Bible Strands
Micah 7:2
The godly man has perished from the earth; there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; they hunt one another with a net.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Micah addresses Israel during a period of systemic moral collapse, immediately following his observation of a barren spiritual harvest. He describes a society where covenant-keeping individuals have vanished and violence has become the standard practice.
The words — חָסִיד (chasid) refers to the faithful or godly one who maintains covenant loyalty, and אָבַד (avad) means he has perished or been destroyed. Their pairing in the verse establishes that covenant integrity has completely disappeared from the land.
The thread — This observation of vanishing righteousness runs through Psalms 12:1, which laments the absence of the faithful, and Isaiah 57:1, which records the death of the righteous without public reflection. Psalm 14:1 parallels the moral environment by stating no one does good, though it attributes the condition to a denial of God rather than the disappearance of the righteous.
Why it lands — The text requires a reader to acknowledge the reality of widespread corruption without minimizing it. It demands recognition that human systems cannot sustain justice when covenant faithfulness is absent, pointing the reader to rely on divine judgment and restoration.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Psalms 12:1 For the choirmaster. According to Sheminith. A Psalm of David. Help, O LORD, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men.
- Psalms 14:1 For the choirmaster. Of David. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt; their acts are vile. There is no one who does good.
- Isaiah 57:1 The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; devout men are taken away, while no one considers that the righteous are taken away from the presence of evil.
- Isaiah 59:7 Their feet run to evil; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and destruction lie in their wake.
- Jeremiah 5:26 For among My people are wicked men; they watch like fowlers lying in wait; they set a trap to catch men.
- Proverbs 1:11 If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause,
- Jeremiah 16:16 But for now I will send for many fishermen, declares the LORD, and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill, even from the clefts of the rocks.
- 1 Samuel 24:11 See, my father, look at the corner of your robe in my hand. For I cut it off, but I did not kill you. Know and see that there is no evil or rebellion in my hands. I have not sinned against you, even though you are hunting me down to take my life.
- 1 Samuel 26:20 So do not let my blood fall to the ground far from the presence of the LORD. For the king of Israel has come out to look for a flea, like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains.”
- Psalms 57:6 They spread a net for my feet; my soul was despondent. They dug a pit before me, but they themselves have fallen into it! Selah