Micah 6:9-16
New Living Translation
Israel’s Guilt and Punishment
9 Fear the Lord if you are wise!
His voice calls to everyone in Jerusalem:
“The armies of destruction are coming;
the Lord is sending them.[a]
10 What shall I say about the homes of the wicked
filled with treasures gained by cheating?
What about the disgusting practice
of measuring out grain with dishonest measures?[b]
11 How can I tolerate your merchants
who use dishonest scales and weights?
12 The rich among you have become wealthy
through extortion and violence.
Your citizens are so used to lying
that their tongues can no longer tell the truth.
13 “Therefore, I will wound you!
I will bring you to ruin for all your sins.
14 You will eat but never have enough.
Your hunger pangs and emptiness will remain.
And though you try to save your money,
it will come to nothing in the end.
You will save a little,
but I will give it to those who conquer you.
15 You will plant crops
but not harvest them.
You will press your olives
but not get enough oil to anoint yourselves.
You will trample the grapes
but get no juice to make your wine.
16 You keep only the laws of evil King Omri;
you follow only the example of wicked King Ahab!
Therefore, I will make an example of you,
bringing you to complete ruin.
You will be treated with contempt,
mocked by all who see you.”
Micah 6:9-16
Common English Bible
Punishment is near
9 The voice of the Lord calls out to the city;
wisdom appears when one fears your name.[a]
Hear, tribe, and who appointed her![b]
10 Are the treasures of wickedness still in the house of wickedness,
while the shorted basket[c] is denounced?[d]
11 Can I approve wicked scales and a bag of false weights
12 in a city[e] 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[f] 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[g] inhabitants an object of hissing!
You must bear the reproach of my people.
Footnotes
- 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
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible