Micah 6-7
Contemporary English Version
The Lord's Challenge to His People
6 The Lord said to his people:
Come and present your case
to the hills and mountains.
2 Israel, I am bringing charges
against you—
I call upon the mountains
and the earth's firm foundation
to be my witnesses.
3 My people, have I wronged you
in any way at all?
Please tell me.
4 (A) I rescued you from Egypt,
where you were slaves.
I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam
to be your leaders.
5 (B) Don't forget the evil plans
of King Balak of Moab
or what Balaam son of Beor[a]
said to him.
Remember how I, the Lord,
saved you many times
on your way from Acacia
to Gilgal.[b]
True Obedience
6 What offering should I bring
when I bow down to worship
the Lord God Most High?
Should I try to please him[c]
by sacrificing
calves a year old?
7 Will thousands of sheep
or rivers of olive oil
make God satisfied with me?
Should I sacrifice to the Lord
my first-born child as payment
for my terrible sins?
8 The Lord God has told us
what is right
and what he demands:
“See that justice is done,
let mercy be your first concern,
and humbly obey your God.”
Cheating and Violence
9 I am the Lord,
and you are wise to respect
my power to punish.
So listen to my message
for the city of Jerusalem:[d]
10 You store up stolen treasures
and use dishonest scales.[e]
11 But I, the Lord, will punish you
for cheating with weights
and with measures.
12 You rich people are violent,
and everyone tells lies.
13 Because of your sins,
I will wound you and leave you
ruined and defenseless.
14 You will eat,
but still be hungry;
you will store up goods,
but lose everything—
I, the Lord, will let it all
be captured in war.
15 You won't harvest what you plant
or use the oil
from your olive trees
or drink the wine
from grapes you grow.
16 (C) Jerusalem, this will happen
because you followed
the sinful example
of kings Omri and Ahab.[f]
Now I will destroy you
and your property.
Then the people of every nation
will make fun and insult you.
Israel Is Corrupt
7 I feel so empty inside—
like someone starving
for grapes or figs,
after the vines and trees
have all been picked clean.
2 No one is loyal to God;
no one does right.
Everyone is brutal
and eager to deceive
everyone else.
3 People cooperate to commit crime.
Judges and leaders demand bribes,
and rulers cheat in court.[g]
4 The most honest of them
is worse than a thorn patch.
Your doom has come!
Lookouts sound the warning,
and everyone panics.
5 Don't trust anyone,
not even your best friend,
and be careful what you say
to the one you love.
6 (D) Sons refuse to respect
their own fathers,
daughters rebel against
their own mothers,
and daughters-in-law despise
their mothers-in-law.
Your family is now your enemy.
7 But I trust the Lord God
to save me,
and I will wait for him
to answer my prayer.
The Nation Turns to God
8 My enemies, don't be glad
because of my troubles!
I may have fallen,
but I will get up;
I may be sitting in the dark,
but the Lord is my light.
9 I have sinned against the Lord.
And so I must endure his anger,
until he comes to my defense.
But I know that I will see him
making things right for me
and leading me to the light.
10 You, my enemies, said,
“The Lord God is helpless.”
Now each of you
will be disgraced
and put to shame.
I will see you trampled
like mud in the street.
A Bright Future
11 Towns of Judah, the day is coming
when your walls will be rebuilt,
and your boundaries enlarged.
12 People will flock to you
from Assyria and Egypt,
from Babylonia[h]
and everywhere else.
13 Those nations will suffer disaster
because of what they did.
Micah's Prayer and the Lord's Answer
14 Lead your people, Lord!
Come and be our shepherd.
Grasslands surround us,
but we live in a forest.
So lead us to Bashan and Gilead,[i]
and let us find pasture
as we did long ago.
15 I, the Lord, will work miracles
just as I did when I led you
out of Egypt.
16 Nations will see this
and be ashamed because
of their helpless armies.
They will be in shock,
unable to speak or hear,
17 because of their fear of me,
your Lord and God.
Then they will come trembling,
crawling out of their fortresses
like insects or snakes,
lapping up the dust.
No One Is Like God
The people said:
18 Our God, no one is like you.
We are all that is left
of your chosen people,
and you freely forgive
our sin and guilt.
You don't stay angry forever;
you're glad to have pity
19 and pleased to be merciful.
You will trample on our sins
and throw them in the sea.
20 You will keep your word
and be faithful to Jacob
and to Abraham,
as you promised our ancestors
many years ago.
Footnotes
- 6.5 Balak … Beor: See Numbers 22-24.
- 6.5 Acacia to Gilgal: Acacia was where the Israelites camped after the experience with Balaam (see Numbers 25.1; Joshua 2.1; 3.1); Gilgal was where they camped while waiting to attack Jericho (see Joshua 4.19—5.12).
- 6.6 try to please him: This refers to what are traditionally called “burnt sacrifices,” which were offered as a way of pleasing the Lord.
- 6.9 Jerusalem: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 9.
- 6.10 scales: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 10.
- 6.16 Omri and Ahab: King Ahab was the son of Omri and the husband of the evil Jezebel. Almost two centuries before Micah, the prophet Elijah had spoken against the idolatry and the other sinful practices that Ahab had encouraged in Israel (see 1 Kings 16.21-34; 18.1-18; 21.1-26).
- 7.3 court: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 3.
- 7.12 Babylonia: The Hebrew text has “the river,” meaning the Euphrates River, which stood for Babylonia.
- 7.14 Bashan and Gilead: Two regions east of the Jordan River, known for their fertile pasturelands.
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