Punishment for Social and Religious Corruption
Micah 6:9-16
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Mic.6.9 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- קול: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- לעיר: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- יקרא: VERB,niphal,impf,3,m,sg
- ותושיה: CONJ+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- יראה: VERB,qal,perf,1,_,sg
- שמך: NOUN,m,sg,cs,2,m,sg
- שמעו: VERB,qal,impv,2,m,pl
- מטה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ומי: PRON,interr
- יעדה: NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,3,f,sg
Parallels
- Deuteronomy 32:1 (verbal): Both open with a summons to the heavens/earth to hear God’s words—invoking creation as witness to God’s charge or dispute with his people.
- Isaiah 1:2 (verbal): Like Micah, Isaiah calls heaven and earth to hear because the LORD has spoken; both frame God’s indictment of his people as a public contention.
- Micah 6:2 (structural): Immediate parallel within the same speech: Micah 6:2 summons mountains and foundations as witnesses to the LORD’s controversy—repeating the motif of calling creation to hear God’s charge.
- Psalm 29:3-4 (thematic): Uses the motif ‘the voice of the LORD’ acting in the world; thematically parallels Micah’s cry from the LORD to the city—divine voice as agent of revelation and judgment.
Alternative generated candidates
- The voice of the LORD cries to the city; wise counsel beholds your name. Hear—O elders—who has appointed it?
- The voice of the LORD cries to the city; prudence beholds your name: Hear the rod—who has appointed it?
Mic.6.10 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- עוד: ADV
- האש: NOUN,f,sg,def
- בית: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- רשע: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אצרות: NOUN,m,pl,construct
- רשע: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ואיפת: CONJ+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- רזון: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- זעומה: ADJ,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Amos 8:4-6 (thematic): Denounces merchants who cheat the poor with dishonest measures and exploit the needy—parallels Micah’s condemnation of ‘treasures of wickedness’ and unjust gain.
- Leviticus 19:35-36 (verbal): Legal injunction to use honest balances and measures; provides the cultic/ethical background for prophetic complaints about short measures and corrupt commerce.
- Deuteronomy 25:13-16 (verbal): Prohibits differing weights and measures and calls such practices abominable to the LORD—directly parallels Micah’s critique of ‘short measure’ and illicit profit.
- Proverbs 10:2 (verbal): ‘Treasures of wickedness profit nothing’ echoes Micah’s phrase about ill-gotten treasures, contrasting wicked gain with true blessing/righteousness.
- Ezekiel 45:10 (thematic): Calls for just balances, ephahs and baths in land/temple regulations; thematically aligned with Micah’s demand for honest measures and economic justice.
Alternative generated candidates
- Are there still treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, hoarded ill-gotten gain and a scant supply?
- Are there still treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, an accursed scant measure, a pouch of deceitful weights?
Mic.6.11 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- האזכה: VERB,qal,impf,1,sg
- במאזני: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- רשע: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ובכיס: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אבני: NOUN,f,pl,cons
- מרמה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Deuteronomy 25:13-16 (verbal): Forbids having differing weights in your bag—language and image (bag/weights) closely mirrored by Micah’s charge against deceitful weights.
- Proverbs 11:1 (verbal): “A false balance is an abomination to the Lord” — direct moral condemnation of dishonest scales echoing Micah’s denunciation.
- Proverbs 20:10 (verbal): “Diverse weights and diverse measures… are an abomination to the LORD” — repeats the exact legal/moral formula critiqued by Micah.
- Leviticus 19:35-36 (thematic): Commands just balances and honest measures in commerce—legal basis for prophetic complaints about economic injustice like Micah’s.
- Proverbs 16:11 (thematic): Affirms that just balances and accurate weights belong to the Lord—the theological principle underlying Micah’s condemnation of fraudulent measures.
Alternative generated candidates
- Shall I acquit with scales of wickedness and with a bag of deceitful weights?
- Shall I be won by balances of wickedness, by a bag of deceptive stones?
Mic.6.12 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- אשר: PRON,rel
- עשיריה: NOUN,m,pl,abs,poss3,fs
- מלאו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- חמס: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וישביה: CONJ+NOUN,m,pl,abs+3fs
- דברו: INF,qal,inf+3ms
- שקר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ולשונם: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,f,sg,pr3mp
- רמיה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- בפיהם: PREP+NOUN,m,pl+PRON,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Micah 3:11 (thematic): Same prophet condemns leaders and elites who profit by corruption and violence; both passages accuse the powerful of injustice and deceit.
- Psalm 12:2-3 (verbal): Speaks of flattering lips and double hearts—explicitly parallels the image of inhabitants speaking lies and deceitful tongues.
- Proverbs 12:22 (thematic): Condemns lying lips as abhorrent to the LORD, echoing Micah’s charge against deceitful speech.
- Amos 5:12 (thematic): Accuses the powerful of oppressing the righteous, taking bribes, and perverting justice—parallels Micah’s portrayal of the rich as violent and corrupt.
- Jeremiah 5:28 (thematic): Describes the wealthy as complacent and unjust, failing to defend the needy—resonates with Micah’s critique of rich men filled with violence and falsehood.
Alternative generated candidates
- Their rich are full of violence, and their inhabitants speak lies; their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
- Its rich are full of violence; its inhabitants utter lies; their tongues deal in deceit in their mouths.
Mic.6.13 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- וגם: CONJ
- אני: PRON,1,sg
- החליתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,sg
- הכותך: VERB,qal,ptc,2,m,sg,def
- השמם: VERB,hiphil,perf,3,m,sg
- על: PREP
- חטאתך: NOUN,f,sg,abs,2,ms
Parallels
- Deuteronomy 28:22 (verbal): Uses covenant‑curse language: God will 'strike' or 'smite' with wasting disease/consumption as direct punishment—paralleling Micah’s 'I will smite you with wasting disease because of your sins.'
- Deuteronomy 28:21 (structural): Part of the Deuteronomic catalogue of curses for covenant unfaithfulness (terror, disease, defeat); provides the covenantal framework echoed in Micah’s punitive formula 'for your sin.'
- Amos 4:9 (thematic): God afflicts Israel with blight/pestilence and other calamities because they will not return; thematically parallels Micah’s link between sickness and divine judgment for sin.
- 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 (allusion): God warns he will send locusts, famine and pestilence as signs of judgment when the land sins—mirroring the prophetic motif of national disease as divine chastisement in Micah 6:13.
- Ezekiel 14:21 (thematic): Lists pestilence among the severe judgments God sends 'for their sins,' echoing Micah’s causal formula that disease is sent as punishment for sin.
Alternative generated candidates
- And I also will make you sick; I will strike you down and lay you waste for your sin.
- And yet I will strike you—I will make you a desolation for your sin.
Mic.6.14 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- אתה: PRON,2,m,sg
- תאכל: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg
- ולא: CONJ
- תשבע: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg
- וישחך: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- בקרבך: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs,prs:2ms
- ותסג: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- ולא: CONJ
- תפליט: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- ואשר: CONJ+PRON,rel
- תפלט: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- לחרב: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- אתן: VERB,qal,impf,1,sg
Parallels
- Deuteronomy 28:53-57 (verbal): Part of the Deuteronomic curse imagery: eating yet not being satisfied and dire privations in time of siege — language and theme echoed in Micah’s ‘you shall eat and not be satisfied.’
- Ezekiel 7:19 (thematic): Speaks of silver and gold failing to deliver in the day of the Lord’s wrath — parallels Micah’s warning that whatever is hoarded will be given to the sword (wealth futile under judgment).
- Amos 6:6-7 (thematic): Condemns comfortable, complacent elites who enjoy luxury yet face coming exile and loss — similar social-judgment context to Micah’s prediction that their provisions will not save them.
- Psalm 49:6-9 (thematic): Declares that riches cannot redeem in the day of wrath and cannot preserve life — echoes Micah’s point that stored wealth will not protect people from destruction.
Alternative generated candidates
- You shall eat and not be satisfied; you shall vomit within you and waste away; you shall plant and not reap; you shall tread olives and not anoint with oil; you shall tread grapes and not drink wine—
- You shall eat and not be satisfied; you shall put away, yet not deliver; and what you deliver I will give to the sword.
Mic.6.15 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- אתה: PRON,2,m,sg
- תזרע: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- ולא: CONJ
- תקצור: VERB,qal,imperfect,2,m,sg
- אתה: PRON,2,m,sg
- תדרך: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,pl
- זית: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ולא: CONJ
- תסוך: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- שמן: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ותירוש: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ולא: CONJ
- תשתה: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg
- יין: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Deuteronomy 28:39 (verbal): Covenantal curse language: planting vineyards/olive trees but not enjoying their wine or oil — closely parallels Micah’s images and outcome (plant/tread but not drink/use).
- Jeremiah 12:13 (verbal): Speaks of sowing but reaping no grain and vines bearing no grapes — a direct verbal/thematic echo of sowing without harvest and fruitless vineyards.
- Joel 1:10-12 (thematic): Laments ruined fields, 'the new wine is dried up, the oil languishes' — parallels Micah’s images of grapes and olives producing nothing to drink or anoint.
- Hosea 8:7 (thematic): 'They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind' — relates to the theme of sowing without rightful or hoped-for return, judgmental consequences for Israel’s actions.
- Isaiah 63:2-3 (allusion): Uses the image of treading the winepress in divine judgment — echoes Micah’s treading of olives and grapes as part of punitive imagery.
Alternative generated candidates
- you shall sow but not harvest; you shall tread olives and shall not anoint with oil; you shall tread grapes and shall not drink wine.
- You shall sow and not reap; you shall tread the olive and not extract oil; you shall tread the grapes and not drink wine.
Mic.6.16 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- וישתמר: VERB,hithpael,impf,3,m,sg
- חקות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- עמרי: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וכל: CONJ+PRON,indef
- מעשה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- בית: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אחאב: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ותלכו: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,pl
- במעצותם: PREP+NOUN,f,pl,abs+3,m,pl
- למען: PREP
- תתי: VERB,qal,juss,1,sg
- אתך: PREP+PRON,2,m,sg
- לשמה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- וישביה: CONJ+NOUN,m,pl,abs+3fs
- לשרקה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- וחרפת: NOUN,f,sg,const
- עמי: NOUN,m,sg,abs+1s
- תשאו: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,pl
Parallels
- 1 Kings 16:25-28 (verbal): Describes Omri’s reign and the establishment of Samaria; Micah’s reference to 'the statutes of Omri' alludes directly to the legacy and practices associated with Omri’s house.
- 1 Kings 16:30-33 (thematic): Describes Ahab’s promotion of Baal worship and idolatrous practices; parallels Micah’s charge that Israel is following the corrupt cultic and political policies of Ahab’s house.
- 1 Kings 21:25-26 (thematic): Explicitly condemns Ahab as exceptionally wicked (influenced by Jezebel); supports Micah’s indictment that the people bear the shame and reproach caused by Ahab’s house.
- 2 Kings 9:7-10 (structural): Gives the prophetic commission to destroy the house of Ahab because of its sins (bloodshed and idolatry); echoes Micah’s threat of judgment and reproach against those who follow Omri/Ahab’s counsel.
Alternative generated candidates
- Observe the statutes of Omri and all the deeds of the house of Ahab; you walk in their counsels—therefore I will make you a desolation and your inhabitants a byword; you shall bear the reproach of my people.
- Observe the statutes of Omri and all the works of the house of Ahab; you walk in their counsels—therefore I will make you a desolation, and your inhabitants a byword and a scorn among the nations.
The voice of the LORD cries to the city: "Hear!—the counsel is to know your name; hear the rod—who has appointed it?"
Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and a scant measure accursed?
Shall I acquit them by dishonest scales and by a bag of deceitful weights?
For its nobles are full of violence, and its inhabitants speak lies; their tongue is deceitful in their mouths.
Therefore I also will make you a desolation; I will strike you so that you become a despoiled place because of your sin.
You shall eat but not be satisfied; you shall vomit within you and cast out, yet you will not preserve; what you preserve I will give over to the sword.
You shall sow but not reap; you shall tread olives but shall not anoint with oil; you shall tread grapes but shall not drink wine.
Will you keep the statutes of Omri and all the works of the house of Ahab? You walk in their counsels, that I may make you a desolation and your inhabitants a byword; you shall bear the reproach of my people.