Micah 6:13

13 Therefore I have begun to strike you down, making you desolate because of your sins.

Micah 6:13 Meaning and Commentary

Micah 6:13

Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee
With the rod to be heard, ( Micah 6:9 ) ; by sending among them some of his sore judgments, as famine, pestilence, the sword of the enemy, internal wars, and the like; which should cause their kingdom, and state, and families, to decline and waste away, as a sickly and diseased body. So the Targum,

``and I brought upon thee illness and a stroke.''
The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, render it, "and I began to smite thee"; as by Hazael, king of Syria, and Tiglathpileser, king of Assyria, who had carried part of them captive; in making [thee] desolate because of thy sins;
went on, not only to make them sick, and bring them into a declining state, but into utter desolation; as by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, who carried Israel captive; and by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who led Judah captive, because of their sins of idolatry, injustice, and oppression, with others that abounded among them.

Micah 6:13 In-Context

11 Can I tolerate wicked scales and a bag of dishonest weights?
12 Your wealthy are full of violence; your inhabitants speak lies, with tongues of deceit in their mouths.
13 Therefore I have begun to strike you down, making you desolate because of your sins.
14 You shall eat, but not be satisfied, and there shall be a gnawing hunger within you; you shall put away, but not save, and what you save, I will hand over to the sword.
15 You shall sow, but not reap; you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Gk Syr Vg: Heb [have made sick]
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.