Micah 6:13
in Micah 6Therefore I am striking you severely, to ruin you because of your sins.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Therefore I also have smitten thee with a grievous wound; I have made thee desolate because of thy sins.
KJV
Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins.
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This verse in Micah 6
Commentary
6 notes on this verseTherefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee,.... With the rod to be heard, Mic 6:9; by sending among them some of his sore judgments, as famine, pestilence, the sword of the enemy, internal wars, and the like; which should cause their kingdom, and state, and families, to decline and waste away, as a sickly and diseased body.
This site's exposition
Therefore I am striking you severely
on Micah 6:13-16
The sentence follows the futility curses of Deuteronomy 28:38-40: "You will eat but not be satisfied", "You will sow but not reap". The source is named: "You have kept the statutes of Omri and all the practices of Ahab’s house", the northern dynasty of 1 Kings 16:25-33.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 10 and following). Listen, you who are wise, and who will approve of it? The fire is still burning in the house of the wicked, the treasure of impiety, and the measure of anger is not yet full. Shall I justify the wicked scales and the deceitful weights of the bag? In them, her rich ones are filled with iniquity, and those who dwell in her speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. And so I have begun to strike you with destruction because of your sins.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Note, What we hold closest we commonly lose soonest, and that proves least safe which is most dear. (4.) What they save for a time shall be reserved for a future and sorer stroke: That which thou deliverest out of the hand of one enemy will I give up to the sword of another enemy; for God has many arrows in his quiver; if one miss the sinner, the next shall not.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Therefore also will I - (Literally, And I too,) that is, this dost thou, and thus will I too do. Pococke: “As thou madest sick the heart of the poor oppressed, so will I, by My grievous and severe punishments, make thee sick,” or make thy wound incurable, as in Nahum, “thy wound is grievous,” (Nah 3:19 literally, made sick. In making thee desolate because of thy sins. The heaping up riches shall itself be the cause of thy being waste, deserted, desolate.
Will I make thee sick in smiting thee - Perhaps better, “I also am weary with smiting thee, in making thee desolate for thy sins.” They were corrected, but to no purpose; they had stroke upon stroke, but were not amended.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
I will smite you with sore wounds —I have made your wounds sore - strong and ill and incurable.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 7 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְגַם־ | vegam- | and also | H1571 → | |
| אֲנִ֖י | ʾani | I | H589 → | |
| הֶחֱלֵ֣יתִי | hecheleiti | I will make sick | H2470 → | |
| הַכּוֹתֶ֑ךָ | hakotekha | [by] striking you | H5221 → | |
| הַשְׁמֵ֖ם | hashmem | I will make desolate [you] | H8074 → | |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| חַטֹּאתֶֽךָ׃ | chatotekha | sins your | H2403 → | 295 times |
וְגַם־and also
vegam-H1571 →
אֲנִ֖יI
ʾaniH589 →
הֶחֱלֵ֣יתִיI will make sick
hecheleitiH2470 →
הַכּוֹתֶ֑ךָ[by] striking you
hakotekhaH5221 →
הַשְׁמֵ֖םI will make desolate [you]
hashmemH8074 →
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
חַטֹּאתֶֽךָ׃sins your
chatotekhaH2403 →295 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Acts 12:23Immediately, because Herod did not give glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.
it leads to
- Psalms 115:1
Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your name be the glory, because of Your loving devotion, because of Your faithfulness.
- Acts 10:25–26
As Peter was about to enter, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet to worship him.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:4
He will oppose and exalt himself above every so-called god or object of worship. So he will seat himself in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
- Acts 14:14–15
But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul found out about this, they tore their clothes and rushed into the crowd, shouting,
- Psalms 115:1
Through
Leviticus 26:16then this is what I will do to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting disease, and fever that will destroy your sight and drain your life. You will sow your seed…
it leads to
- Job 31:8
then may another eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted.
- Jeremiah 5:17
They will devour your harvest and food; they will consume your sons and daughters; they will eat up your flocks and herds; they will feed on your vines and fig trees. With the sword…
- Job 31:8
Through
Hosea 13:16Samaria will bear her guilt because she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 15:16
At that time Menahem, starting from Tirzah, attacked Tiphsah and everyone in its vicinity, because they would not open their gates. So he attacked Tiphsah and ripped open all the pregnant women.
- 2 Kings 8:12
“Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. “Because I know the evil you will do to the Israelites,” Elisha replied. “You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword,…
- 2 Kings 15:16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies12
On this verse
On this chapter
About Micah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jerome, Commentary on Micah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.