Micah 6:9-16

9 Jehovah's voice crieth unto the city, and wisdom looketh on thy name. Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.

10 Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure [which is] abominable?

11 Shall I be pure with the unjust balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?

12 For her rich men are full of violence, and her inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

13 Therefore also will I make [thee] sick in smiting thee; I will make [thee] desolate because of thy sins.

14 Thou shalt eat, and not be satisfied, and thine emptiness [shall remain] in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take away, and not save; and what thou savest will I give up to the sword.

15 Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and new wine, but shalt not drink wine.

16 For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and ye walk in their counsels: that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing; and ye shall bear the reproach of my people.

Micah 6:9-16 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit. 'ephah.'
• [b]. Or 'thou shalt be quite cast down.'
• [c]. Or 'an astonishment.'
• [d]. i.e. Samaria, ch. 1.5.