Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Micah 7:5 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 5. 5Trust 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.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse warns against trust in friend, guide, and even unguarded speech to an intimate partner during social breakdown.
The gleaner finds no cluster, and the institutions weave a bribe
This verse is one part of that explanation in Micah 7:1-7. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Micah 7:1-7
Read Micah 7:5 with 7:1-7. This verse warns against trust in friend, guide, and even unguarded speech to an intimate partner during social breakdown. The complete unit establishes this movement: The speaker laments a society in which violence, bribery, elite collusion, and fractured trust reach even households, yet turns from generalized suspicion to patient hope that God will hear.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The lament voices what systemic corruption feels like from within while verse 7 prevents fear from becoming the final posture. Within that movement, this verse warns against trust in friend, guide, and even unguarded speech to an intimate partner during social breakdown.
Read Micah 7:1–7 together
Why these verses belong together: Empty harvest, corruption, broken trust, household danger, and the turn to waiting form one lament.
Verse 1. 1 Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit.
Verse 2. 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.
Verse 3. 3 That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up.
Verse 4. 4 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.
Verse 5. 5 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.
Verse 6. 6 For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.
Verse 7. 7 Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.
Follow the Context
- The speaker is like a gleaner finding no desired cluster or first-ripe fruit.
- Faithful and upright people seem gone while people hunt one another for blood.
- Prince, judge, and powerful person coordinate bribed desire into a woven scheme.
- Even the best appear thorn-like as visitation and confusion arrive.
- Trust in friend, guide, and intimate household member feels unsafe.
- The speaker turns to watch, wait, and trust that the God of salvation will hear.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“keep the doors of thy mouth”
In plain language: guard speech where disclosure may be unsafe
warns against trust in friend, guide, and even unguarded speech to an intimate partner during social breakdown. Crisis can require careful confidentiality, but lament is not a permanent command to isolate from everyone.
Why it matters: The wording carries interpretive or ethical risk that requires the complete unit and stated limits.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
The verse does not command permanent suspicion of friends or spouses or require silence about abuse.
What Remains True
Crisis can require careful confidentiality, but lament is not a permanent command to isolate from everyone.
How It Can Shape Life
- Keep safety plans from unsafe people while identifying qualified trustworthy support.
Teach It Back
Explain how Micah 7:5 contributes to Micah 7:1-7. Show how the surrounding movement controls the verse, name the stated uncertainty, and identify what the verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Micah 7:1-7 — A Lament over Social Breakdown Turns to WaitingSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Whether 'guide' means close companion and how broadly to apply the warning remain open.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Micah 7:1-7, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Micah
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, clause relationships, wordplays, names, and the base text behind translation discussion.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Mic.xml, 7:1-7
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Micah with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual, literary, historical, and uncertainty notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Micah PDF, printed pp. 1750, translation and notes on 7:1-7
Open source ↗