Micheas, 6
God expostulates with the Jews for their ingratitude and sins: for which they shall be punished.
[1] Hear ye what the Lord saith: Arise, contend thou in judgment against the mountains 1, and let the hills hear thy voice. •
The mountains: That is, the great ones, the princes of the people.
[2] Let the mountains hear the judgment of the Lord, and the strong foundations of the earth: for the Lord will enter into judgment with his people, and he will plead against Israel.
[3] O my people, what have I done to thee, or in what have I molested thee? answer thou me. •
[4] For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and delivered thee out of the house of slaves: and I sent before thy face Moses, and Aaron, and Mary. •
[5] O my people, remember, I pray thee, what Balach, the king of Moab, purposed: and what Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him, from Setim to Galgal 1, that thou mightest know the justice of the Lord. •
From Setim to Galgal: He puts them in mind of the favour he did them, in not suffering them to be quite destroyed by the evil purpose of Balach, and the wicked counsel of Balaam: and then gives them a hint of the wonders he wrought, in order to bring them into the land of Promise, by stopping the course of the Jordan, in their march from Setim to Galgal.
[6] What shall I offer 1 to the Lord that is worthy? wherewith shall I kneel before the high God? shall I offer holocausts unto him, and calves of a year old? •
What shall I offer: This is spoken in the person of the people, desiring to be informed what they are to do to please God.
[7] May the Lord be appeased with thousands of rams, or with many thousands of fat he goats? shall I give my firstborn for my wickedness, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? •
[8] I will shew thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requireth of thee: Verily to do judgment, and to love mercy, and to walk solicitous with thy God. •
[9] The voice of the Lord crieth to the city, and salvation shall be to them that fear thy name: hear O ye tribes, and who shall approve it? •
[10] As yet there is a fire in the house of the wicked, the treasures of iniquity, and a scant measure full of wrath 1. •
Full of wrath: That is, highly provoking in the sight of God.
[11] Shall I justify wicked balances, and the deceitful weights of the bag? •
[12] By which her rich men were filled with iniquity, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue was deceitful in their mouth. •
[13] And I therefore began to strike thee with desolation for thy sins. •
[14] Thou shalt eat, but shalt not be filled: and thy humiliation shall be in the midst of thee: and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not save: and those whom thou shalt save, I will give up to the sword. •
[15] Thou shalt sow, but shalt not reap: thou shalt tread the olives, but shalt not be anointed with oil: and the new wine, but shalt not drink the wine. •
[16] For thou hast kept the statutes of Amri 1, and all the works of the house of Achab: and thou hast walked according their wills, that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing, and you shall bear the reproach of my people. •
The statutes of Amri: The wicked ways of Amri and Achab, idolatrous kings.