Micah6
World English Bible · Public Domain
1Listen now to what Yahweh says: “Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear what you have to say.
2Hear, you mountains, Yahweh’s indictment, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for Yahweh has a case against his people, and he will contend with Israel.
3My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me!
4For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage. I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
5My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of Yahweh.”
6How shall I come before Yahweh, and bow myself before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
7Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams? With tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my disobedience? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
9Yahweh’s voice calls to the city— and wisdom fears your name— “Listen to the rod, and he who appointed it.
10Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and a short ephah that is accursed?
11Shall I tolerate dishonest scales, and a bag of deceitful weights?
12Her rich men are full of violence, her inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their speech.
13Therefore I also have struck you with a grievous wound. I have made you desolate because of your sins.
14You shall eat, but not be satisfied. Your hunger will be within you. You will store up, but not save, and that which you save I will give up to the sword.
15You will sow, but won’t reap. You will tread the olives, but won’t anoint yourself with oil; and crush grapes, but won’t drink the wine.
16For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of Ahab’s house. You walk in their counsels, that I may make you a ruin, and your inhabitants a hissing. You will bear the reproach of my people.”
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Micah 6.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: God's controversy with Israel. (1–5). The duties God requires. (6–8). The wickedness of Israel. (9–16).
vv1-5
The people are called upon to declare why they were weary of God's worship, and prone to idolatry. Sin causes the controversy between God and man. God reasons with us, to teach us to reason with ourselves. Let them remember God's many favours to them and their fathers, and compare with them their unworthy, ungrateful conduct toward him.
vv6-8
These verses seem to contain the substance of Balak's consultation with Balaam how to obtain the favour of Israel's God. Deep conviction of guilt and wrath will put men upon careful inquiries after peace and pardon, and then there begins to be some ground for hope of them. In order to God's being pleased with us, our care must be for an interest in the atonement of Christ, and that the sin by which we displease him may be taken away. What will be a satisfaction to God's justice? In whose name must we come, as we have nothing to plead as our own? In what righteousness shall we appear before him? The proposals betray ignorance, though they show zeal. They offer that which is very rich and costly. Those who are fully convinced of sin, and of their misery and danger by reason of it, would give all the world, if they had it, for peace and pardon. Yet they do not offer aright. The sacrifices had value from their reference to Christ; it was impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. And all proposals of peace, except those according to the gospel, are absurd. They could not answer the demands of Divine justice, nor satisfy the wrong done to the honour of God by sin, nor would they serve at all in place of holiness of the heart and reformation of the life. Men will part with any thing rather than their sins; but they part with nothing so as to be accepted of God, unless they do part with their sins. Moral duties are commanded because they are good for man. In keeping God's commandments there is a great reward, as well as after keeping them. God has not only made it known, but made it plain. The good which God requires of us is, not the paying a price for the pardon of sin and acceptance with God, but love to himself; and what is there unreasonable, or hard, in this? Every thought within us must be brought down, to be brought into obedience to God, if we would walk comfortably with him. We must do this as penitent sinners, in dependence on the Redeemer and his atonement. Blessed be the Lord that he is ever ready to give his grace to the humble, waiting penitent.
vv9-16
God, having showed how necessary it was that they should do justly, here shows how plain it was that they had done unjustly. This voice of the Lord says to all, Hear the rod when it is coming, before you see it, and feel it. Hear the rod when it is come, and you are sensible of the smart; hear what counsels, what cautions it speaks. The voice of God is to be heard in the rod of God. Those who are dishonest in their dealings shall never be reckoned pure, whatever shows of devotion they may make. What is got by fraud and oppression, cannot be kept or enjoyed with satisfaction. What we hold closest we commonly lose soonest. Sin is a root of bitterness, soon planted, but not soon plucked up again. Their being the people of God in name and profession, while they kept themselves in his love, was an honour to them; but now, being backsliders, their having been once the people of God turns to their reproach.
Key Words
שָׁמַע: to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etc.; causatively, to tell, etc.)
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
קוּם: to rise (in various applications, literal, figurative, intensive and causative)
רִיב: properly, to toss, i.e. grapple; mostly figuratively, to wrangle, i.e. hold a controversy; (by implication) to defend
אֵת: properly, nearness (used only as a preposition or an adverb), near; hence, generally, with, by, at, among, etc.
הַר: a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figuratively)
גִּבְעָה: a hillock
קוֹל: a voice or sound
רִיב: a contest (personal or legal)
אֵיתָן: permanence; hence (concrete) permanent; specifically a chieftain
Cross References
Micah 6Explicit structural and verbal antecedent to Micah's summary of what the Lord requires of man.
Supported by JFB
Classical invocation of heaven, earth, and mountains as witnesses in God's covenant lawsuit against Israel.
Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin, JFB
Parallel prophetic appeal to creation to witness the Lord's controversy with His rebellious children.
Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin, JFB
Identical rhetorical plea where God asks what iniquity or weariness caused His people to abandon Him.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Theological foundation prioritizing mercy, justice, and knowledge of God over mere outward ritual sacrifices.
Supported by JFB
Jesus directly echoes Micah's tripartite division, calling judgment, mercy, and faith the weightier matters.
Supported by JFB
Explains Balaam's wicked counsel from Shittim to undermine Israel through idolatry and sexual immorality.
Supported by JFB
Connects Gilgal as the final point of transition where the reproach of Egypt was rolled away.
Supported by JFB
Historical example of offering a royal firstborn as a pagan sacrifice, reflecting Micah's extreme query.
Supported by JFB
Locus classicus establishing that obedience is better than sacrifice, matching Micah's critique of ritual.
Supported by JFB
Parallel indictment of commercial deceit, specifically highlighting the scant measure and false balances.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The Mosaic law strictly forbidding diverse weights and measures, which Micah condemns Israel for using.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Details the wicked 'works of the house of Ahab' which Israel kept in place of God's laws.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Identifies Miriam alongside Moses and Aaron as leaders sent before Israel during the Exodus.
Supported by JFB
Covenant curse of eating and not being satisfied, matching Micah's warning of physical desolation.
Supported by Matthew Henry