Micah 6:14

14 You shall eat, but not be satisfied; Hunger shall be in your midst. You may carry some away, but shall not save them; And what you do rescue I will give over to the sword.

Micah 6:14 Meaning and Commentary

Micah 6:14

Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied
Either not having enough to eat, for the refreshing and satisfying of nature; or else a blessing being withheld from food, though eaten, and so not nourishing; or a voracious and insatiable appetite being given as a curse; the first sense seems best: and thy casting down [shall be] in the midst of thee;
meaning they should be humbled and brought down, either by civil discords and wars among themselves, or through the enemy being suffered to come into the midst of their country, and make havoc there; which would be as a sickness and disease in their bowels. So the Targum,

``thou shalt have an illness in thy bowels.''

The Syriac version is,

``a dysentery shall be in thine intestines;''

a secret judgment wasting and destroying them; and thou shall take hold, but shall not deliver; and [that] which thou
deliverest will I give up to the sword;
the sense is, that they should take hold of their wives and children, and endeavour to save them from the sword of the enemy, and being carried captive: or should "remove" them ^F16, as the word is sometimes used, in order to secure them from them; or should "overtake" ^F17; the enemy, carrying them captive; but should not be able by either of these methods to save them from being destroyed, or carried away by them; and even such as they should preserve or rescue for a while, yet these should be given up to the sword of the enemy, the same or another. Aben Ezra and Kimchi interpret this of their women conceiving, and not bringing forth; and, if they should, yet what they brought forth should be slain by the sword ^F18. But the Targum and Jarchi incline to the former sense.

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 (gotw) "et amovebis", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Tarnovius; "summovebis", Drusius, so Ben Melech; "et removebis", Burkius.
F17 "Assequeris", Syr.
F18 R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 35. 2.

Micah 6:14 In-Context

12 For her rich men are full of violence, Her inhabitants have spoken lies, And their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

13 "Therefore I will also make you sick by striking you, By making you desolate because of your sins.

14 You shall eat, but not be satisfied; Hunger shall be in your midst. You may carry some away, but shall not save them; And what you do rescue I will give over to the sword.

15 "You shall sow, but not reap; You shall tread the olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; And make sweet wine, but not drink wine.

16 For the statutes of Omri are kept; All the works of Ahab's house are done; And you walk in their counsels, That I may make you a desolation, And your inhabitants a hissing. Therefore you shall bear the reproach of My people."

Footnotes

• [a]. Or Emptiness or Humiliation
• [b]. Targum and Vulgate read You shall take hold.