Micah 6:13

13 Therefore I have begun to smite you, making you desolate because of your sins.

Micah 6:13 Meaning and Commentary

Micah 6:13

Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee
With the rod to be heard, ( Micah 6:9 ) ; by sending among them some of his sore judgments, as famine, pestilence, the sword of the enemy, internal wars, and the like; which should cause their kingdom, and state, and families, to decline and waste away, as a sickly and diseased body. So the Targum,

``and I brought upon thee illness and a stroke.''

The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, render it, "and I began to smite thee"; as by Hazael, king of Syria, and Tiglathpileser, king of Assyria, who had carried part of them captive; in making [thee] desolate because of thy sins;
went on, not only to make them sick, and bring them into a declining state, but into utter desolation; as by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, who carried Israel captive; and by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who led Judah captive, because of their sins of idolatry, injustice, and oppression, with others that abounded among them.

Micah 6:13 In-Context

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 have begun to smite you, making you desolate because of your sins.

14 You shall eat, but not be satisfied, and there shall be hunger in your inward parts; you shall put away, but not save, and what you save I will give to the sword.

15 You shall sow, but not reap; you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine.