Micah 6:3-13

3 “My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me.

4 I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam.

5 My people, remember what Balak king of Moab plotted and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the LORD.”

6 With what shall I come before the LORDand bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?

7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly^[a] with your God.

Israel’s Guilt and Punishment

9 Listen! The LORD is calling to the city— and to fear your name is wisdom— “Heed the rod and the One who appointed it.^[b]

10 Am I still to forget your ill-gotten treasures, you wicked house, and the short ephah,^[c] 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^[d] you because of your sins.

Micah 6:3-13 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

• 1. Jeremiah 2:5
• 2. Jeremiah 2:5
• 3. S Exodus 3:10; S Exodus 6:6
• 4. Deuteronomy 7:8
• 5. S Exodus 4:16
• 6. S Numbers 33:1; Psalms 77:20
• 7. S Exodus 15:20
• 8. S Numbers 22:2; Numbers 22:5-6
• 9. S Numbers 25:1
• 10. S Deuteronomy 11:30; Joshua 5:9-10
• 11. Judges 5:11; 1 Samuel 12:7
• 12. S Psalms 95:2
• 13. Psalms 40:6-8; Psalms 51:16-17
• 14. S Isaiah 1:11; S Isaiah 40:16
• 15. Psalms 50:8-10
• 16. S Leviticus 18:21; S 2 Kings 3:27
• 17. Hosea 5:6; S Amos 5:22; 2 Kings 16:3
• 18. S Isaiah 1:17; S Jeremiah 22:3
• 19. S 2 Kings 22:19; S Isaiah 57:15
• 20. S Genesis 5:22; Deuteronomy 10:12-13; 1 Samuel 15:22; Hosea 6:6; Zechariah 7:9-10; Matthew 9:13; Matthew 23:23; Mark 12:33; Luke 11:42
• 21. S Genesis 17:1; Isaiah 11:4
• 22. Ezekiel 45:9-10; S Amos 3:10; Amos 8:4-6
• 23. S Leviticus 19:36; Hosea 12:7
• 24. S Deuteronomy 25:13
• 25. S Isaiah 1:23
• 26. S Psalms 116:11; Isaiah 3:8
• 27. S Psalms 35:20; S Jeremiah 9:3
• 28. Isaiah 1:7; Isaiah 6:11

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "prudently"
• [b]. The meaning of the Hebrew for this line is uncertain.
• [c]. An ephah was a dry measure.
• [d]. Or "Therefore, I will make you ill and destroy you;" / "I will ruin"