Micah 6:16
in Micah 6You have kept the statutes of Omri and all the practices of Ahab’s house; you have followed their counsel. Therefore I will make you a desolation, and your inhabitants an object of contempt; you will bear the scorn of the nations.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I may make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing: and ye shall bear the reproach of my people.
KJV
For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.
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This verse in Micah 6
Commentary
10 notes on this verse(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.
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.
This site's exposition
the statutes of Omri
Omri built Samaria, and Ahab his son set up the worship of Baal there, as 1 Kings 16 records. The city had kept their practices as though they were law. Its end will be the same desolation and scorn.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
, a desolation and a hissing. Sin makes a nation desolate; and when a people that have been famous and flourishing are made desolate it is the astonishment of some and the triumph of others; some lament it, and others hiss at it.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
The statutes - The idolatrous worship was set up by Omri in the royal city. That I should make thee - This will be the event. The reproach - The reproach threatened in the law, if my people forsake me.
For the statutes of Omri are kept,....
If Israel, God's own professing people, provoke him by sin, he will let them know that he has a controversy with them; he sees sin in them, and is displeased with it, nay, their sins are more displeasing to him than the sins of others, as they are a greater grief to his Spirit and dishonour to his name.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
The statutes of Omri are kept - Omri, king of Israel, the father of Ahab, was one of the worst kings the Israelites ever had; and Ahab followed in his wicked father’s steps. The statutes of those kings were the very grossest idolatry. Jezebel, wife of the latter, and daughter of Ithobaal, king of Tyre, had no fellow on earth. From her Shakespeare seems to have drawn the character of Lady Macbeth; a woman, like her prototype, mixed up of tigress and fiend, without addition.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The greater My grace to you, the greater shall be your punishment for having despised it, Your being God's people in name, while walking in His love, was an honor; but now the name, without the reality, is only a "reproach" to you.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
For the statutes of Omri are kept - Rather, (like the English margin he doth much keep,) And he doth keep diligently for himself. Both ways express much diligence in evil . To “keep God’s commandments” was the familiar phrase, in which Israel was exhorted, by every motive of hope and fear, to obedience to God. “I know him,” God says of Abraham, “that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do judgment and justice” Gen 18:19. This was the fundamental commandment immediately after the deliverance from Eyypt upon their first murmuring. “The Lord made there” (at Marah) “for them a statute and ordinance, and said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee which I have brought upon the Egyptians” Exo 15:25-26. In this character Ha revealed Himself on Mount Sinai, as “shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments” Exo 20:6. This was their covenant, “Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God and to walk in His ways, and to keep His statutes and His commandments and His judgments and to hearken unto His voice” Deu 26:17. […]
The words behind it
18 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְיִשְׁתַּמֵּ֞ר | veyishtamer | so <it> may be kept | H8104 → | |
| חֻקּ֣וֹת | chukot | [the] statutes of | H2708 → | |
| עָמְרִ֗י | ʾameri | Omri | H6018 → | |
| וְכֹל֙ | vekhol | and every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| מַעֲשֵׂ֣ה | maaseh | <the> deed of | H4639 → | |
| בֵית־ | veit- | [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| אַחְאָ֔ב | ʾachav | Ahab | H256 → | |
| וַתֵּלְכ֖וּ | vatelekhu | and you have walked | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| בְּמֹֽעֲצוֹתָ֑ם | bemoatzotam | in schemes their | H4156 → | |
| לְמַעַן֩ | lemaan | so as | H4616 → | |
| תִּתִּ֨י | titi | to make I | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| אֹתְךָ֜ | ʾotekha | <obj.> you | H853 → | 10935 times |
| לְשַׁמָּ֗ה | leshamah | into a horror | H8047 → | |
| וְיֹשְׁבֶ֙יהָ֙ | veyosheveiha | and inhabitants its | H3427 → | 1079 times |
| לִשְׁרֵקָ֔ה | lishrekah | into hissing | H8322 → | |
| וְחֶרְפַּ֥ת | vecherpat | and [the] reproach of | H2781 → | |
| עַמִּ֖י | ʾami | people my | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| תִּשָּֽׂאוּ׃ פ | tisau | you will bear | H5375 → | 656 times |
וְיִשְׁתַּמֵּ֞רso <it> may be kept
veyishtamerH8104 →
חֻקּ֣וֹת[the] statutes of
chukotH2708 →
עָמְרִ֗יOmri
ʾameriH6018 →
וְכֹל֙and every
vekholH3605 →5413 times
מַעֲשֵׂ֣ה<the> deed of
maasehH4639 →
בֵית־[the] house of
veit-H1004 →2046 times
אַחְאָ֔בAhab
ʾachavH256 →
וַתֵּלְכ֖וּand you have walked
vatelekhuH1980 →1546 times
בְּמֹֽעֲצוֹתָ֑םin schemes their
bemoatzotamH4156 →
לְמַעַן֩so as
lemaanH4616 →
תִּתִּ֨יto make I
titiH5414 →2011 times
אֹתְךָ֜<obj.> you
ʾotekhaH853 →10935 times
לְשַׁמָּ֗הinto a horror
leshamahH8047 →
וְיֹשְׁבֶ֙יהָ֙and inhabitants its
veyosheveihaH3427 →1079 times
לִשְׁרֵקָ֔הinto hissing
lishrekahH8322 →
וְחֶרְפַּ֥תand [the] reproach of
vecherpatH2781 →
עַמִּ֖יpeople my
ʾamiH5971 →1873 times
תִּשָּֽׂאוּ׃ פyou will bear
tisauH5375 →656 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
Isaiah 25:8He will swallow up death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face and remove the disgrace of His people from the whole earth. For the LORD has spoken.
it leads to
- Revelation 21:4
‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,’ and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things have passed away.”
- Revelation 7:17
For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd. ‘He will lead them to springs of living water,’ and ‘God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”
- 1 Corinthians 15:54
When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come to pass: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
- Hosea 13:14
I will ransom them from the power of Sheol; I will redeem them from Death. Where, O Death, are your plagues? Where, O Sheol, is your sting? Compassion is hidden from My eyes.
- 1 Corinthians 15:26
The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
- Revelation 21:4
Through
Psalms 44:13You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us.
it leads to
- Psalms 79:4
We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those around us.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 79:4
Through
Jeremiah 7:24Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but they followed the stubborn inclinations of their own evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.
it leads to
- Psalms 81:11–12
But My people would not listen to Me, and Israel would not obey Me.
- Jeremiah 8:5
Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return.
- Psalms 81:11–12
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies12
About Micah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
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; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Micah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.