Micah 6:10-15

10 Am I still to forget your ill-gotten treasures, you wicked house, and the short ephah,[a] which is accursed?
11 Shall I acquit someone with dishonest scales, with a bag of false weights?
12 Your rich people are violent; your inhabitants are liars and their tongues speak deceitfully.
13 Therefore, I have begun to destroy you, to ruin[b] you because of your sins.
14 You will eat but not be satisfied; your stomach will still be empty.[c]You will store up but save nothing, because what you save[d] I will give to the sword.
15 You will plant but not harvest; you will press olives but not use the oil, you will crush grapes but not drink the wine.

Micah 6:10-15 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.

Cross References 11

  • 1. Ezekiel 45:9-10; S Amos 3:10; Amos 8:4-6
  • 2. S Leviticus 19:36; Hosea 12:7
  • 3. S Deuteronomy 25:13
  • 4. S Isaiah 1:23
  • 5. S Psalms 116:11; Isaiah 3:8
  • 6. S Psalms 35:20; S Jeremiah 9:3
  • 7. Isaiah 1:7; Isaiah 6:11
  • 8. S Isaiah 9:20; S Hosea 4:10
  • 9. Isaiah 30:6
  • 10. S Deuteronomy 28:38; Jeremiah 12:13
  • 11. Job 24:11; S Amos 5:11; Zephaniah 1:13

Footnotes 4

  • [a]. An ephah was a dry measure.
  • [b]. Or "Therefore, I will make you ill and destroy you;" / "I will ruin"
  • [c]. The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
  • [d]. Or "You will press toward birth but not give birth," / "and what you bring to birth"
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