Micah 6:1-8

The Indictment of the Lord

1 ¹Hear what the LORD says: Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.

2 ²Hear, you mountains, ³the indictment of the LORD, and you enduring foundations of the earth, for the LORD has an indictment against his people, and he will contend with Israel.

3 "O my people, ⁴what have I done to you? ⁵How have I wearied you? Answer me!

4 For ⁶I brought you up from the land of Egypt and ⁷redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and ⁸Miriam.

5 O my people, remember ⁹what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, and what happened from ¹⁰Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know ¹¹the saving acts of the LORD."

What Does the Lord Require?

6 ¹²"With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before ¹³God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?

7 ¹⁴Will the LORD be pleased with^[a] thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? ¹⁵Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?"

8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and ¹⁶what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness,^[b] and to ¹⁷walk humbly with your God?

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Micah 6:1-8 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO MICAH 6

This chapter contains reproofs of the people of Israel for their sins, threatening them with punishment for them. The prophet is bid to tell them of the controversy the Lord had with them, which he did, Mic 6:1,2; and the Lord calls upon them to declare if they had any thing to object to his attitude towards them, Mic 6:3; and then puts them in mind of the favours they had received from him, in bringing them out of Egypt, and giving them such useful persons to go before them, lead and instruct them, as he had, Mic 6:4; and also reminds them of what passed between Balak, king of Moab, and Balaam the soothsayer; the questions of the one, and the answer of the other; whereby the designs of the former against them were frustrated, Mic 6:5-8; but since the voice of the Lord by his prophet was disregarded by them, they are called upon to hearken to the voice of his rod, Mic 6:9; which should be laid upon them for their fraudulent dealings, injustice, oppression, lies, and deceit, Mic 6:10-12; and therefore are threatened with sickness and desolation, and a deprivation of all good things, the fruit of their labours, Mic 6:13-15; and that because the statutes of Omri, the works of Ahab, and their counsels, were observed by them, Mic 6:16.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 17

1. See Micah 1:2
2. Psalms 50:1, 4; Ezekiel 36:4
3. Isaiah 1:18; See Hosea 4:1
4. Isaiah 5:4; [Jeremiah 2:5, 31]
5. Isaiah 43:22, 23; [Malachi 1:13]
6. Exodus 12:51; Hosea 12:13; Amos 2:10
7. 2 Samuel 7:23
8. Exodus 15:20; Numbers 12:1, 2
9. See Numbers 22:5
10. Numbers 25:1
11. [Judges 5:11]
12. [Hosea 5:6; Hebrews 10:4]
13. Isaiah 57:15
14. See 1 Samuel 15:22
15. 2 Kings 3:27; 2 Kings 16:3; 2 Kings 21:6; 2 Kings 23:10; [Leviticus 18:21]
16. [Deuteronomy 10:12]
17. [Genesis 5:22]

Footnotes 2

[a]. Or Will the Lord accept
[b]. Or steadfast love

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.