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The Lord Demands Justice, not Ritual

Listen to what the Lord says:

“Get up! Defend yourself[a] before the mountains.[b]
Present your case before the hills.”[c]
Hear the Lord’s accusation, you mountains,
you enduring foundations of the earth.
For the Lord has a case against his people;
he has a dispute with Israel![d]
“My people, how have I wronged you?[e]
How have I wearied you? Answer me!
In fact, I brought you up from the land of Egypt;
I delivered you from that place of slavery.
I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to lead you.[f]
My people, recall how King Balak of Moab planned to harm you,[g]
how Balaam son of Beor responded to him.
Recall how you journeyed from Shittim to Gilgal,
so you might acknowledge that the Lord has treated you fairly.”[h]
With what should I[i] enter the Lord’s presence?

With what[j] should I bow before the sovereign God?[k]
Should I enter his presence with burnt offerings,
with year-old calves?
Will the Lord accept a thousand rams
or ten thousand streams of olive oil?
Should I give him my firstborn child as payment for my rebellion,
my offspring—my own flesh and blood—for my sin?[l]
He has told you,[m] O man, what is good,
and what the Lord really wants from you:[n]
He wants you to[o] carry out justice,[p] to love faithfulness,[q]
and to live obediently before[r] your God.
Listen! The Lord is calling[s] to the city!

It is wise to respect your authority, O Lord.[t]
Listen, O nation, and those assembled in the city![u]
10 “I will not overlook,[v] O sinful house, the dishonest gain you have hoarded away[w]
or the smaller-than-standard measure I hate so much.[x]
11 I do not condone the use of rigged scales,
or a bag of deceptive weights.[y]
12 The city’s wealthy people readily resort to violence;[z]
her inhabitants tell lies;
their tongues speak deceptive words.[aa]
13 I will strike you brutally[ab]
and destroy you because of your sin.
14 You will eat, but not be satisfied.
Even if you have the strength[ac] to overtake some prey,[ad]
you will not be able to carry it away;[ae]
if you do happen to carry away something,
I will deliver it over to the sword.
15 You will plant crops, but will not harvest them;
you will squeeze oil from the olives,[af] but you will have no oil to rub on your bodies;[ag]
you will squeeze juice from the grapes, but you will have no wine to drink.[ah]
16 You follow Omri’s edicts[ai]
and all the practices of Ahab’s dynasty;[aj]
you follow their policies.[ak]
Therefore I will make you an appalling sight;[al]
the city’s[am] inhabitants will be taunted derisively,[an]
and nations will mock all of you.”[ao]

Micah Laments Judah’s Sin

Woe is me!
For I am like those gathering fruit
and those harvesting grapes,
when there is no grape cluster to eat
and no fresh figs that my stomach[ap] craves.
Faithful men have disappeared[aq] from the land;
there are no godly men left.[ar]
They all wait in ambush to shed blood;[as]
they hunt their own brother with a net.
They are experts at doing evil;[at]
government officials and judges take bribes,[au]
prominent men announce what they wish,
and then they plan it out.[av]
The best of them is like a thorn;
their godly are like a thorn bush.[aw]
Woe[ax] to your watchmen;
your appointed punishment is on the way.[ay]
The time of their confusion is now.[az]
Do not rely on a friend;
do not trust a companion!
Even with the one who lies in your arms,
do not share secrets![ba]
For a son thinks his father is a fool,
a daughter challenges[bb] her mother,
and a daughter-in-law her mother-in-law;
a man’s enemies are his own family.[bc]
But I will keep watching for the Lord;
I will wait for the God who delivers me.
My God will listen to me.

Jerusalem Will Be Vindicated

My enemies,[bd] do not gloat[be] over me!
Though I have fallen, I will get up.
Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.[bf]
I must endure[bg] the Lord’s fury,
for I have sinned against him.
But then[bh] he will defend my cause[bi]
and accomplish justice on my behalf.
He will lead me out into the light;
I will witness his deliverance.[bj]
10 When my enemies see this, they will be covered with shame.
They say[bk] to me, “Where is the Lord your God?”
I will gloat over them;[bl]
then they will be trampled down[bm]
like mud in the streets.
11 It will be a day for rebuilding your walls;
in that day your boundary will be extended.[bn]

A Closing Prayer

12 In that day people[bo] will come to you[bp]
from Assyria as far as[bq] Egypt,
from Egypt as far as the Euphrates River,[br]
from the seacoasts[bs] and the mountains.[bt]
13 The earth will become desolate
because of what its inhabitants have done.[bu]
14 Shepherd your people with your rod,[bv]
the flock that belongs to you,[bw]
the one that lives alone in a thicket,
in the midst of a pastureland.[bx]
Allow them to graze in Bashan and Gilead,[by]
as they did in the old days.[bz]
15 “As in the days when you departed from the land of Egypt,
I will show you[ca] miraculous deeds.”[cb]
16 Nations will see this and be disappointed by[cc] all their strength;
they will put their hands over their mouths
and act as if they were deaf.[cd]
17 They will lick the dust like a snake,
like serpents crawling on the ground.[ce]
They will come trembling from their strongholds
to the Lord our God;[cf]
they will be terrified[cg] of you.[ch]
18 Who is a God like you?[ci]
Who[cj] forgives sin
and pardons[ck] the rebellion
of those who remain among his people?[cl]
Who does not stay angry forever,
but delights in showing loyal love?
19 Who[cm] will once again[cn] have mercy on us?
Who will conquer[co] our evil deeds?
Who will hurl[cp] all our[cq] sins into the depths of the sea?[cr]
20 You will be loyal to Jacob
and extend your loyal love to Abraham,[cs]
which you promised on oath to our ancestors[ct] in ancient times.[cu]

Footnotes

  1. Micah 6:1 tn Or “plead your case” (NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “present your plea”; NLT “state your case.”sn Defend yourself. The Lord challenges Israel to defend itself against the charges he is bringing.
  2. Micah 6:1 sn As in some ancient Near Eastern treaties, the mountains are personified as legal witnesses that will settle the dispute between God and Israel.
  3. Micah 6:1 tn Heb “let the hills hear your voice.”
  4. Micah 6:2 tn The prophet briefly interrupts the Lord’s statement (see vv. 1, 3) to summon the mountains as witnesses. Though the prophet speaks, the quotation marks have been omitted to clarify that it is not the Lord still speaking.
  5. Micah 6:3 tn Heb “My people, what have I done to you?”
  6. Micah 6:4 tn Heb “before you.”
  7. Micah 6:5 tn Heb “remember what Balak…planned.”
  8. Micah 6:5 tn Heb “From Shittim to Gilgal, in order to know the just acts of the Lord.” Something appears to be missing at the beginning of the line. The present translation supplies the words, “Recall how you went.” This apparently refers to how Israel crossed the Jordan River (see Josh 3:1; 4:19-24).
  9. Micah 6:6 sn With what should I enter the Lord’s presence? The prophet speaks again, playing the role of an inquisitive worshiper who wants to know what God really desires from his followers.
  10. Micah 6:6 tn The words “with what” do double duty in the parallelism and are supplied in the second line of the translation for clarification.
  11. Micah 6:6 tn Or “the exalted God.”
  12. Micah 6:7 tn Heb “the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is often translated “soul,” but the word usually refers to the whole person; here “the sin of my soul” = “my sin.” sn Since child sacrifice is forbidden in scripture (Deut 12:31; 18:10), the speaker is revealed to not be in earnest but perhaps sarcastic.
  13. Micah 6:8 sn Now the prophet switches roles and answers the question of the hypothetical worshiper. He rebukes the extravagant surface remark by pointing to general character qualities that are lacking in Israel.
  14. Micah 6:8 tn Heb “is seeking from you.”
  15. Micah 6:8 tn Heb “except.” This statement is actually linked with what precedes, “What does he want from you except….”
  16. Micah 6:8 tn Or “to act justly.”
  17. Micah 6:8 tn Or “to love faithfully.” The Hebrew word חֶסֶד (khesed) is complex, sometimes translated “lovingkindness,” faithfulness,” or “loyal love.” It has also been understood as covenant loyalty. חֶסֶד is either the object or the manner of the infinitive “to love.”
  18. Micah 6:8 tn Heb “to walk humbly [or perhaps, “carefully”] with.”
  19. Micah 6:9 tn Or “the voice of the Lord is calling.” The translation understands קוֹל (qol, “voice”) as equivalent to an imperative.
  20. Micah 6:9 tn Heb “one who sees your name is wisdom.” It is probably better to emend יִרְאֶה (yirʾeh, “he sees”) to יִרְאָה (yirʾah, “fearing”). One may then translate, “fearing your name is wisdom.” The Lord’s “name” here stands by metonymy for his authority.
  21. Micah 6:9 tc The MT reads, “Listen, tribe (or staff) and who appointed it.” Verse 10 then begins with עוֹד (ʿod, “still” or “again”). The LXX reads, “who will set the city in order?” The translation assumes an emendation of וּמִי יְעָדָהּ. עוֹד (umi yeʿadah. ʿod…, “and who appointed it. Still…”) to וּמוֹעֵד הָעִיר(umoʿed haʿir, “and the assembly of the city”).
  22. Micah 6:10 tn The meaning of the first Hebrew word in the line is unclear. Possibly it is a combination of the interrogative particle and אִשׁ (ʾish), an alternate form of יֵשׁ (yesh, “there is/are”). One could then translate literally, “Are there treasures of sin [in] the house of the sinful?” The translation assumes an emendation to הַאֶשֶּׁה (haʾesheh, from נָשָׁא, nashaʾ, “to forget”), “Will I forget?” The rhetorical question expects an answer, “No, I will not forget.”
  23. Micah 6:10 tn Heb “the treasures of sin”; NASB “treasures of wickedness”; NIV “ill-gotten treasures.”
  24. Micah 6:10 tn Heb “the accursed scant measure.”sn Merchants would use a smaller than standard measure so they could give the customer less than he thought he was paying for.
  25. Micah 6:11 tn Heb “Do I acquit sinful scales, and a bag of deceptive weights?” The rhetorical question expects an answer, “No, I do not,” and has been translated as a declarative statement for clarity and emphasis.sn Merchants also used rigged scales and deceptive weights to cheat their customers. See the note at Amos 8:5.
  26. Micah 6:12 tn Heb “are full of violence.”
  27. Micah 6:12 tn Heb “and their tongue is deceptive in their mouth.”
  28. Micah 6:13 tn Heb “and I, even I, will make you sick, [by] striking you.”
  29. Micah 6:14 tc The first Hebrew term in the line (וְיֶשְׁחֲךָ, veyeshkhakha) is obscure. HALOT 446 s.v. יֶשַׁח understands a noun meaning “filth,” which would yield the translation, “and your filth is inside you.” The translation assumes an emendation to כֹּחַוְיֶשׁ (veyesh koakh, “and [if] there is strength inside you”).
  30. Micah 6:14 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term וְתַסֵּג (vetasseg) is unclear. The translation assumes it is a Hiphal imperfect from נָסַג/נָשַׂג (nasag/nasag, “reach; overtake”) and that hunting imagery is employed. (Note the reference to hunger in the first line of the verse.) See D. R. Hillers, Micah (Hermeneia), 80.
  31. Micah 6:14 tn The Hiphal of פָּלַט (palat) is used in Isa 5:29 of an animal carrying its prey to a secure place.
  32. Micah 6:15 tn Heb “you will tread olives.” Literally treading on olives with one’s feet could be harmful and would not supply the necessary pressure to release the oil. See O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 119. The Hebrew term דָּרַךְ (darakh) may have an idiomatic sense of “press” here, or perhaps the imagery of the following parallel line (referring to treading grapes) has dictated the word choice.
  33. Micah 6:15 tn Heb “but you will not rub yourselves with oil.”
  34. Micah 6:15 tn Heb “and juice, but you will not drink wine.” The verb תִדְרֹךְ (tidrokh, “you will tread”) must be supplied from the preceding line.
  35. Micah 6:16 tn Heb “the edicts of Omri are kept.”
  36. Micah 6:16 tn Heb “the house of Ahab.”
  37. Micah 6:16 tn Heb “and you walk in their plans.”sn The Omride dynasty, of which Ahab was the most infamous king, had a reputation for implementing unjust and oppressive measures. See 1 Kgs 21.
  38. Micah 6:16 tn The Hebrew term שַׁמָּה (shammah) can refer to “destruction; ruin,” or to the reaction it produces in those who witness the destruction.
  39. Micah 6:16 tn Heb “her.”
  40. Micah 6:16 tn Heb “[an object] of hissing,” which was a way of taunting someone.
  41. Micah 6:16 tc The translation assumes an emendation of the MT’s עַמִּי (ʿammi, “my people”) to עַמִּים (ʿammim, “nations”).tn Heb “and the reproach of my people you will bear.” The second person verb is plural here, in contrast to the singular forms used in vv. 13-15.
  42. Micah 7:1 tn Heb “appetite, soul.”
  43. Micah 7:2 tn Or “have perished.”
  44. Micah 7:2 tn Heb “and an upright one among men there is not.”
  45. Micah 7:2 tn Heb “for bloodshed” (so NASB); TEV “for a chance to commit murder.”
  46. Micah 7:3 tn Heb “their hands [reach] to evil to do [it] well,” or with slight emendation “their hands are skillful at doing evil.”
  47. Micah 7:3 tn Heb “the official asks—and the judge—for a bribe.”
  48. Micah 7:3 tn More literally, “the great one announces what his appetite desires and they weave it together.” Apparently this means that subordinates plot and maneuver to make sure the prominent man’s desires materialize.
  49. Micah 7:4 tc The MT reads יָשָׁר מִמְּסוּכָה (yashar mimmesukhah) “a godly [person] from a thorn bush.” Theoretically the preposition מִן (min, “from”) could be comparative (“more than”), but it would need an attributive adjective for this meaning. Most likely this is a case of wrong word division, where the מ (mem) is not מִן (min, “from”), but is actually a third masculine plural pronominal suffix, similar to the first clause (“their best”). The line would read יְשָׁרָם מְסוּכָה (yesharam mesukhah) “their upright person is a thorn bush.”
  50. Micah 7:4 tc The text is uncertain at several points. Where the MT reads יוֹם (yom, “day [of]”), the LXX reads οὐαὶ (ouai, “woe”) implying הוֹי (hoi, “woe”). The watchmen may be actual sentries or symbolic of true of false prophets. If reading with the MT, the “day of your watchmen,” might be the day they are on the lookout for, or the day they have announced. Reading “woe” either warns the sentries on the lookout or rebukes false prophets.
  51. Micah 7:4 tn Or “has come.”
  52. Micah 7:4 tn Heb “Now will be their confusion.”
  53. Micah 7:5 tn Heb “guard the doors of your mouth.”
  54. Micah 7:6 tn Heb “rises up against.”
  55. Micah 7:6 tn Heb “his house.” Household may include servants as well as family.
  56. Micah 7:8 tn The singular form is understood as collective.
  57. Micah 7:8 tn Or “rejoice” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NCV “don’t laugh at me.”
  58. Micah 7:8 sn Darkness represents judgment; light (also in v. 9) symbolizes deliverance.
  59. Micah 7:9 tn Heb “bear, carry.”
  60. Micah 7:9 tn Heb “until.”
  61. Micah 7:9 tn Or “plead my case” (NASB and NIV both similar); NRSV “until he takes my side.”
  62. Micah 7:9 tn Or “justice, vindication.”
  63. Micah 7:10 tn Heb “who say.” A new sentence was begun here in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  64. Micah 7:10 tn Heb “My eyes will look on them.”
  65. Micah 7:10 tn Heb “a trampled-down place.”
  66. Micah 7:11 sn Personified Jerusalem declares her confidence in vv. 8-10; in this verse she is assured that she will indeed be vindicated.
  67. Micah 7:12 tn Heb “he.” The referent has been specified as “people,” referring either to the nations (coming to God with their tribute) or to the exiles of Israel (returning to the Lord).
  68. Micah 7:12 tn The masculine pronominal suffix suggests the Lord is addressed. Some emend to a feminine form and take Jerusalem as the addressee.
  69. Micah 7:12 tc The MT reads וְעָרֵי (veʿarey, “and the cities [of Egypt]”), but the parallel line indicates this needs emendation to וְעַד (veʿad, “even to”).
  70. Micah 7:12 tn Heb “the River,” referring to the Euphrates River (so also NASB, NIV).
  71. Micah 7:12 tn Heb “and sea from sea.” Many prefer to emend this to מִיָּם עַד יָם (miyyam ʿad yam, “from sea to sea”).
  72. Micah 7:12 tn Heb “and mountain of the mountain.” Many prefer to emend this to וּמֵהַר עַד הַר (umehar ʿad har, “and mountain to mountain”).
  73. Micah 7:13 tn Heb “on account of its inhabitants, because of the fruit of their deeds.”
  74. Micah 7:14 tn The Hebrew term שֵׁבֶט (shevet) can refer to a rod, such as a ṣhepherd’s rod, or a “scepter.”
  75. Micah 7:14 tn Heb “the flock of your inheritance.”
  76. Micah 7:14 tn Or “in the midst of Carmel.” The Hebrew term translated “pastureland” may be a place name.sn The point seems to be that Israel is in a vulnerable position, like sheep in a thicket populated by predators, while rich pastureland (their homeland and God’s blessings) is in view.
  77. Micah 7:14 sn The regions of Bashan and Gilead, located in Transjordan, were noted for their rich grazing lands.
  78. Micah 7:14 tn Heb “as in the days of antiquity.”
  79. Micah 7:15 tn Heb “him.” This probably refers to Israel in a collective sense. Because the switch from direct address to the third person is awkward, some prefer to emend the suffix to a second person form. In any case, it is necessary to employ a second person pronoun in the translation to maintain the connection for the English reader.
  80. Micah 7:15 sn I will show you miraculous deeds. In this verse the Lord responds to the petition of v. 14 with a brief promise of deliverance.
  81. Micah 7:16 tn Or “be ashamed of.”
  82. Micah 7:16 tn Heb “and their ears will be deaf.” Apparently this means the opposing nations will be left dumbfounded by the Lord’s power. Their inability to respond will make them appear to be deaf mutes.
  83. Micah 7:17 tn Heb “like crawling things on the ground.” The parallelism suggests snakes are in view.
  84. Micah 7:17 tn The translation assumes that the phrase אֶל־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ (ʾel yehvah ʾelohenu, “to the Lord our God”) goes with what precedes. Another option is to take the phrase with the following verb, in which case one could translate, “to the Lord our God they will turn in dread.”
  85. Micah 7:17 tn Heb “they will be in dread and afraid.”
  86. Micah 7:17 tn The Lord is addressed directly using the second person.
  87. Micah 7:18 sn The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one!” The claim is supported by the following description.
  88. Micah 7:18 tn Heb “one who,” a substantival participle. The descriptions in the rest of vv. 18-19 fill out the rhetorical question, “Who is a God like you?” That is, they provide descriptions of God as reasons that make him without equal. This context uses two participles, e.g. “who forgives” and “who pardons,” and then independent clauses with third person verbs. A similar construction occurs in Ps 113:5-9, with participles and a third person finite verb in v. 7. Here, making the two participles grammatically dependent on the rhetorical question and then switching to the third person is confusing English style. It masks that all these descriptions are serving the same function as a list of unique qualities of God, who is addressed in the second person. To tie these together in English, all the descriptions can be made into second person statements (so NIV), though this does not clarify the distinction of when the original text deliberately switches back to second person in v. 20. Another approach would be to translate the third person clauses as indefinite and dependent, e.g. “Who is…like you, someone who does X, someone who does Y?” Or the interrogative force can be be extended, e.g. “Who is the one who does not stay angry?”
  89. Micah 7:18 tn Heb “passes over.”
  90. Micah 7:18 tn Heb “of the remnant of his inheritance.”
  91. Micah 7:19 tn The interrogative force of the previous verse is continued here, part of a list of attributes reinforcing the question, “Who is like God?”
  92. Micah 7:19 tn The verb יָשׁוּב (yashuv, “he will return”) is here used adverbially in relation to the following verb, indicating that the Lord will again show mercy.
  93. Micah 7:19 tn Some prefer to read יִכְבֹּס (yikhbos, “he will cleanse”; see HALOT 459 s.v. כבס pi). If the MT is taken as it stands, sin is personified as an enemy that the Lord subdues.
  94. Micah 7:19 tc The MT reads וְתַשְׁלִיך (vetashlik, “and you will throw”), while the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate read “he will throw,” implying וְהַשְׁלִיך (vehashlik). Being conceptually tied to the previous verb, this one should be part of the list begun in v. 18, so the third person form is expected. Also the vav plus perfect consecutive is more typical than vav plus imperfect in this setting.
  95. Micah 7:19 tc Heb “their sins.” The LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate read “our sins.” The shape of the letters in the first person plural suffix נו (nun and vav) look very much like ם (a final mem), which makes the third person plural suffix. Confusing the two is not an uncommon copying error. It may also be an enclitic ם rather than a pronominal suffix. In that case the suffix from the preceding line (“our”) may be understood as doing double duty.
  96. Micah 7:19 sn In this metaphor the Lord disposes of Israel’s sins by throwing them into the waters of the sea (here symbolic of chaos).
  97. Micah 7:20 tn More literally, “You will extend loyalty to Jacob, and loyal love to Abraham.”
  98. Micah 7:20 tn Heb “our fathers,” meaning “our forefathers.”
  99. Micah 7:20 tn Heb “from days of old.”