Micah 6

The Indictment of the Lord

1. Hear what the Lord says: 1 Arise, plead your case before the mountains, 1 and let the hills hear your voice.

2. Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the Lord, 2 and you enduring foundations of the earth, 2 for the Lord has an indictment against his people, 2 and he will contend with Israel.

3. “O my people, what have I done to you? 3 How have I wearied you? Answer me!

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

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

What Does the Lord Require?

6. “With what shall I come before the Lord, 6 and bow myself before God on high? 6 Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, 6 with calves a year old?

7. Will the Lord be pleased with[a] thousands of rams, 7 with ten thousands of rivers of oil? 7 Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, 7 the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

8. He has told you, O man, what is good; 8 and what does the Lord require of you 8 but to do justice, and to love kindness,[b] 8 and to walk humbly with your God?

Destruction of the Wicked

9. The voice of the Lord cries to the city— 9 and it is sound wisdom to fear your name: 9 “Hear of the rod and of him who appointed it![c]

10. Can I forget any longer the treasures[d] of wickedness in the house of the wicked, 10 and the scant measure that is accursed?

11. Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales 11 and with a bag of deceitful weights?

12. Your[e] rich men are full of violence; 12 your inhabitants speak lies, 12 and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

13. Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow, 13 making you desolate because of your sins.

14. You shall eat, but not be satisfied, 14 and there shall be hunger within you; 14 you shall put away, but not preserve, 14 and what you preserve I will give to the sword.

15. You shall sow, but not reap; 15 you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; 15 you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine.

16. For you have kept the statutes of Omri,[f] 16 and all the works of the house of Ahab; 16 and you have walked in their counsels, 16 that I may make you a desolation, and your[g] inhabitants a hissing; 16 so you shall bear the scorn of my people.”

Footnotes:
a. Micah 6:7: Or Will the Lord accept
b. Micah 6:8: Or steadfast love
c. Micah 6:9: The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
d. Micah 6:10: Or Are there still treasures
e. Micah 6:12: Hebrew whose
f. Micah 6:16: Hebrew For the statutes of Omri are kept
g. Micah 6:16: Hebrew its