Israel’s guilt and punishment

Listen! The Lord is calling to the city –
    and to fear your name is wisdom –
    ‘Heed the rod and the One who appointed it.[a]
10 Am I still to forget your ill-gotten treasures, you wicked house,
    and the short ephah,[b] which is accursed?
11 Shall I acquit someone with dishonest scales,
    with a bag of false weights?
12 Your rich people are violent;
    your inhabitants are liars
    and their tongues speak deceitfully.
13 Therefore, I have begun to destroy you,
    to ruin[c] you because of your sins.
14 You will eat but not be satisfied;
    your stomach will still be empty.[d]
You will store up but save nothing,
    because what you save[e] I will give to the sword.
15 You will plant but not harvest;
    you will press olives but not use the oil,
    you will crush grapes but not drink the wine.
16 You have observed the statutes of Omri
    and all the practices of Ahab’s house;
    you have followed their traditions.
Therefore I will give you over to ruin
    and your people to derision;
    you will bear the scorn of the nations.’[f]

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Footnotes

  1. Micah 6:9 The meaning of the Hebrew for this line is uncertain.
  2. Micah 6:10 An ephah was a dry measure.
  3. Micah 6:13 Or Therefore, I will make you ill and destroy you; / I will ruin
  4. Micah 6:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
  5. Micah 6:14 Or You will press toward birth but not give birth, / and what you bring to birth
  6. Micah 6:16 Septuagint; Hebrew scorn due to my people