Micah 7:5
in Micah 7Do not rely on a friend; do not trust in a companion. Seal the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Trust ye not in a neighbor; put ye not confidence in a friend; keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.
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.
⋯
This verse in Micah 7
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Trust ye not in a friend - It is part of the perplexity of crooked ways, that all relationships are put out of joint. Selfishness rends each from the other, and disjoints the whole frame of society.
This site's exposition
Trust ye not in a friend
on Micah 7:5-6
Verse 5 pushes the warning into the closest relationships left, telling Judah to trust no friend and no confidant, not even the wife who lies in a man's own bosom, because the unraveling named in verses 1 and 2 has reached that far. Verse 6 lists the breakdown by generation and by marriage, son against father, daughter against mother, daughter in law against mother in law, until a man's enemies are the men of his own house. Clarke and the older commentators note that the Lord takes up this same language at Matthew 10:35-36 to describe the division his own coming would bring within families, the ancient collapse becoming a figure for a different rupture. The two settings are read as distinct rather than one collapsed into the other, but the vocabulary is the same vocabulary.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
(Verse 5-7) Your day of reckoning has come, your visitation is here. Now there will be destruction: do not trust your friend, and do not rely on your leader. Guard the doors of your mouth against the one who lies in your bosom; for a son insults his father, and a daughter rises up against her mother; a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and enemies are those of a man's own household. But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for God, my savior; my God will hear me.
[In spiritual discipline], the disposition of the doer is given more weight than the thing that is done. Even the truth at times is found to have harmed some people and a lie to have helped them. For one time King Saul was complaining in the presence of his retainers about David's flight, saying, "Will the son of Jesse give all of you fields and vineyards and make all of you tribunes and centurions, since you have all conspired against me, and there is no one to inform me?" What but the truth did Doeg the Edomite tell him when he said, "I saw the son of Jesse in Nob, with Ahimilech the son of Ahitub the priest. He consulted the Lord on his behalf and gave him provisions and he gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistines as well"? For this truth he deserved to be uprooted from the land of the living, and of him it is said by the prophet, "Therefore God shall destroy you forever, pluck you up and remove you from your tent and uproot you from the land of the living." For indicating the truth, then, he was everlastingly uprooted from the land in which Rahab the harlot was planted, along with her family, because of her lie. In the same way we remember that Samson in most ruinous fashion delivered over to his wicked wife a truth that had long been concealed by a lie. Therefore the truth that he had very heedlessly disclosed to her brought about his own undoing, because he failed to keep that prophetic command: "Keep the doors of your mouth from her who sleeps at your breast."
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 17 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
A threefold war is threatening us: domestic, civil, and military. The first is with the flesh, which has many troops. This servant-maid is ever-willing to give access, as did Eve. Hence, Against her who lies in your bosom guard the portals of your mouth.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Trust ye not in a friend,....
It is an evil time indeed when the prudent are obliged even thus far to keep silence. That children were abusive to their parents, and men had no comfort, no satisfaction, in their own families and their nearest relations,
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Trust ye not in a friend--Faith is kept nowhere: all to a man are treacherous (Jer 9:2-6). When justice is perverted by the great, faith nowhere is safe. So, in gospel times of persecution, "a man's foes are they of his own household" (Mt 10:35, 36;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Trust ye not in a friend - These times will be so evil, and the people so wicked, that all bonds will be dissolved; and even the most intimate will betray each other, when they can hope to serve themselves by it. On this passage, in the year 1798, I find I have written as follows: - “Trust ye not in a friend. - Several of those whom I have delighted to call by that name have deceived me. “Put ye not confidence in a guide. - Had I followed some of these I should have gone to perdition. “Keep the door of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. - My wife alone never deceived me.” It is now twenty-seven years since, and I find no cause to alter what I then wrote.
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַל־ | ʾal- | may not | H408 → | 724 times |
| תַּאֲמִ֣ינוּ | taaminu | you believe | H539 → | |
| בְרֵ֔עַ | verea' | in a neighbor | H7453 → | |
| אַֽל־ | ʾal- | may not | H408 → | 724 times |
| תִּבְטְח֖וּ | tivtechu | you trust | H982 → | |
| בְּאַלּ֑וּף | bealuf | in a close friend | H441 → | |
| מִשֹּׁכֶ֣בֶת | mishokhevet | from [she who] lies of | H7901 → | |
| חֵיקֶ֔ךָ | cheikecha | bosom your | H2436 → | |
| שְׁמֹ֖ר | shemor | guard | H8104 → | |
| פִּתְחֵי־ | pitchei- | [the] openings of | H6607 → | |
| פִֽיךָ׃ | fikha | mouth your | H6310 → | 498 times |
אַל־may not
ʾal-H408 →724 times
תַּאֲמִ֣ינוּyou believe
taaminuH539 →
בְרֵ֔עַin a neighbor
verea'H7453 →
אַֽל־may not
ʾal-H408 →724 times
תִּבְטְח֖וּyou trust
tivtechuH982 →
בְּאַלּ֑וּףin a close friend
bealufH441 →
מִשֹּׁכֶ֣בֶתfrom [she who] lies of
mishokhevetH7901 →
חֵיקֶ֔ךָbosom your
cheikechaH2436 →
שְׁמֹ֖רguard
shemorH8104 →
פִּתְחֵי־[the] openings of
pitchei-H6607 →
פִֽיךָ׃mouth your
fikhaH6310 →498 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 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
Matthew 10:16Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
it leads to
- Philippians 2:15
so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world
- Luke 10:3
Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.
- 1 Corinthians 14:20
Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.
- Colossians 4:5
Act wisely toward outsiders, redeeming the time.
- Ephesians 5:15–17
Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
- Philippians 2:15
Through
Jeremiah 9:4“Let everyone guard against his neighbor; do not trust any brother, for every brother deals craftily, and every friend spreads slander.
it leads to
- Micah 7:5–6
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.
- Proverbs 26:24–25
A hateful man disguises himself with his speech, but he lays up deceit in his heart.
- Psalms 12:2–3
They lie to one another; they speak with flattering lips and a double heart.
- Micah 7:5–6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Micah
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); Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 17; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Micah; John Cassian, CONFERENCE 17:20.10-11; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.