Micah 6
Legacy Standard Bible
Yahweh’s Case Against His People
6 [a](A)Listen now to what Yahweh is saying,
“Arise, plead your case [b]before the mountains,
And let the hills [c](B)listen to your voice.
2 [d](C)Listen, you mountains, to the case of Yahweh,
And you enduring (D)foundations of the earth,
Because (E)Yahweh has a case against His people;
Even with Israel He will reprove.
3 (F)My people, (G)what have I done to you,
And (H)how have I wearied you? Answer Me.
4 Indeed, I (I)brought you up from the land of Egypt
And (J)ransomed you from the house of slavery,
And I sent before you (K)Moses, Aaron, and (L)Miriam.
5 My people, remember now
What (M)Balak king of Moab counseled
And what Balaam son of Beor answered him,
And from (N)Shittim to (O)Gilgal,
So [e]that you might know the (P)righteous acts of Yahweh.”
What Yahweh Requires
6 (Q)With what shall I come before Yahweh
And bow myself before the God on high?
Shall I come before Him with (R)burnt offerings,
With yearling calves?
7 Is Yahweh pleased with (S)thousands of rams,
With ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I give my (T)firstborn for my transgression,
The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has (U)told you, O man, what is good;
And (V)what does Yahweh require of you
But to (W)do justice, to (X)love lovingkindness,
And to walk [f](Y)humbly with your God?
9 The voice of Yahweh will call to the city—
And it is sound wisdom to fear Your name:
“Hear, O tribe. Who even has appointed [g]its time?
10 Is there yet a man in the wicked house,
Along with treasures of (Z)wickedness,
And a [h](AA)short measure which is cursed?
11 Can I purify wicked (AB)scales
And a bag of deceptive weights?
12 For the rich men of [i]the city are full of (AC)violence,
And her inhabitants speak (AD)lies,
And their (AE)tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
13 So also I will make you (AF)sick, striking you down,
(AG)Desolating you because of your sins.
14 You will eat, but you will (AH)not be satisfied,
And your [j]vileness will be in your midst.
And you will try to remove something for safekeeping,
But you will (AI)not cause anything to escape,
And that which you do have escape, I will give to the sword.
15 You will sow but you will (AJ)not reap.
You will tread the olive but will not anoint yourself with oil;
And the grapes, but you will (AK)not drink wine.
16 The statutes of (AL)Omri
And all the works of the house of (AM)Ahab are kept;
And in their counsels you (AN)walk.
Therefore I will give you up as (AO)an object of horror
And [k]your inhabitants as an (AP)object of hissing,
And you will bear the (AQ)reproach of My people.”
Footnotes
- Micah 6:1 Or hear
- Micah 6:1 Lit with
- Micah 6:1 Or hear
- Micah 6:2 Or hear
- Micah 6:5 Lit to know
- Micah 6:8 Or circumspectly
- Micah 6:9 Lit it
- Micah 6:10 Lit shrunken ephah
- Micah 6:12 Lit her
- Micah 6:14 Or possibly garbage, excreta
- Micah 6:16 Lit her
Micah 6
Common English Bible
God’s dispute with Israel
6 Hear what the Lord is saying:
Arise, lay out the lawsuit before the mountains;
let the hills hear your voice!
2 Hear, mountains, the lawsuit of the Lord!
Hear, eternal foundations of the earth!
The Lord has a lawsuit against his people;
with Israel he will argue.
3 “My people, what did I ever do to you?
How have I wearied you? Answer me!
4 I brought you up out of the land of Egypt;
I redeemed you from the house of slavery.
I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam before you.
5 My people, remember what Moab’s King Balak had planned,
and how Balaam, Beor’s son, answered him!
Remember everything[a] from Shittim to Gilgal,
that you might learn to recognize the righteous acts of the Lord!”
What does the Lord require?
6 With what should I approach the Lord
and bow down before God on high?
Should I come before him with entirely burned offerings,
with year-old calves?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with many torrents of oil?
Should I give my oldest child for my crime;
the fruit of my body for the sin of my spirit?
8 He has told you, human one, what is good and
what the Lord requires from you:
to do justice, embrace faithful love, and walk humbly with your God.
Punishment is near
9 The voice of the Lord calls out to the city;
wisdom appears when one fears your name.[b]
Hear, tribe, and who appointed her![c]
10 Are the treasures of wickedness still in the house of wickedness,
while the shorted basket[d] is denounced?[e]
11 Can I approve wicked scales and a bag of false weights
12 in a city[f] whose wealthy are full of violence
and whose inhabitants speak falsehood
with lying tongues in their mouths?
13 So I have made you sick by striking you!
I have struck you because of your sins.
14 You devour, but you aren’t satisfied;
a gnawing emptiness is within you.
You put something aside,
but you don’t keep it safe.
That which you do try to keep safe,
I will give to the sword.
15 You sow, but you don’t gather.
You tread down olives, but you don’t anoint with oil;
you tread grapes, but don’t drink wine.
16 Yet you[g] have kept the policies of Omri,
all the practices of the house of Ahab;
you have followed their counsels.
Therefore, I will make you a sign of destruction,
your[h] inhabitants an object of hissing!
You must bear the reproach of my people.
Footnotes
- Micah 6:5 Heb lacks everything.
- Micah 6:9 Heb uncertain
- Micah 6:9 Heb uncertain
- Micah 6:10 Or ephah, approximately twenty quarts of grain
- Micah 6:10 Heb uncertain
- Micah 6:12 Heb lacks in a city.
- Micah 6:16 Or he
- Micah 6:16 Or her
Legacy Standard Bible Copyright ©2021 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org For Permission to Quote Information visit https://www.LSBible.org.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible