Micah 7:20
in Micah 7You will show faithfulness to Jacob and loving devotion to Abraham, as You swore to our fathers from the days of old.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the lovingkindness to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.
KJV
Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.
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This verse in Micah 7
Commentary
10 notes on this verseThou wilt perform the truth to Jacob - The promises which he has made to Jacob and his posterity. Not one of them can ever fall to the ground. “And the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn;” viz., that “in his Seed all the families of the earth should be blessed;” that the Messiah should come from Abraham, through his son Isaac, by Jacob and David; be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of his people Israel.
This site's exposition
You will show faithfulness to Jacob
The book ends on an oath already sworn: "You will show faithfulness to Jacob and loving devotion to Abraham, as You swore to our fathers from the days of old". The Hebrew pair behind it, emet and chesed, picks up the "loving devotion" of verse 18. The hope rests on God's oath to the patriarchs in Genesis 22:16-18, sworn long before the failures the book has condemned.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
(Verse 18-20.) Who is God like you? You who take away iniquity and pass over the sin of the remnant of your inheritance. He will not continue to be angry, for he delights in showing mercy. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot and hurl all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will be faithful to Jacob, and show mercy to Abraham, as you swore to our fathers long ago. LXX: Who is like you, O God? You who removes iniquities and surpasses injustices for those who remain as your heritage? He did not retain his anger as testimony because he desires mercies. He will return and have mercy on us, he will submerge our sins, and all our sins will be cast into the deep sea. He will give Jacob truth and Abraham mercy, as you swore to our fathers in the days of old. The wise prophet, seeing the multitude of nations disturbed in its conclusion, is amazed and afraid of God, and therefore the Lord rages in order to take away sins and grant salvation. He praises and marvels at the Lord, saying: Who is like you, O God, taking away iniquities and surpassing injustices (Exodus 12): just as the exterminator passed over the people of Israel in Egypt and did not destroy them (hence the name Passover, which means passing over), so you spare the nations, not counting their iniquities against them. Furthermore, what follows is this: Those who remain of his inheritance have not held his wrath as a testimony. This is the meaning: If he spared the nations that did not want to believe in his Law, and those who were left from the people are abandoned, he did not want to impute their injustices to them nor did he inflict his wrath as a testimony of just punishment. What will he do with his flock, which grazes in the middle of Carmel, and in Bashan, and in Gilead? […]
He will turn again and have compassion upon us; he will tread our iniquities under foot, and all our sins shall be cast into the depths of the sea. He will perform the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham, as he hath sworn …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
It is in pursuance of the covenant that our sins are pardoned and our lusts mortified; from that spring all these streams flow, and with these he shall freely give us all things. The promise is said to be mercy to Abraham, because, as made to him first, it was mere mercy, preventing mercy, considering what state it found him in.
1 Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape-gleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the first-ripe fruit. 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.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:94%@v1-2
Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob,....
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
But, if God forgive the sin that has been committed by us, he will subdue the sin that dwells in us, and in that there is none like him in forgiving; and all those whose sins are pardoned earnestly desire and hope; to have their corruptions mortified and their iniquities subdued, and please themselves with the hopes of it.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
God's promises are called "mercy," because they flow slowly from grace; "truth," because they will be surely performed (Lu 1:72, 73; 1Th 5:24). sworn unto our fathers-- (Ps 105:9, 10). The promise to Abraham is in Ge 12:2; to Isaac, in Ge 26:24; to Jacob, in Ge 28:13.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham - What was free mercy to Abraham, became, when God had once promised it, His truth. Abraham also stands for all those, who in him and his Seed should be blessed, those who were “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world” Eph 2:12, in no covenant or relation with God, as well as those who were the children of the faith; pagan, as well as Jews. Jacob represents these who were immediately his children, such of the children of Israel, as were also the true Israel and children of faithful Abraham. In both ways the gift to Abraham was mercy, to Jacob, truth. So also Paul saith, “Jesus Christ was a Minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy.” Rom 15:8-9 yet mercy and truth Psa 25:10, together, are all the paths of the Lord; they “met together” Psa 85:10 in Christ; yea Christ Himself is full of Mercy as well as “Truth” Joh 1:14: and woe were it to that soul to whom He were Truth without mercy. Rup.: “For to be saved, we look not so much to the truth of the Judge as to the mercy of the Redeemer.” And mercy, in the counsel of God, reacheth wider than truth; for truth is given to Jacob, the father of one nation, Israel; but mercy to Abraham, “the father of many nations” Gen 17:5; Rom 4:17. Isaac, it may be, is not here mentioned, because all to whom the blessing should come are already spoken of in Jacob and Abraham; in Jacob, all to whom the promise was first made; in Abraham, all nations of the world who should be blessed in his Seed, through the mercy of God overflowing the bounds of that covenant. […]
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| תִּתֵּ֤ן | titen | you will give | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| אֱמֶת֙ | ʾemet | faithfulness | H571 → | |
| לְיַֽעֲקֹ֔ב | leyaako | to Jacob | H3290 → | 350 times |
| חֶ֖סֶד | chesed | covenant loyalty | H2617 → | 247 times |
| לְאַבְרָהָ֑ם | leavraham | to Abraham | H85 → | |
| אֲשֶׁר־ | ʾasher- | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| נִשְׁבַּ֥עְתָּ | nishba'ta | you swore | H7650 → | |
| לַאֲבֹתֵ֖ינוּ | laavoteinu | to fathers our | H1 → | |
| מִ֥ימֵי | mimei | from days of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| קֶֽדֶם׃ | kedem | antiquity | H6924 → |
תִּתֵּ֤ןyou will give
titenH5414 →2011 times
אֱמֶת֙faithfulness
ʾemetH571 →
לְיַֽעֲקֹ֔בto Jacob
leyaakoH3290 →350 times
חֶ֖סֶדcovenant loyalty
chesedH2617 →247 times
לְאַבְרָהָ֑םto Abraham
leavrahamH85 →
אֲשֶׁר־which
ʾasher-H834 →5497 times
נִשְׁבַּ֥עְתָּyou swore
nishba'taH7650 →
לַאֲבֹתֵ֖ינוּto fathers our
laavoteinuH1 →
מִ֥ימֵיfrom days of
mimeiH3117 →2304 times
קֶֽדֶם׃antiquity
kedemH6924 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Deuteronomy 7:8But because the LORD loved you and kept the oath He swore to your fathers, He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand…
it leads to
- Exodus 20:2
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
- Jeremiah 31:3
The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with loving devotion.
- Exodus 32:13
Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, to whom You swore by Your very self when You declared, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will…
- Ephesians 2:4–5
But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
- Isaiah 43:4
Because you are precious and honored in My sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you and nations in place of your life.
- Exodus 20:2
Where this verse is studied
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Studies2
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About Micah
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Cosmas Indicopleustes, The Christian Topography, Book 5; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Micah; John Calvin, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.