Micah 6:9-16

The Voice

⁹The voice of the Eternal cries out to the city of Jerusalem,
and the wise fear Your name.

Many Christians wonder what God wants from faithful followers. Does He want them to sacrifice everything for Him? Does He want them to keep strict codes of behavior—refuse to do this or always do that? People in the past and people today have all sorts of opinions about how the faithful should act; and in several other places in the Bible, all of the so-called laws, rules, regulations, and suggestions are boiled down to their simplest form: in order to make God happy, do what is right, love kindness, and live with compassion toward others; walk in right relation to the God of Abraham, and do so humbly. By doing these things, Micah says, God’s followers will please Him and live happy lives. In Matthew 22:34-40, Jesus similarly says people are to worship only one God; to love that God with heart, mind, body, and soul; and to love their neighbors as themselves.

Eternal One: Listen, all of you gathered there, (tribe and people):^[a]
¹⁰        Can I overlook the treasures of wickedness
    Stored away in the house of the wicked,
        the dishonest scales and measures that I hate?
¹¹    Can I overlook the one who uses crooked scales
        and bags of dishonest weights to cheat the innocent?
¹²    Her rich are filled with violence, her citizens speak lies,
        and the words of their mouths can never be trusted.
¹³    That is why I will strike you down with disease,^[b]
        destroy you because of your wrongdoing.
¹⁴    You will eat, but you will never be satisfied;^[c]
        you will always feel the gnawing pangs of hunger.
    You will store away but never keep safe;
        what you have put aside I will destroy with the sword.
¹⁵    You will sow grain but never reap it;
        you will plant olives but never anoint yourself with their sweet oil;
    You will harvest vineyards for juice but never drink the wine.
¹⁶    For you have followed the ways of Omri
        and all the works of the kingdom of Ahab,
    And you have followed their paths of wickedness.
        That is why I can justifiably decimate you.
    Your citizens will be the subject of satire and mockery,
        and you will bear the scorn My people deserve.^[d]