Micah 6
← chapter 5 chapter 7 →
An illustration of Micah 6:15: " Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap." (www.ordination.org).
Book	Book of Micah
Category	Nevi'im
Christian Bible part	Old Testament
Order in the Christian part	33

Micah 6 is the sixth chapter of the Book of Micah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.^[1][2] This book contains the prophecies spoken by the prophet Micah, and is a part of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets.^[3][4]

Text

The original text was written in Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 16 verses.

Textual versions

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets (916), Aleppo Codex (10th century), Codex Leningradensis (1008).^[5]

Some fragments containing parts of this chapter were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls (2nd century BC or later),^[6][7] including the fragments from Wadi Murabba'at (MurXII): extant: verses 1–7, 11–16.^[6]

There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BC. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G))}$^B; 4th century), Codex Alexandrinus (A; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G))}$^A; 5th century) and Codex Marchalianus (Q; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G))}$^Q; 6th century).^[8][a]

Verse 5

O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted,

and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him

from Shittim unto Gilgal;

that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord.^[10]

• The Lord reminds the people of another great benefit subsequent to the Exodus, viz. the defeat of the designs of Balak, and the sorceries of Balaam.^[11]
• "Balaam the son of Beor": God did not only raise up Moses, Aaron, Miriam, out of their brethren, but He turned the curse of the alien Balaam into a blessing; and that, not for their righteousness, (for even then they were rebellious,) but against their deserts, out of His own truth and righteousness. Not that the curse of Balaam could in itself have hurt them; but, in proportion to his reputation, it would have infused great energy into their enemies: and its reversal must have struck a great panic into them and into others. Human might having failed in Sihon and Og, Balak sought superhuman. God showed them by their own diviner, that it was against them. Even after they had seduced Israel, through Balaam's devilish counsel, Midian seems to have been stricken by God with panic, and not to have struck a blow Numbers 31:49.^[12]
• "Answered him": There ought to be a stop here. The answer of Balaam was the blessing which he was constrained to give, instead of the curse which he was hired to pronounce (compare Joshua 24:10).^[11] Grotius explains it, "how Balaam answered, that the only way to injure thee was by tempting thee to idolatry and whoredom" (Numbers 31:16).^[13]
• "From Shittim unto Gilgal": The words are separated by the Hebrew accent from what went before.^[12] This is a fresh consideration, referring to mercies under Joshua, and may be made plainer by inserting "remember" (which has, perhaps, dropped out of the text), as in the Revised Version. Shittim was the Israelites' last station before crossing the Jordan, and Gilgal the first in the land of Canaan; and so God bids them remember all that happened to them between those places - their sin in Shittim ("Baal-peor") and the mercy then shown them (Numbers 25), the miraculous passage of the Jordan, the renewal of the covenant at Gilgal (Joshua 5:9). Shittim; the acacia meadow (Abel-Shittim), hod. Ghor-es-Seisaban, was at the southeastern corner of the Ciccar, or Plain of Jordan, some seven miles from the Dead Sea. Gilgal (see note on Amos 4:4).^[11]
• "That ye may know the righteousness (righteous acts) of the Lord": All these instances of God's interposition prove how faithful he is to his promises, how he cares for his elect, what are his gracious counsels towards them (see the same expression, Judges 5:11; 1 Samuel 12:7).^[11]

Verse 8

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good;

and what doth the Lord require of thee,

but to do justly,

and to love mercy,

and to walk humbly with thy God?^[14]

• "He hath showed thee"; literally, "one has told thee", or, "it has been told thee", i.e. by Moses and in the Law (Deuteronomy 10:12, etc.). Septuagint, Αἰ ἀνηγγέλη σοι,"Hath it not been told thee?" What doth the Lord require of thee? The prophets often enforce the truth that the principles of righteous conduct are required from men, and not mere formal worship. This might well be a comfort to the Israelites when they heard that they were doomed to be cast out of their country, and that the temple was to be destroyed, and that the ritual on which they laid such stress would for a time become impracticable. So the inculcation of moral virtues is often connected with the prediction of woe or captivity. (For the prophetic view of the paramount importance of righteousness, see 1 Samuel 15:22; Psalm 40:6, etc., Isaiah 1:11–17; Jeremiah 6:20; Hosea 6:6, etc.; see on Zechariah 7:7.)^[11]
• "to do justly": or "judgment";^[15] to exercise public judgment and justice, as a king, among his subjects; to do private and personal justice between man and man; to hurt no man's person, property, and character; to give to everyone their due, and do as he would desire to be done by; which as it is agreeable to the law of God, so to the light of nature, and what is shown, required, and taught by it:^[16]
• "to love mercy": "being merciful, out of love", "not of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver" 2 Corinthians 9:7. These acts together contain the whole duty to man, corresponding with and formed upon the mercy and justice of God Psalm 101:1; Psalm 61:7. All which is due, anyhow or in any way, is of judgment; all which is free toward man, although not free toward God, is of mercy.^[12]
• "to walk humbly with thy God": passive and active obedience towards God. The three moral duties here are summed up by our Lord (Matthew 23:23), "judgment, mercy, and faith" (in Luke 11:42, "the love of God"). Compare James 1:27. To walk with God implies constant prayer and watchfulness, familiar yet "humble" converse with God (Genesis 5:24; 17:1).^[13]