Micah 6

¹ Listen now to what the LORD says: “Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear what you have to say.

² Hear, you mountains, the LORD’s indictment, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for the LORD has a case against his people, and he will contend with Israel.

³ My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me!

⁴ For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage. I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

⁵ My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the LORD.”

⁶ How shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?

⁷ Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams? With tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my disobedience? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

⁸ He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does the LORD require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

⁹ The LORD’s voice calls to the city— and wisdom fears your name— “Listen to the rod, and he who appointed it.

¹⁰ Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and a short ephah that is accursed?

¹¹ Shall I tolerate dishonest scales, and a bag of deceitful weights?

¹² Her rich men are full of violence, her inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their speech.

¹³ Therefore I also have struck you with a grievous wound. I have made you desolate because of your sins.

¹⁴ You shall eat, but not be satisfied. Your hunger will be within you. You will store up, but not save, and that which you save I will give up to the sword.

¹⁵ You will sow, but won’t reap. You will tread the olives, but won’t anoint yourself with oil; and crush grapes, but won’t drink the wine.

¹⁶ For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of Ahab’s house. You walk in their counsels, that I may make you a ruin, and your inhabitants a hissing. You will bear the reproach of my people.”

Around Micah 6

Context

Context for this book is being written. A note appears here only once it names its sources.

AI explanation

About Micah as a whole · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this book is about

The leaders of Jerusalem have an answer ready for anyone who warns them. “Isn’t the LORD among us? No disaster will come on us.” Micah has seen what lies behind it. Rulers who take bribes, prophets who say what pays, and the powerful who seize the fields of the poor. To Micah, none of this goes unseen.

So he announces that the two cities, Samaria and Jerusalem, will fall.

But the warnings are threaded with promise, as if the speaker could not stop himself. Nations stream to learn God’s ways. Out of the teaching comes peace: “They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.” And out of the small town of Bethlehem will come a ruler. The book keeps turning between what is coming and what is hoped for.

Background

Micah came from Moresheth, a country town in Judah, and prophesied in the late eighth century before Christ, at the same time as Isaiah. He spoke as an outsider to the capital. A century later, Jeremiah’s defenders quoted him in court when his own life was at stake (Jeremiah 26).

How Christians read it

Micah 6:8 is one of the best-known summaries of what God asks of people: “to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” Matthew quotes the promise about Bethlehem in the story of Jesus’ birth. The book ends by marveling at God: “Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity,” and who delights in mercy.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 21 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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