Micah Exhorts the Israelites to Repent, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Old Testament · Book 33 of 66
Micah
Micah records the words of a prophet from Moresheth who warned Samaria and Jerusalem of judgment in the days of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. He names Bethlehem as the birthplace of Israel's ruler and sums up what the LORD requires.
Micah records the words of a prophet from Moresheth who warned Samaria and Jerusalem of judgment in the days of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. He names Bethlehem as the birthplace of Israel's ruler and sums up what the LORD requires.
What is Micah about?
Micah is the book of a prophet from Moresheth in Judah who spoke to Samaria and Jerusalem in the days of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. It is built as three calls to hear, and each moves from the charge to the promise. The first judges both capitals and the men who seize fields, then gathers a remnant. The second judges rulers and prophets for pay, then raises the mountain of the LORD and brings a ruler from Bethlehem. The third is the LORD's case against his people, answered in one verse: “to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (6:8). The book ends with the God who pardons.
All 7 chapters
Every chapter of the book, in one grid. Each cell opens that chapter.
- Hear, all you peoplesChapters 1 to 2
- Hear, you heads of JacobChapters 3 to 5
- Hear what the LORD saysChapters 6 to 7
The colour is the call to hear the chapter stands under, and every cell opens that chapter's Study level.
Who wrote it, where, when, for whom, and why?
The book opens as the word of the LORD that came to Micah the Moreshite, and what he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem (1:1). He speaks of himself once, as filled with power by the Spirit of the LORD to declare Jacob's sin (3:8). The Old Testament's own witness to him stands at Jeremiah's trial, where the elders of Judah, pleading for Jeremiah's life, name Micah the Moreshite and quote his sentence on Zion word for word (Jeremiah 26:17 to 19, quoting Micah 3:12).
“Micah the Moreshite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and told all the people of Judah that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.’
Jeremiah 26:18, Berean Standard Bible.
Micah's town is Moresheth-gath (1:14), one of the towns of the lament in 1:10 to 16, which run through the low hills west of Judah from Gath to Lachish and Adullam. He speaks to both capitals, Samaria in the north and Jerusalem in the south (1:1, 1:5).
Micah dates his words to the days of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah (1:1). Samaria's fall is still to come when he speaks (1:6), and the elders at Jeremiah's trial set his sentence on Zion in the days of Hezekiah (Jeremiah 26:17 to 19). In Hezekiah's fourteenth year Sennacherib king of Assyria took the fortified cities of Judah, and Hezekiah sent to him at Lachish (2 Kings 18:13 to 14). The book gives the reigns and not a year.
Micah speaks to the leaders of Jacob and the rulers of the house of Israel (3:1, 3:9), to the prophets who lead the people astray (3:5), to the city whose rich are full of violence (6:9 and 12), and to the people the LORD calls his own (6:3).
The book gives its reason in the LORD's words. Men covet fields and seize them (2:2), leaders judge for a bribe and prophets divine for money (3:11), and the city keeps false scales (6:11). The LORD answers with judgment on Samaria and Zion (1:6, 3:12), shows what is good (6:8), and promises to pardon the remnant of his inheritance (7:18).
The land is held by families who are losing it: fields, houses and inheritances taken (2:2), women driven from their homes (2:9). The book names Assyria as the invader of the land (5:5 to 6), Babylon as the place of exile and rescue (4:10), and the statutes of Omri and the house of Ahab as the ways the city has kept (6:16).
Sources. Micah 1:1, 1:5, 1:6, 1:10 to 16, 2:2, 2:9, 3:1, 3:5, 3:8, 3:9, 3:11, 3:12, 4:10, 5:5 to 6, 6:3, 6:8, 6:9, 6:11, 6:12, 6:16 and 7:18; Jeremiah 26:17 to 19; 2 Kings 18:13 to 14. Every verse is read in the Berean Standard Bible.
How is Micah arranged, and what is it for?
The three calls to hear the book falls into, then what it teaches and what it was written to do.
- Hear, all you peoplesChapters 1 to 2, 29 verses, the turn at 1:5
The LORD comes down on Samaria and Jerusalem, the towns of the lowland mourn, and the land-grabbers are judged, then the remnant is gathered.
- Hear, you heads of JacobChapters 3 to 5, 40 verses, the turn at 5:2
Rulers, priests and prophets for pay, and Zion plowed like a field, then the mountain of the LORD raised and a ruler from Bethlehem.
- Hear what the LORD saysChapters 6 to 7, 36 verses, the turn at 6:8
The LORD's case against his people and the one answer of 6:8, the city's false scales, then the God who pardons and casts sins into the sea.
The theme
The LORD comes as a witness against his own people, and Micah names the charge in plain terms: fields and houses taken from their owners, rulers who judge for a bribe, prophets who preach for food, scales that cheat. Each charge ends in a promise. The LORD gathers a remnant, raises his mountain over the nations, brings a ruler out of Bethlehem to shepherd his flock, and at the last pardons iniquity because he delights in loving devotion (7:18). What he asks of his people is stated once: justice, mercy and a humble walk with God (6:8).
The purpose
Micah was sent to Samaria and Jerusalem to tell the rulers of both that their cities would fall for what they did to the poor and to the word of the LORD. The book sets down his three calls to hear so that each generation meets the charge and the promise together. A century later the elders of Judah still quoted his sentence on Zion to save Jeremiah's life, because Hezekiah had heard it and turned (Jeremiah 26:19).
Three calls to hear, each from the charge to the promise
- Call 1, Micah 1 to 2“Hear, O peoples, all of you”Micah 1:2
The charge, 1:2 to 2:11, 26 verses
The LORD comes down against Samaria and Jerusalem, the lowland towns mourn, and the men who seize fields lose their own.
The promise begins at 2:12
The promise, 2:12 to 13, 2 verses
The remnant gathered like sheep in a pen, and the one who breaks open the way goes before them.
“I will collect the remnant of Israel” (2:12) - Call 2, Micah 3 to 5“Hear now, O leaders of Jacob”Micah 3:1
The charge, 3:1 to 12, 12 verses
Rulers who tear the skin from the people, prophets who preach for food, and Zion plowed like a field.
The promise begins at 4:1
The promise, 4:1 to 5:15, 28 verses
The mountain of the LORD raised over the hills, swords beaten into plowshares, and a ruler from Bethlehem who shepherds his flock.
“the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains” (4:1) - Call 3, Micah 6 to 7“Hear now what the LORD says”Micah 6:1
The charge, 6:1 to 7:7, 23 verses
The LORD's case before the mountains, the city's false scales, and a land where no one upright is left.
The promise begins at 7:8
The promise, 7:8 to 20, 13 verses
The fallen one rises, the walls are rebuilt, and the God who pardons casts all sins into the sea.
“Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity” (7:18)
A solid bar is the charge and an open bar is the promise, each as long as its part in verses.
Hear, all you peoples, Micah 1 to 2
What the text says in these 29 verses, and the pages they open on.
The book opens with the peoples and the whole earth called to hear, because the LORD is coming out of his dwelling to tread the high places, and the mountains melt under him (1:2 to 4). The charge is named at once: the sin of Jacob is Samaria, and the high place of Judah is Jerusalem (1:5). Samaria will be left a heap of rubble (1:6). Micah mourns barefoot, because the wound has reached the gate of Jerusalem (1:8 to 9), and he walks through the towns of the lowland one by one, from Gath to Adullam, with a word of grief for each (1:10 to 16). Chapter 2 names the crime: men plan evil on their beds and seize fields and houses at morning (2:1 to 2), so the LORD plans a disaster against them (2:3). They tell the prophet not to preach (2:6) and would welcome a preacher of wine and strong drink (2:11). The movement ends with the LORD gathering the remnant of Israel like sheep in a pen, the one who breaks open the way going up before them, and their King at their head (2:12 to 13).
All this is for the transgression of Jacob and the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what is the high place of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?
- Study
Micah 1the LORD comes down; Samaria judged; the lament over the lowland townsShow the summary and 2 pagesShow summary, 2 pagesHide the summary
Micah of Moresheth, a village prophet contemporary with Isaiah, sees the word 'regarding Samaria and Jerusalem:' and God comes out of his place to tread the high places of the earth, mountains melting under him like wax. The question is diagnostic: what is the transgression of Jacob (is it not Samaria? and the high places of Judah), are they not Jerusalem? The capitals themselves are the disease. Samaria becomes a heap in a field, and 'her wound is incurable; it has reached even Judah … as far as Jerusalem itself.' The prophet strips and wails like the jackals, then names the doomed towns of his own countryside in a chain of grim puns.
On this chapter (2)
- What does each town's name say in the lament of 1:10 to 16?
Answered under Where do readers disagree, lower on this page, with each reading and who holds it.
- Micah 1:5
The verse on its own page, with the commentators on it by era.
- What does each town's name say in the lament of 1:10 to 16?
- Study
Micah 2fields seized at morning; the prophets silenced; the remnant gatheredShow the summary and 3 pagesShow summary, 3 pagesHide the summary
'Woe to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds!': plotting by night and executing at dawn 'because it is in the power of their hand.' The specific crime is land theft: they covet fields and seize them, houses and take them away, evicting a man from his heritage. So God devises against that family an evil they cannot shrug off their necks. Their preachers order Micah to stop, and he answers: do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly? A prophet of wine and strong drink is the one they would welcome. Yet the chapter ends gathering the remnant like a flock, their king passing on before them.
On this chapter (3)
- Justice and righteousness
Mishpat and tsedaqah, the pair the prophets ask for.
- The remnant
The few God spares, through the prophets.
- Micah 2:12
The verse on its own page, with the commentators on it by era.
- Justice and righteousness
The 11 towns of the lament
A filled mark is a town the gazetteer locates; an open dashed ring is a town it does not locate.
The towns (11)
- 1Gath1:10, not locatedbe.Gat beside ta.Gi.du, you tell
- 2Beth-leaphrah1:10, not locatedle.'af.Rah beside 'a.Far, dust
- 3Shaphir1:11, not locatedNo sound play in the store's word data
- 4Zaanan1:11, not locatedtza.'a.Nan beside ya.tze.'Ah, she came forth
- 5Beth-ezel1:11, not locatedNo sound play in the store's word data
- 6Maroth1:12, not locatedNo sound play in the store's word data
- 7Lachish1:13, knownla.Khish beside la.Re.khesh, to the steed
- 8Moresheth-gath1:14, not locatedNo sound play in the store's word data
- 9Achzib1:14, not located'akh.Ziv beside le.'akh.Zav, a deceitful thing
- 10Mareshah1:15, not locatedma.re.Shah beside hai.yo.Resh, the one who dispossesses
- 11Adullam1:15, not locatedNo sound play in the store's word data
Characters (6)
Who the text names. A name with a page carries its door.
- Micah of Moresheth
The prophet to whom the word of the LORD came concerning Samaria and Jerusalem (1:1).
- Jotham
The first of the three kings of Judah in whose days Micah spoke (1:1).
- Ahaz
The second king the heading names (1:1).
- Hezekiah
The third king the heading names, who heard Micah and feared the LORD (1:1, Jeremiah 26:19).
Show the next 2
- Those who plan evil
The men who plot on their beds and seize fields and houses at morning (2:1 to 2).
- The one who breaks open the way
Goes up before the gathered flock, with their King at their head (2:13).
Places (6)
Where the chapters stand.
- Moresheth-gath
Micah's town, among the lowland towns of the lament (1:1, 1:14).
- Samaria
The capital of the north, to be made a heap of rubble (1:5 to 6).
- Jerusalem
The high place of Judah, whose gate the wound has reached (1:5, 1:9, 1:12).
- Lachish
The city with the chariot horses, the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion (1:13).
Show the next 2
- Gath
Where the news must not be told (1:10).
- Adullam
Where the glory of Israel will come (1:15).
Themes (3)
What these chapters raise, each on its own page where one stands.
- The remnant
Gathered like sheep in a pen (2:12).
- Justice and righteousness
Fields and houses seized from their owners (2:1 to 2).
- The Twelve
The book of the twelve prophets Micah stands in.
No New Testament passage quotes or names these chapters.
Hear, you heads of Jacob, Micah 3 to 5
What the text says in these 40 verses, and the pages they open on.
The second call is to the leaders of Jacob, who should know justice and instead tear the skin from the people and strip the flesh from their bones (3:1 to 3). The prophets who lead the people astray cry peace while they are fed and declare war on anyone who puts nothing in their mouths (3:5), and night will come on them without vision (3:6). Micah says he is filled with power by the Spirit of the LORD to declare Jacob's sin (3:8). Leaders judge for a bribe, priests teach for a price, and prophets divine for money, and all of them say the LORD is among them (3:11). So Zion will be plowed like a field (3:12). Then the hope runs longest of the book: the mountain of the house of the LORD raised over the hills, the nations coming to learn his ways, swords beaten into plowshares, and each man under his own vine (4:1 to 4). The lame are made a remnant (4:6 to 7). The daughter of Zion writhes like a woman in labour, goes to Babylon and is redeemed there (4:10). Out of Bethlehem Ephrathah, small among the clans of Judah, comes one to rule Israel whose origins are of old (5:2). He shepherds his flock in the strength of the LORD (5:4), and the remnant of Jacob stands among the nations like dew and like a lion (5:7 to 8).
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come forth for Me One to be ruler over Israel—One whose origins are of old, from the days of eternity.
- Study
Micah 3rulers who tear the skin; prophets for pay; Zion plowed like a fieldShow the summary and 1 pageShow summary, 1 pageHide the summary
The leadership chapter, and the language is butchery: rulers who hate the good and love the evil, who pluck the skin off God's people and their flesh from off their bones and chop them up as for the pot. Then they will cry to Jehovah and he will not answer. Prophets who cry 'peace' when they are fed, and declare war on whoever fails to fill their mouths, will get night without vision. Over against them Micah plants his flag: 'As for me, however, I am filled with power by the Spirit of the LORD … to declare to Jacob his transgression' (3:8). So 'because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field', quoted a century later at Jeremiah's trial.
On this chapter (1)
- Micah 3:12
The verse on its own page, with the commentators on it by era.
- Micah 3:12
- Study
Micah 4the mountain of the LORD raised; swords into plowshares; the daughter of Zion in labourShow the summary and 3 pagesShow summary, 3 pagesHide the summary
From plowed Zion straight to the mountain of Jehovah's house established in the top of the mountains in the latter days, with peoples flowing to it: 'out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.' He judges between many peoples, and 'they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more' (Isaiah 2 sounds the same oracle). Micah adds his own village detail: every man under his vine and under his fig-tree, with none to make them afraid. The lame are gathered as a remnant, and Jehovah reigns in mount Zion for ever.
On this chapter (3)
- Zion and Jerusalem
The city and the mountain of the LORD.
- Are Micah 4:1 to 3 and Isaiah 2:2 to 4 one oracle, and whose is it?
Answered under Where do readers disagree, lower on this page, with each reading and who holds it.
- Micah 4:3
The verse on its own page, with the commentators on it by era.
- Zion and Jerusalem
- Study
Micah 5the ruler from Bethlehem; the remnant like dew and like a lionShow the summary and 4 pagesShow summary, 4 pagesHide the summary
The judge of Israel is struck with a rod on the cheek, and out of that humiliation comes the promise: 'But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come forth for Me One to be ruler over Israel … One whose origins are of old, from the days of eternity' (5:2). Herod's scribes quote it to locate the newborn King (Matthew 2:6), and 'from the days of eternity' (5:2) says who he is. He shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of Jehovah, and 'He will be our peace when Assyria invades our land and tramples our citadels.' Horses, chariots, strongholds, witchcrafts, and graven images are all cut off together.
On this chapter (4)
- The Fulfillment Formula
Matthew's quotations, the Bethlehem verse among them.
- The deity of Christ
The one whose origins are of old.
- Does 5:2 name a birthplace or a clan, and what does from ancient days say of the ruler?
Answered under Where do readers disagree, lower on this page, with each reading and who holds it.
- Micah 5:2
The verse on its own page, with the commentators on it by era.
- The Fulfillment Formula
The mountain of the LORD, in Micah and in Isaiah
In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and the peoples will stream to it. And many nations will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. Then He will judge between many peoples and arbitrate for strong nations far and wide. Then they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer take up the sword against nation, nor will they train anymore for war.
In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. Then He will judge between the nations and arbitrate for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer take up the sword against nation, nor train anymore for war.
Bethlehem, in Micah and in Matthew
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come forth for Me One to be ruler over Israel—One whose origins are of old, from the days of eternity.
‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of My people Israel.’”
Characters (4)
Who the text names. A name with a page carries its door.
- The leaders of Jacob
Who should know justice and tear the skin from the people instead (3:1 to 3).
- The prophets for pay
Who cry peace while they are fed and war on those who feed them nothing (3:5, 3:11).
- The daughter of Zion
In labour, sent to Babylon and redeemed there (4:10).
- The ruler from Bethlehem
One whose origins are of old, who shepherds his flock in the strength of the LORD (5:2, 5:4).
Places (4)
Where the chapters stand.
- Zion
To be plowed like a field, then raised as the chief of the mountains (3:12, 4:1).
- Bethlehem Ephrathah
Small among the clans of Judah (5:2).
- Babylon
Where the daughter of Zion goes and is rescued (4:10).
- Assyria
The invader the ruler will be peace against (5:5 to 6).
Themes (4)
What these chapters raise, each on its own page where one stands.
- The mountain of the LORD
Raised above the hills, with the nations streaming to it (4:1 to 2).
- The shepherd king
He will stand and shepherd his flock (5:4).
- The remnant
The lame made a remnant, and the remnant like dew among the peoples (4:7, 5:7).
- The Fulfillment Formula
Matthew's quotations, the Bethlehem verse among them.
Where the New Testament uses these chapters (2)each marked as a quotation or an allusion, with the evidence
- Explicit quotationMicah 5:2 at Matthew 2:6. The chief priests and scribes give Herod the place where the Christ is to be born from the words of the prophet. Held by Matthew, who gives the words as written by the prophet. He reads by no means least where Micah reads small, and ends with a ruler who will shepherd Israel; the difference stands under Where do readers disagree.
- Probable allusionMicah 5:2 at John 7:42. Some in the Jerusalem crowd say the Scripture has the Christ come from David's line and from Bethlehem. Held by the crowd, as John records them. They name the Scripture and no prophet, and the store carries the link as a cross reference rather than a quotation.
Hear what the LORD says, Micah 6 to 7
What the text says in these 36 verses, and the pages they open on.
The third call opens a trial: the LORD tells his people to plead their case before the mountains, because he has a case against Israel (6:1 to 2). He asks what he has done to weary them, and answers with his own record: Egypt, the house of slavery, Moses, Aaron and Miriam, Balak and Balaam, the road from Shittim to Gilgal (6:3 to 5). The worshipper asks what to bring, and bids higher each time, from burnt offerings to thousands of rams, rivers of oil and a firstborn child (6:6 to 7). The answer is that the LORD has already shown what is good: to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God (6:8). The city's short measures and false weights are named, and the people who kept the statutes of Omri and the ways of Ahab will sow and not reap (6:9 to 16). Micah mourns a land where the godly have perished and a man's enemies are his own household (7:1 to 6), and says he will wait for the God of his salvation (7:7). The book ends in hope: the fallen one will rise, the walls will be rebuilt, the LORD will shepherd his flock, and no God is like him, who pardons iniquity and casts all sins into the depths of the sea (7:8 to 20).
He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
- Study
Micah 6the LORD's case; what the LORD requires; the city's false scalesShow the summary and 4 pagesShow summary, 4 pagesHide the summary
God takes his people to court before the mountains: 'My people, what have I done to you? Testify against Me how I have wearied you!' The evidence is all rescue: Egypt, Moses and Aaron and Miriam, Balak and Balaam, Shittim to Gilgal. The worshiper answers by bidding upward: burnt-offerings? thousands of rams? ten thousands of rivers of oil? my first-born for my transgression? And the reply is a summit of the Old Testament: 'what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?' (6:8). Then back to the shop floor: wicked balances, a bag of deceitful weights, the statutes of Omri kept instead.
On this chapter (4)
- Justice and righteousness
Mishpat and tsedaqah, the pair the prophets ask for.
- The covenant lawsuit
The LORD's case against his people.
- Is 6:8 the whole of religion, and does 6:6 to 8 reject sacrifice?
Answered under Where do readers disagree, lower on this page, with each reading and who holds it.
- Micah 6:8
The verse on its own page, with the commentators on it by era.
- Justice and righteousness
- Study
Micah 7no one upright left; I will wait; who is a God like YouShow the summary and 3 pagesShow summary, 3 pagesHide the summary
The prophet walks a stripped orchard looking for one cluster: 'The godly man has perished from the earth; there is no one upright among men.' Bribed judges, scheming princes, neighbors not to be trusted, and a household turned against itself: 'A man’s enemies are the members of his own household', words Jesus takes up in Matthew 10. Against that, faith: 'Though I have fallen, I will arise; though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light' (7:8). Walls are rebuilt, borders enlarged, nations shamed. And the book ends on the meaning of Micah's own name: 'Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity … You will cast out all our sins into the depths of the sea.'
On this chapter (3)
- Forgiveness
The God who pardons iniquity.
- Are the hope passages (2:12 to 13, 4 to 5, 7:8 to 20) Micah's own or later?
Answered under Where do readers disagree, lower on this page, with each reading and who holds it.
- Micah 7:18
The verse on its own page, with the commentators on it by era.
- Forgiveness
The LORD's case, in four steps
- 1The summons6:1 to 2
The mountains and the foundations of the earth are called to hear the LORD's case against his people.
“the LORD has a case against His people” (6:2)
- 2The LORD's deeds6:3 to 5
The LORD asks how he has wearied them and recites his record, from Egypt to Gilgal.
“My people, what have I done to you?” (6:3)
- 3The four offers6:6 to 7
The worshipper asks what to bring, and each offer is larger than the one before.
- 1“burnt offerings, with year-old calves” (6:6)
- 2“thousands of rams” (6:7)
- 3“ten thousand rivers of oil” (6:7)
- 4“my firstborn for my transgression” (6:7)
- 4The answer6:8
The LORD has already shown what is good, and it is three things.
“to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (6:8)
Who is a God like You, beside the name proclaimed at Sinai
Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion? He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast out all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will show faithfulness to Jacob and loving devotion to Abraham, as You swore to our fathers from the days of old.
Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out: “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness, maintaining loving devotion to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers on their children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”
Characters (5)
Who the text names. A name with a page carries its door.
- Moses, Aaron and Miriam
Sent before the people out of Egypt (6:4).
- Balak and Balaam
The king of Moab and the seer he hired, to be remembered (6:5).
- Omri
Whose statutes the city kept (6:16).
- Ahab
Whose house's practices the city followed (6:16).
Show the next 1
- Jacob and Abraham
To whom the LORD swore faithfulness and loving devotion (7:20).
Places (3)
Where the chapters stand.
- Egypt
The house of slavery the LORD brought them out of, and the wonders he will show again (6:4, 7:15).
- Gilgal
The end of the road from Shittim the people are told to remember (6:5).
- Bashan and Gilead
Where the flock will graze as in the days of old (7:14).
Themes (3)
What these chapters raise, each on its own page where one stands.
- Justice, mercy and humility
What the LORD requires (6:8).
- The covenant lawsuit
The LORD's case pleaded before the mountains (6:1 to 2).
- Forgiveness
The God who pardons iniquity and casts sins into the sea (7:18 to 19).
Where the New Testament uses these chapters (2)each marked as a quotation or an allusion, with the evidence
- Explicit quotationMicah 7:6 at Matthew 10:35 to 36. Jesus says he has come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother, and that a man's enemies will be his own household. Held by Jesus, as Matthew records him. The words follow Micah 7:6 closely with no formula of citation, and the store holds the row as a quotation.
- Probable allusionMicah 7:6 at Luke 12:53. Jesus says a household will be divided, father against son and mother against daughter. Held by Jesus, as Luke records him. The pairs are those of Micah 7:6 set both ways, and the store carries the link as a cross reference.
- Author
- Micah the Morasthite (1:1), from Moresheth-Gath in the Judean lowlands
- Date
- c. 740–700 BC, during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah
- Audience
- Samaria and Jerusalem, both capitals indicted
Where do readers disagree?
One list: the readings with their holders, and what the evidence does not settle.
Who was Micah of Moresheth, and why is he quoted by name in Jeremiah 26:18?
- A man of Moresheth, near Gath. Held by John Gill, on 1:1, who follows Jerome in placing Moresheth as a small village near Eleutheropolis.
- A man of Mareshah. Held by Rashi and David Kimchi in their Commentaries on the Prophets, with the Targum, as Gill reports them on 1:1.
- Quoted because the king heard him. Held by John Wesley, on 3:12, who says Hezekiah and his princes took the word well and repented, so it was not carried out in their days.
What the evidence does not settle: The book gives no father's name and no account of Micah's call, and the elders at Jeremiah's trial date only the sentence of 3:12, to Hezekiah, where 1:1 names three kings.
The argument in full
A man of Moresheth, near Gath. The book names Moresheth-gath among the lowland towns (1:14), and Micah is called the Moreshite at 1:1 and again at Jeremiah's trial.
A man of Mareshah. Mareshah stands in the same list of towns (1:15), and the two names are close in sound.
Quoted because the king heard him. The elders at Jeremiah's trial quote 3:12 and then ask whether Hezekiah put Micah to death, or feared the LORD so that the LORD relented (Jeremiah 26:19).
Are Micah 4:1 to 3 and Isaiah 2:2 to 4 one oracle, and whose is it?
- Micah took it from Isaiah. Held by Bishop Robert Lowth, as Clarke reports him on Micah 4:1.
- Given to both, or taken by both from one original. Held as possibilities by Adam Clarke, on 4:1, who names the Spirit inspiring both prophets with the one prediction, or both copying a common original.
- One prophecy, wider in Isaiah. Held by Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, on 4:1, who call the two almost identical and Isaiah's all nations the more universal form.
What the evidence does not settle: Which book the words stood in first, since neither names the other and both set the passage in the days of the same kings of Judah.
The argument in full
Micah took it from Isaiah. The passage stands in Isaiah's opening chapters and Isaiah began earlier, under Uzziah (Isaiah 1:1), where Micah's heading begins with Jotham (1:1).
Given to both, or taken by both from one original. The passage opens abruptly in both books, and both carry it nearly word for word.
One prophecy, wider in Isaiah. Micah sets the passage directly after Zion plowed like a field (3:12), so the mountain doomed in one verse is raised in the next.
Does 5:2 name a birthplace or a clan, and what does from ancient days say of the ruler?
The Deity of Christ→- A birthplace, and an existence from eternity. Held by Matthew Henry, on 5:2, who reads the goings forth as his existence from eternity as God, and the verse as the one the scribes gave Herod.
- Two goings forth, from Bethlehem and from everlasting. Held by Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, on 5:2.
- A town among the thousands of Judah. Held by Adam Clarke, on 5:2, who reads the thousands as the divisions of a tribe and Ephrathah as the name that marks this Bethlehem from the one in Zebulun.
What the evidence does not settle: The two words behind of old and the days of eternity at 5:2 stand again at 7:14 and 7:20, where the Berean text reads the days of old; the words allow a long antiquity or an eternity, and the verse does not say which.
The argument in full
A birthplace, and an existence from eternity. The verse sets a small town against origins from the days of eternity, and the scribes read it as the place of birth (Matthew 2:5 to 6).
Two goings forth, from Bethlehem and from everlasting. The ruler comes forth from Bethlehem as a man, and his goings forth as Son of God are from everlasting, so the verse holds both.
A town among the thousands of Judah. The Hebrew word the Berean text renders clans is the word for thousands, the units a tribe was counted in, and Joshua 19:15 names a second Bethlehem.
Is 6:8 the whole of religion, and does 6:6 to 8 reject sacrifice?
Justice and Righteousness→- Sacrifice set aside for what Moses first commanded. Held by Theodore of Mopsuestia in his Commentary on Micah, on 6:6 to 8, who has the prophet say to forget burnt offerings and practise what God ordered through Moses from the beginning.
- What the law already required. Held by Albert Barnes, on 6:8, who reads He has shown you as pointing back to the law, where the LORD asked Israel to fear him and walk in all his ways.
- The good shown is the sacrifice to come. Held by Matthew Henry, on 6:6, and by Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, on 6:8.
What the evidence does not settle: Who speaks in 6:6 to 7, since the text names no speaker, and whether the answer sets the offerings aside or puts them in their place.
The argument in full
Sacrifice set aside for what Moses first commanded. The four offers grow from calves to a firstborn child (6:6 to 7), and the answer names none of them (6:8).
What the law already required. Micah says the LORD has shown it, in the past tense, and Deuteronomy 10:12 asks the same question of Israel.
The good shown is the sacrifice to come. The offers of 6:6 to 7 cannot pay for sin, and the sacrifices of the law were shadows of a better one, so the three demands rest on a good God has first revealed.
Are the hope passages (2:12 to 13, 4 to 5, 7:8 to 20) Micah's own or later?
- Added after Micah. Held by Bernhard Stade, on chapters 4 to 7.
- Micah's own, and meant to break in. Held by Albert Barnes, on 2:12, who says the mention of mercy often bursts in abruptly because it is the end of all God's threatenings.
- Promises given ahead of their fulfilment. Held by John Wesley, on 2:12, who reads the gathering as fulfilled in part at the return from Babylon and more fully in Christ.
What the evidence does not settle: The elders at Jeremiah's trial quote only a judgment, 3:12, so the Old Testament's own witness does not reach the promises, and the mention of Babylon is read both ways.
The argument in full
Added after Micah. The book turns from judgment to promise without warning, and Babylon is named at 4:10 as the place of exile.
Micah's own, and meant to break in. Each of the three calls to hear moves from the charge to the promise, so the pattern is the book's own and not a seam.
Promises given ahead of their fulfilment. The return from Babylon at 4:10 is promised with the rescue in the same verse, and Isaiah names Babylon to Hezekiah in the same generation (Isaiah 39:6).
What does each town's name say in the lament of 1:10 to 16?
- A play on words in every line. Held by Adam Clarke, on 1:10 and 1:14, who finds several instances of paronomasia, dust in the house of dust among them.
- An allusion to the name, where the line turns on it. Held by Matthew Henry, on 1:14, who hears an allusion to the name of Achzib.
- Moresheth read as an inheritance given away. Held by Albert Barnes, on 1:14, who reads the name as inheritance and the farewell gifts as a dowry.
What the evidence does not settle: For five of the eleven towns, Shaphir, Beth-ezel, Maroth, Moresheth-gath and Adullam, the store's word data shows no word beside the name in one sound, and ten of the eleven sites are not located in the site's gazetteer.
The argument in full
A play on words in every line. Beth-leaphrah is told to roll in the dust, and the name and the word share their sound in Hebrew (1:10).
An allusion to the name, where the line turns on it. The houses of Achzib will be a deceitful thing, akhzav, to the kings of Israel (1:14).
Moresheth read as an inheritance given away. The word for farewell gifts is the word for sending a daughter away, and Judah is to part with the land God gave her.
The Text and the Spade
- Lachish, level III, and the Assyrian siege reliefsdestruction of 701 BC; the reliefs carved for Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh
Micah 1:13 addresses Lachish by name in his march of lament through the Shephelah. The city's level III destruction is one of the most thoroughly excavated in the country, complete with the Assyrian siege ramp, arrowheads, sling stones, and a mass burial. Sennacherib had the assault carved in relief across a room of his palace, and the panels are now in the British Museum. Micah named these towns before the campaign; the reliefs and the ash layer are what happened to them.
- The Broad Wall in Jerusalemlate 8th century BC, excavated by Nahman Avigad in the Jewish Quarter from 1970
A defensive wall about seven meters thick, built in haste across the western hill and straight through houses that had to be demolished for it. It documents Jerusalem expanding fast, most likely with refugees from the fallen northern kingdom, and preparing for Sennacherib. It stands in the same decades as Micah 3:10, 'who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with iniquity', which is a charge about how building projects and land were being paid for.
- The LMLK storage jar handlesHezekiah's reign, late 8th century BC
Hundreds of jar handles stamped with a royal seal reading 'belonging to the king' and one of four place names, concentrated at Lachish and other Judean sites in the destruction levels of 701 BC. They document a centrally organized provisioning system running out of Jerusalem in exactly Micah's period, the machinery of the state he indicts. A clay bulla naming Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah, published by Eilat Mazar from the Ophel excavations in 2015, puts the king of the superscription in the ground of his own capital.
- Moresheth-gath, the prophet's hometownIron Age settlement, commonly identified with Tell ej-Judeideh in the Shephelah
Micah is called the Morashtite, and 1:14 names Moresheth-gath in the lament. The site sits in the low hills about twenty miles southwest of Jerusalem, near the Philistine border and directly in the path of any army coming up from the coast. It is farming country, which is the world the book's charges come from: fields, houses, and a heritage that can be taken.
The pages Micah opens on
Studies41
- Justice and Righteousness
- The Remnant
- The Covenant Lawsuit
- The Fulfillment Formula
- The Deity of Christ
- Zion and Jerusalem
Show the next 6 titles
- The Shepherd
- Forgiveness
- Chesed, the Loyalty No Law Compels
- Justice
- To Act Justly, to Love Mercy, and to Walk Humbly
- Nimrod and the First Kingdoms
Show the next 6 titles
- The Ruler from Bethlehem
- The First People Told: The Shepherds of Bethlehem, Luke 2
- Men Who Read the Sky: The Wise Men and the Star, Matthew 2
- Wordplay: the Puns of the Prophets
- Messianic Psalms
- The Seed Promise
Show the next 6 titles
Words7
Sources for this page
The movements, the chapter entries, the figures and the Context are read off the text of Micah. The sound play in the towns of the lament is read from the store's word data for Micah 1:10 to 15, and each town's certainty from the site's gazetteer. The New Testament uses are marked as the store's quotation and cross reference tables hold them. The works behind the readings under Where do readers disagree, by the name each reading gives: Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on Micah; Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710); Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament, 1748 to 1763, with Rashi, David Kimchi and the Targum as he reports them; Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765); Lowth, Isaiah: A New Translation (1778), as Clarke reports him; Clarke, Commentary on the Bible (1832); Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament, 1832 to 1869; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871); Stade, Bemerkungen über das Buch Micha, Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 1 (1881). Every verse quoted on this page is the Berean Standard Bible, read from the store.