Micah 6:12

12 Your wealthy are full of violence; your inhabitants speak lies, with tongues of deceit in their mouths.

Micah 6:12 Meaning and Commentary

Micah 6:12

For the rich men thereof are full of violence
That is, the rich men of the city, to whom the voice of the Lord cried, ( Micah 6:9 ) . Jerusalem or Samaria, or any or all the cities of Israel and Judah; the rich men of these cities, who had enough of the world, and were under no temptation to do an ill thing, to get money; and yet their hands and their houses, and their treasuries, as the Targum, were full of goods gotten by violent measures, by the oppression of the poor and needy: and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies;
the rest of the inhabitants, who were not so rich as others, and who had it not in the power of their hands to oppress as others had; yet used deceitful and fraudulent methods to cheat their neighbours in buying and selling; and, to do this, did not stick to tell downright deliberate lies: and their tongue [is] deceitful in their mouth;
say one thing, and mean another; deceive their neighbours with their tongues in trade and commerce; averting things for truth they know to be false.

Micah 6:12 In-Context

10 Can I forget the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is accursed?
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.

Footnotes 2

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.