Micah 6

1 Hear ye which things the Lord speaketh. Rise thou, strive thou by doom against mountains, and little hills hear thy voice. (Listen ye to what the Lord saith. Rise thou, state thy case to the mountains, and let the little hills hear thy voice.)

2 Mountains and the strong foundaments of earth, hear the doom of the Lord; for the doom of the Lord shall be with his people, and he shall be deemed with Israel. (O mountains and the strong foundations of the earth, listen to the Lord's case; for the Lord hath a case against his people, and he shall judge Israel.)

3 My people, what have I done to thee, either (in) what was I grievous to thee? Answer thou to me. (My people, what have I done to thee, or how have I grieved thee? Answer thou me.)

4 For I led thee out of the land of Egypt, and of the house of servage I delivered thee; and I sent before thy face Moses, and Aaron, and Mary. (For I led thee out of the land of Egypt, and I brought thee out of the house of servitude, or of slavery; and I sent thee Moses, and Aaron, and Miriam.)

5 My people, bethink, I pray, what Balak, king of Moab, thought, and what Balaam, son of Beor, of Shittim, answered to him till to Gilgal, that thou shouldest know the rightwiseness of the Lord. (My people, remember, I pray thee, what Balak, the king of Moab, thought, or planned, to do against you, and what Balaam, the son of Beor, answered to him; remember the journey from Shittim to Gilgal, so that thou shalt know the Lord's righteousness.)

6 What worthy thing shall I offer to the Lord? shall I bow the knee to the high God? Whether shall I offer to him brunt sacrifices, and calves of one year? (What worthy thing shall I offer to the Lord? shall I bow my knee to the Most High God? Shall I offer him burnt sacrifices, and one year old calves?)

7 Whether God may be satisfied in thousands of wethers, either in many thousands of fat goat bucks? Whether I shall give my first begotten for my great trespass, the fruit of my womb for sin of my soul? (Can God truly be satisfied even with thousands of rams, or with many thousands of fat goat bucks? Shall I give my first begotten son for my great trespass, yea, the fruit of my womb for the sin of my soul?)

8 I shall show to thee, thou man, what is good, and what the Lord asketh of thee; forsooth for to do doom, and for to love mercy, and be busy for to walk with thy God. (I shall tell thee, ye people, what is good, and what the Lord asketh of thee; and that is, to act rightly, or with justice, and to love mercy/and to love mercifully, and to be busy, or committed, to walk with thy God.)

9 The voice of the Lord crieth to the city, and health shall be to all men dreading thy name. Ye lineages, hear; and who shall approve it? (The voice of the Lord crieth to the city, and success, or victory, shall be for all those who fear his name/for all those who revere his name. Listen, ye tribes, to him who hath gathered thee together/Listen, ye tribes, all ye who gather together in the city.)

10 Yet fire is in the house of unpious men, the treasures of wickedness, and a less measure, (which make me) full of wrath. (Yet in the house of the unrighteous, or of the wicked, there is fire, yea, the treasures of wickedness, and a false measure, which make me very angry.)

11 Whether I shall justify the wicked balance, and the guileful weights of a little sack, (Can I justify a wicked, or a false, balance, and a bag of deceitful weights,)

12 in which rich men thereof be filled with wickedness? And men dwelling therein spake leasing, and the tongue of them was guileful in the mouth of them. (in which the rich there be filled with wickedness? And those living there spoke lies, and their tongues were deceitful in their mouths.)

13 And I therefore began for to smite thee, in(to) perdition on thy sins. (And so I began to strike thee down unto perdition, for thy sins.)

14 Thou shalt eat, and shalt not be [ful]filled, and thy meeking is in the middle of thee (and thy humbling is in thy midst); and thou shalt take (hold), and shalt not save; and (that) which thou shalt save, I shall give into (the) sword.

15 Thou shalt sow, and shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olive, and shalt not be anointed with oil; and (make) must, and shalt not drink (the) wine.

16 And thou keptest the behests of Omri, and all the work of the house of Ahab, and hast walked in the lusts of them, that I should give thee into perdition, and men dwelling in it into hissing, either scorning, and ye shall bear the shame of my people. (And thou hast followed the ways of Omri, and all the work of the house of Ahab, and hast walked in their lusts, so that now I shall give thee unto perdition, and the people living there unto hissing, or mocking, and ye shall bear the shame of my people.)

Micah 6 Commentary

Chapter 6

God's controversy with Israel. (1-5) The duties God requires. (6-8) The wickedness of Israel. (9-16)

Verses 1-5 The people are called upon to declare why they were weary of God's worship, and prone to idolatry. Sin causes the controversy between God and man. God reasons with us, to teach us to reason with ourselves. Let them remember God's many favours to them and their fathers, and compare with them their unworthy, ungrateful conduct toward him.

Verses 6-8 These verses seem to contain the substance of Balak's consultation with Balaam how to obtain the favour of Israel's God. Deep conviction of guilt and wrath will put men upon careful inquiries after peace and pardon, and then there begins to be some ground for hope of them. In order to God's being pleased with us, our care must be for an interest in the atonement of Christ, and that the sin by which we displease him may be taken away. What will be a satisfaction to God's justice? In whose name must we come, as we have nothing to plead as our own? In what righteousness shall we appear before him? The proposals betray ignorance, though they show zeal. They offer that which is very rich and costly. Those who are fully convinced of sin, and of their misery and danger by reason of it, would give all the world, if they had it, for peace and pardon. Yet they do not offer aright. The sacrifices had value from their reference to Christ; it was impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. And all proposals of peace, except those according to the gospel, are absurd. They could not answer the demands of Divine justice, nor satisfy the wrong done to the honour of God by sin, nor would they serve at all in place of holiness of the heart and reformation of the life. Men will part with any thing rather than their sins; but they part with nothing so as to be accepted of God, unless they do part with their sins. Moral duties are commanded because they are good for man. In keeping God's commandments there is a great reward, as well as after keeping them. God has not only made it known, but made it plain. The good which God requires of us is, not the paying a price for the pardon of sin and acceptance with God, but love to himself; and what is there unreasonable, or hard, in this? Every thought within us must be brought down, to be brought into obedience to God, if we would walk comfortably with him. We must do this as penitent sinners, in dependence on the Redeemer and his atonement. Blessed be the Lord that he is ever ready to give his grace to the humble, waiting penitent.

Verses 9-16 God, having showed how necessary it was that they should do justly, here shows how plain it was that they had done unjustly. This voice of the Lord says to all, Hear the rod when it is coming, before you see it, and feel it. Hear the rod when it is come, and you are sensible of the smart; hear what counsels, what cautions it speaks. The voice of God is to be heard in the rod of God. Those who are dishonest in their dealings shall never be reckoned pure, whatever shows of devotion they may make. What is got by fraud and oppression, cannot be kept or enjoyed with satisfaction. What we hold closest we commonly lose soonest. Sin is a root of bitterness, soon planted, but not soon plucked up again. Their being the people of God in name and profession, while they kept themselves in his love, was an honour to them; but now, being backsliders, their having been once the people of God turns to their reproach.

Chapter Summary

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.