Micah 6:16

Translations

Modern

You 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.”

Traditional

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.

Literal

And the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and you walk by their counsels. Therefore I will give you to desolation, and your dwellers to hissing, and you will bear the scorn of the nations.”

Latin

Et custodisti præcepta Amri, et omne opus domus Achab, et ambulasti in voluntatibus eorum: ut darem te in perditionem, et habitantes in ea in sibilum, et opprobrium populi mei portabitis.

Original

Hebrew

English

You 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.”

Notes

Micah 6:16

These kings started perhaps the most rebellious dynasty in northern Israel that lasted from 885 to 841 BC (1 Kings 16:23—2 Kings 10:17). Elijah predicted their destruction (2 Kings 10:17). No northern kings of Israel followed the laws of Moses (see Micah 1:5–6).

Omri and his son Ahab were the worst of the evil kings (for example, 1 Kings 18:4; 21:1–26). Omri’s family line of kings was destroyed by Jehu, whom the Lord appointed to judge the royal house of Israel, in 841 BC (2 Kings 9:14–10:17). In the same way, the people of Israel who followed this evil example would also be destroyed by the Lord.

Micah 6:13–16

I am striking you severely: This phrase introduces the curses God promised to bring upon the disobedient and rebellious people of Israel (see Deuteronomy 28:15–68).

Micah 6:9–16

People in Jerusalem were invited to learn from Samaria: If you oppress others to gain wealth (Micah 6:10–12), you will never have enough, no matter how much you acquire (6:13–15). Eventually, you will lose even that (Micah 6:16). Such people deserve scorn, not honor and praise (Micah 6:16).

Micah 6:1–16

The Lord presented, argued, and decided a case against his rebellious people, Israel. This section is written as a formal legal court case. Other prophets use the same pattern (compare Isaiah 1:2–4; Jeremiah 2:4–9; Hosea 4).

Using the image of a courtroom, the Lord challenged his people to state their case against him. At the same time, he stated his case against them (Micah 6:1–5). The people had not obeyed what the Lord required of them (Micah 6:6–8), so they were found guilty (6:9–12).

After the guilty verdict, the passage describes Israel’s punishment. This final section announces the sentence that follows the judgment (Micah 6:13–16).

Theme notes and profiles

Ahab

Events

Prophecies of Micah

Related verses

Jeremiah 51:51
“We are ashamed because we have heard reproach; disgrace has covered our faces, because foreigners have entered the holy places of the LORD’s house.”
Psalm 44:13
You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us.
Isaiah 25:8
He 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.
Jeremiah 7:24
Yet 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.
1 Kings 16:25–33
But Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD and acted more wickedly than all who were before him.
1 Kings 21:25–26
(Surely there was never one like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the LORD, incited by his wife Jezebel.
Jeremiah 19:8
I will make this city a desolation and an object of scorn. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff at all her wounds.
Jeremiah 21:8–9
Furthermore, you are to tell this people that this is what the LORD says: ‘Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.
1 Kings 18:4
…for when Jezebel had slaughtered the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty men per cave, providing them with food and water.)
1 Kings 9:8
And when this temple has become a heap of rubble, all who pass by it will be appalled and will hiss and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’
2 Chronicles 34:25
…because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands. My wrath will be poured out upon this place and will not be quenched.’
Ezekiel 8:17–18
“Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see this? Is it not enough for the house of Judah to commit the abominations they are practicing here, that they must also fill the land with violence and continually provoke Me to anger? Look, they are even putting the branch to their nose!

People

Ahab: Wicked king of Israel; husband of Jezebel Omri: King of Israel; father of Ahab

Glossary

Book of Micah Courts and Trials

Topics

Ahab: King of Israel: Other Wickedness of Company: Evil Idolatry: Warnings Against, and Punishments of Omri: King of Israel: Denounced by Micah

Micah 6:16

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