Micah 6:12

12 Your^[a] rich men are ¹full of violence; your inhabitants ²speak lies, and ³their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

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 any longer the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is accursed?

11 Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights?

12 Your rich men are full of violence; your inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

13 Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow, making you desolate because of your sins.

14 You 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.

Cross References

• 1. 6:12 Amos 3:10; Hab. 1:2, 3
• 2. 6:12 Hos. 7:13
• 3. 6:12 Jer. 9:8

Footnotes

• [a] 6:12 Hebrew 'whose'