יְרַֽחֲמֵ֔נוּ (yə·ra·ḥă·mê·nū) in Micah 7:19: Verb - Piel - Imperfect - third person masculine singular | first person common plural
יְרַֽחֲמֵ֔נוּ (yə·ra·ḥă·mê·nū) in Micah 7:19
Source Word
Micah 7:19 row 2 aligns H7355 with have compassion on us immediately before the promises concerning iniquities and sins.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
Have compassion on us makes the worshiping community the direct recipient of renewed mercy before the poem describes what God does with their iniquities and sins. He comes from the Lord named in the surrounding confession, while us directly represents the attached first-person plural suffix.
How To Communicate It
Mark the Lord as agent and us as recipient, then read compassion with pardon in verse 18, sin's removal in verse 19, and covenant faithfulness in verse 20.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Do not separate compassion from the passage's treatment of iniquity or make the grammatical form alone prove every detail of Micah's closing hope.
- The imperfect expresses confident future-facing praise in this closing confession.
- The form does not identify compassion with ignoring sin, make the community sinless, or allow the sea image to be derived from the verb morphology.
What Does The Label Mean?
Hebrew-verb
Verb
Verb - Piel - Imperfect - third person masculine singular | first person common plural
Piel
Imperf
Third
Masculine
Singular
Not applicable
First person common plural
The Piel imperfect has the Lord as masculine singular subject and the first-person common plural suffix marks the confessing community as recipients of compassion. Again in the preceding phrase signals renewed action consistent with God's character.
The form gathers the speakers into us and expresses confident hope that the Lord will again act compassionately toward his people.
What The Form Does In This Verse
The doxological confession that no God compares with the one who pardons iniquity and delights in loving devotion
The closing sequence of compassion, vanquished iniquities, sins cast into the sea, and covenant faithfulness to the fathers
The form gathers the speakers into us and expresses confident hope that the Lord will again act compassionately toward his people.
The form does not identify compassion with ignoring sin, make the community sinless, or allow the sea image to be derived from the verb morphology.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The form voices communal assurance that the pardoning God will renew compassion and decisively address sin.
The Piel imperfect has the Lord as masculine singular subject and the first-person common plural suffix marks the confessing community as recipients of compassion. Again in the preceding phrase signals renewed action consistent with God's character.. The form gathers the speakers into us and expresses confident hope that the Lord will again act compassionately toward his people.. Attached to the doxological confession that no God compares with the one who pardons iniquity and delights in loving devotion. Governed by the closing sequence of compassion, vanquished iniquities, sins cast into the sea, and covenant faithfulness to the fathers. The form does not identify compassion with ignoring sin, make the community sinless, or allow the sea image to be derived from the verb morphology.
How is compassion described in Micah 7:19? The Lord will again show compassion to the community while vanquishing their iniquities and casting their sins into the sea.
Direct: He comes from the Lord named in the surrounding confession, while us directly represents the attached first-person plural suffix.
The imperfect expresses confident future-facing praise in this closing confession. Again modifies the renewed exercise of compassion; it does not imply that the Lord's compassionate character had ceased.
The imperfect or Piel stem used to generate the following sea imagery instead of reading the coordinated clauses: Do not separate compassion from the passage's treatment of iniquity or make the grammatical form alone prove every detail of Micah's closing hope. have compassion on us reduced to sentimental tolerance that leaves iniquity untouched: Keep "have compassion on us" connected to יְרַֽחֲמֵ֔נוּ, row 2, and the full Micah 7:19 clause.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
Micah 7:19 row 2 aligns H7355 with have compassion on us immediately before the promises concerning iniquities and sins.
This row 2 H7355 witness is communal and doxological, unlike Isaiah 55:7's singular returning sinner, though both depend on the Lord's mercy.
The Piel imperfect has the Lord as masculine singular subject and the first-person common plural suffix marks the confessing community as recipients of compassion. Again in the preceding phrase signals renewed action consistent with God's character.
Micah 7:18-20 praises the incomparable God who pardons, renews compassion, subdues iniquities, removes sins, and keeps the sworn faithfulness shown to Jacob and Abraham.
The promise closes Micah in the setting of remnant mercy and ancestral covenant faithfulness; broader assurance should preserve pardon, sin's defeat, and God's sworn devotion together.
Mark the Lord as agent and us as recipient, then read compassion with pardon in verse 18, sin's removal in verse 19, and covenant faithfulness in verse 20.
Do not separate compassion from the passage's treatment of iniquity or make the grammatical form alone prove every detail of Micah's closing hope.