Micah 6

Listen now to what the LORD says: "Stand up and argue your case where the mountains can hear it. Let the hills listen to your voice."

1Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.

NoteThe chapter is staged as a courtroom scene, a form prophets often used. God is the wronged party bringing suit against Israel, and the mountains and hills are summoned as witnesses: they are the oldest things in the land and were present for everything that has happened in it.

2Listen, you mountains, to the LORD's charge, and you lasting foundations of the earth. The LORD has a case against his people, and he will bring it against Israel.

2Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD’s controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel.

Note"Controversy" in 1611 English meant a lawsuit or formal legal complaint, not a difference of opinion. "Plead with Israel" likewise means to argue a case against Israel, not to beg.

3"My people, what have I done to you? How have I worn you out? Answer me. Testify against me.

3O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me.

4I brought you up out of the land of Egypt. I bought you back out of the place where you were slaves. I sent Moses ahead of you, and Aaron, and Miriam.

4For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

NoteThe exodus: Israel's escape from slavery in Egypt under Moses, with his brother Aaron and sister Miriam. "Redeemed" translates a Hebrew word from commerce and family law, to buy something back, especially to purchase a relative or slave out of bondage. "House of servants" is a literal rendering of a phrase meaning "the slave-house," i.e. the place of slavery.

5My people, remember what Balak, the king of Moab, planned, and what Balaam son of Beor answered him, and remember the way from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you may know the right and faithful things the LORD has done."

5O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the LORD.

NoteBalak, king of Moab, hired the seer Balaam to put a curse on Israel as they passed through his territory; each time Balaam opened his mouth a blessing came out instead (Numbers 22–24). Shittim was Israel's last camp east of the Jordan; Gilgal was their first camp after crossing into Canaan. Naming the two places is a way of saying "the whole crossing over," the end of the journey out of Egypt.

6What shall I bring when I come before the LORD and bow down before God on high? Shall I come to him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?

6Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?

NoteA burnt offering was an animal burned whole on the altar, with no part kept back for the worshiper to eat, the most costly and complete of the sacrifices. A calf a year old was a prime animal, past the risk of dying young and not yet put to work: an expensive gift.

7Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I give my firstborn child to pay for my wrongdoing, my own child for the sin of my soul?

7Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

NoteThe speaker is bidding upward, each offer more extravagant than the last. Olive oil accompanied grain offerings; "ten thousand rivers" of it is a deliberate absurdity. The final offer, a firstborn child, refers to child sacrifice, practiced by some of Israel's neighbors and occasionally in Israel itself, and forbidden in Israel's law.

8He has told you, human being, what is good. And what does the LORD ask of you? Only this: to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

8He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

NoteThe three Hebrew words behind this line are wider than their English equivalents. "Justly" is mishpat, the right verdict and the fair dealing that goes with it. "Mercy" is chesed, loyal committed kindness of the sort owed between family members or partners to an agreement, not simply pity. The word behind "humbly" is rare and its exact sense is debated, something like carefully, modestly, or attentively.

9The voice of the LORD calls out to the city, and it is wisdom to fear your name: "Pay attention to the rod of punishment, and to the one who ordered it.

9The LORD’s voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.

NoteThe middle line is difficult in Hebrew and the ancient copies differ; renderings range from "the wise will fear your name" to "it is wisdom to fear your name." A rod was a stick, used both as a ruler's staff of office and as the instrument for beating an offender; here it stands for the punishment coming, and "who hath appointed it" points to the one sending it.

10Are the treasures gained by evil still in the house of the wicked, and the short measure, which I hate?

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

NoteThe Hebrew names a specific measure, the ephah, a dry measure of roughly a bushel, about twenty-two liters, used for grain. A trader who kept a short ephah gave less than he charged for. Israel's law required honest measures, and a false one is here called something detestable.

11Am I to treat people as honest when they use crooked scales and a bag of false weights?

11Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?

NoteGoods were weighed on balance scales against stone weights that the merchant carried in a pouch. A dishonest dealer kept two sets, a heavy stone for buying and a light one for selling, so the fraud was invisible to the customer.

12The rich men of the city are full of violence. The people who live there tell lies, and their tongues speak nothing but deceit.

12For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

13So I am striking you hard and making you sick with the blows. I am leaving you empty and ruined because of your sins.

13Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins.

14You will eat but not be satisfied, and the emptiness will stay inside you. You will put things away, but you will not keep them safe, and whatever you do keep I will hand over to the sword.

14Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword.

NoteThe middle phrase is obscure in Hebrew and translators differ: it has been read as a gnawing emptiness left inside a person, or as the enemy's siege closing in around them. The last lines describe storing up goods that are then carried off in war, "the sword" is a standard way of saying invasion.

15You will plant seed but not harvest it. You will press olives but not rub the oil on your skin. You will crush grapes for new wine but not drink the wine.

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

NoteRubbing olive oil into the skin was ordinary daily grooming in a hot dry climate, like lotion, not a religious act. The curse is that the farmer does all the work and never enjoys any of the product, a standard list of futility curses attached to broken agreements in the ancient Near East.

16You keep the rules Omri made, and you do everything the family of Ahab did. You follow their advice. So I will make you a ruin, and people will hiss at those who live there. You will carry the scorn that falls on my people."

16For 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 an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.

NoteOmri and his son Ahab were kings of the northern kingdom of Israel a century or so earlier, remembered for importing the worship of Baal and, in Ahab's reign, for a judicial murder to seize a neighbor's vineyard. "The statutes of Omri" means the way of running a kingdom that his dynasty established. Hissing, a sharp whistle through the teeth, was the customary noise people made at the sight of a ruined city, a sound of shock and contempt. The final phrase is uncertain: the Hebrew reads "the reproach of my people," while some ancient versions read "peoples," meaning the scorn of the surrounding nations.