Micah 6:9-16

Destruction of the Wicked

9 The voice of the LORD cries to the city-- and it is sound wisdom to fear 1your name: "Hear of 2the rod and of him who appointed it![a]
10 Can I forget any longer the treasures[b] of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is accursed?
11 Shall I acquit the man 3with wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights?
12 Your[c] rich men are 4full of violence; your inhabitants 5speak lies, and 6their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
13 Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow, 7making you desolate because of your sins.
14 8You shall eat, but not be satisfied, and there shall be hunger within you; you shall put away, but not preserve, and what you preserve I will give to the sword.
15 9You shall sow, but not reap; you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine.
16 For you have kept the statutes of 10Omri,[d] and all the works of the house of 11Ahab; and you have walked in their counsels, that I may make you 12a desolation, and your[e] inhabitants 13a hissing; so you shall bear 14the scorn of my people."

Micah 6:9-16 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 14

  • 1. Isaiah 30:27
  • 2. Isaiah 10:5; Isaiah 30:32
  • 3. See Hosea 12:7
  • 4. Amos 3:10; Habakkuk 1:2, 3
  • 5. Hosea 7:13
  • 6. Jeremiah 9:8
  • 7. Micah 7:13
  • 8. Hosea 4:10
  • 9. [Zephaniah 1:13; Haggai 1:6]
  • 10. 1 Kings 16:25, 26; [Micah 1:13]
  • 11. See 1 Kings 16:30-33; 1 Kings 21:25, 26
  • 12. See 2 Chronicles 29:8
  • 13. See 2 Chronicles 29:8
  • 14. Isaiah 25:8

Footnotes 5

  • [a]. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
  • [b]. Or Are there still treasures
  • [c]. Hebrew whose
  • [d]. Hebrew For the statutes of Omri are kept
  • [e]. Hebrew its
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.