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Shared Word Translation

Micah 6

The LORD Brings a Case

Hear what the LORD says: Rise—plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.

Hear, O mountains, the case of the LORD, you enduring foundations of the earth; for the LORD has a dispute with the people and will bring charges against Israel.

O my people, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me.

For I brought you up from the land of slavery, and redeemed you from the house of oppression; I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab planned, and how Balaam son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you may remember the saving acts of the LORD.

What Shall We Bring?

With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the God of all heights? Shall I come with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?

Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my wrongdoing, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

God has told you, O people, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love faithful kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

The City Called to Account

The voice of the LORD cries out to the city (it is wisdom to fear your name): Hear, O tribe and assembly of the city!

Are there still treasures gained by injustice in the house of the wicked, and the dishonest measure that I abhor?

Can I tolerate wicked scales and a bag of deceitful weights?

Your wealthy are full of violence; your inhabitants speak lies, and their tongues are deceitful in their mouths.

Consequences of Injustice

Therefore I have begun to strike you, to lay you waste because of your sins.

You shall eat but not be satisfied, and emptiness shall remain within you; you shall put things aside but not preserve them, and what you preserve I will give to the sword.

You shall sow but not reap; you shall tread olives but not anoint yourselves with oil; you shall tread grapes but not drink wine.

For you have kept the statutes of Omri, and all the practices of the house of Ahab; you have followed their counsel. Therefore I will make you a desolation, and your inhabitants an object of scorn; you shall bear the disgrace of my people.

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Notes

Translation notes for Micah 6.

v01–02

The courtroom imagery establishes a covenant lawsuit. The mountains and enduring foundations of the earth serve as witnesses, giving the dispute a public and long-standing horizon.

v03

The questions are not accusations but invitations. The Holy One speaks with the language of wounded relationship, asking the people to name how the covenant has been experienced as burden rather than gift.

v04–05

Memory is central to the case. Liberation from slavery, faithful leadership, and protection along the journey are recalled to reorient the people toward the character and saving action of the Holy One.

v06–07

These verses give voice to anxious religiosity. The escalating offerings reveal a belief that reconciliation must be earned through excess, culminating in the distortion that imagines God as desiring harm rather than life.

v08

This verse functions as the theological center of the chapter. Justice, faithful kindness, and humble walking are presented not as new demands but as a clear restatement of what has always defined covenant faithfulness.

v09

The prophetic voice addresses the city as a collective body. Wisdom here is linked to reverence, suggesting that moral clarity begins with recognizing the Holy One’s claim on communal life.

v10–12

Economic injustice is named concretely. Dishonest measures, violence, and deceit are not isolated moral failures but systemic practices that shape the life of the community.

v13–15

The consequences described reflect moral disorder rather than arbitrary punishment. Effort without fulfillment mirrors a society that has severed justice from daily practice.

v16

The reference to Omri and Ahab situates the present crisis within a legacy of corrupt leadership. The resulting disgrace is communal, underscoring that injustice leaves enduring marks on a people’s shared life.

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Vocabulary

Selected source-language vocabulary for Micah 6.

v05

Saving acts: Refers to concrete moments of deliverance and protection preserved in communal memory. These acts define God’s character and ground covenant responsibility.

v08

Justice: Concrete actions that sustain right relationships within a community. Justice is not abstract fairness but the active ordering of social, economic, and communal life toward equity and truth.

v08

Faithful kindness: Translates ḥesed, a covenantal term expressing loyalty, mercy, and steadfast commitment. It describes love rooted in relationship rather than emotion alone.

v08

Walk humbly: A relational metaphor describing attentiveness, modesty, and trust in one’s life with God. The emphasis is on posture and direction rather than moral display or achievement.

v10

Dishonest measure: A symbol of economic exploitation. The term points to systems that advantage the powerful at the expense of the vulnerable rather than isolated acts of cheating.

v11

Wicked scales: A concrete image of corruption in daily commerce. The language emphasizes how injustice becomes ordinary and normalized.

v12

Violence: Used broadly to describe harm embedded in social and economic practices, not only physical force. Violence includes exploitation that erodes communal trust and dignity.

v16

Desolation: A condition of communal unraveling marked by loss of stability, honor, and continuity rather than mere physical ruin.