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.

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.

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.

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Cross references

“is a”

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

Ezekiel 2:6 · BSB

But you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns surround you, and you dwell among scorpions. Do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their presence, though…

Isaiah 55:13 · BSB

Instead of the thornbush, the cypress will grow, and instead of the brier, the myrtle will spring up; this will make a name for the LORD, an everlasting sign, never to be destroyed.”

Hebrews 6:8 · BSB

But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless, and its curse is imminent. In the end it will be burned.

2 Samuel 23:6 · BSB

But the worthless are all like thorns raked aside, for they can never be gathered by hand.

2 Samuel 23:7 · BSB

The man who touches them must be armed with iron or with the shaft of a spear. The fire burns them to ashes in the place where they lie.”

“the day”

Amos 8:2 Ezekiel 12:23 Ezekiel 12:24 Hosea 9:7 Hosea 9:8

Amos 8:2 · BSB

“Amos, what do you see?” He asked. “A basket of summer fruit,” I replied. So the LORD said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel; I will no longer spare them.”

Ezekiel 12:23 · BSB

Therefore tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will put an end to this proverb, and in Israel they will no longer recite it.’ But say to them: ‘The days are at hand when every vision will be fulfilled.

Ezekiel 12:24 · BSB

For there will be no more false visions or flattering divinations within the house of Israel,

Hosea 9:7 · BSB

The days of punishment have come; the days of retribution have arrived— let Israel know it. The prophet is called a fool, and the inspired man insane, because of the greatness of your iniquity and hostility.

Hosea 9:8 · BSB

The prophet is Ephraim’s watchman, along with my God, yet the snare of the fowler lies on all his paths. Hostility is in the house of his God!

“thy”

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

Isaiah 10:3 · BSB

What will you do on the day of reckoning when devastation comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?

Jeremiah 8:12 · BSB

Are they ashamed of the abomination they have committed? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they will collapse, says the LORD.

Jeremiah 10:15 · BSB

They are worthless, a work to be mocked. In the time of their punishment they will perish.

“now”

Isaiah 22:5 Luke 21:25

Isaiah 22:5 · BSB

For the Lord GOD of Hosts has set a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the Valley of Vision— of breaking down the walls and crying to the mountains.

Luke 21:25 · BSB

There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among the nations, bewildered by the roaring of the sea and the surging of the waves.

Also

Nahum 1:10

Nahum 1:10 · BSB

For they will be entangled as with thorns and consumed like the drink of a drunkard— like stubble that is fully dry.

Cross references adapted from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0) and the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

In context

3Both hands are skilled at evil; the prince and the judge demand a bribe. When the powerful utters his evil desire, they all conspire together.

5Do not rely on a friend; do not trust in a companion. Seal the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms.

Read Micah 7