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Don't Tread Lightly

Sometimes, when I come across a verse that really grabs my attention, I like to look at it in different translations of the Bible.  In some cases, I break it down phrase by phrase and compare words that the different translators used to convey the meaning of the verse.

Take, for example, a verse from Micah:  “He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”  (Micah 7:19 - ESV)

Below each phrase I’ve copied the wording used in other translations:

He will again have compassion on us: 

He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us

He will once again have compassion on us

You will be merciful to us once again.

He will again show us compassion

He will again take pity on us

Once again you will show loving concern for us.

He will again have loving-pity on us

  

He will tread our iniquities underfoot:

He will subdue our iniquities

He will subdue and tread underfoot our wickedness

He will vanquish our iniquities

He will put away our iniquities

You will conquer our sins

You will overcome our wrongdoing

You will completely wipe out the evil things we’ve done.

He will crush our sins under foot

You will trample our sins under your feet

 

You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea:


You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea

You will hurl all our sins into the depths of the sea

You will throw all their sins into the depths of the sea

And He will cast all our sins into the bottom of the sea

And send them to the bottom of the sea

You will throw them into the depths of the ocean

He will cast all our sins down to the bottom of the sea

 

If I were to combine the phrases that are particularly meaningful to me, it would read as follows:

“He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; You will trample our sins under your feet; You will hurl all our sins into the depths of the sea.”

After combining those particular phrases, I also noticed that each phrase had word pictures that became even more vivid the more I thought about them. Come look and see:

“He will turn again”; He will turn toward me again because He knows that I am struggling and stumbling and straying.  And He turns again, probably for the umpteenth time, rather than just leaving me to languish…

“He will have compassion”; while He could chide me after turning again toward me and could rub my face in the stench of my failure, He chooses to show compassion...

“You will trample our sins under your feet”; in His compassion, He knows that my sins are many and they stink and they weigh heavily on me but He removes them and tramples them into the ground, grinding them into fine dust under His feet where they are no longer visible or even recognizable…

“You will hurl all our sins into the depths of the sea”; if trampling them under His feet were not enough, He takes my sins to the sea but He doesn’t just drop them in or lob them a few feet out but He hurls them with such incredible force that they go into the depths of the sea where they will never be seen again.

Just picture all that! 

 

 

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