ris3n's Apologetics Codex
Micah 6.5
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Passage

Micah 6.5

Book: Micah · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

3. O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. 4. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

5. O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him; remember from Shittim unto Gilgal, that ye may know the righteous acts of Jehovah.

  1. Wherewith shall I come before Jehovah, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves a year old? 7. will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? (Micah 6:3-7, ASV)
WEB

3. My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me! 4. For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage. I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

5. My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of Yahweh.”

  1. How shall I come before Yahweh, and bow myself before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7. Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams? With tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my disobedience? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? (Micah 6:3-7, WEB)
KJV

3. O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. 4. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

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.

  1. Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? of a: Heb. sons of a year? 7. Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? body: Heb. belly (Micah 6:3-7, KJV)
YLT

3. O My people, what have I done to thee? And what, have I wearied thee? Testify against Me. 4. For I brought thee up from the land of Egypt, And from the house of servants I have ransomed thee, And I send before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

5. O My people, remember, I pray you, What counsel did Balak king of Moab, What answer him did Balaam son of Beor, (From Shittim unto Gilgal,) In order to know the righteous acts of Jehovah.'

  1. With what do I come before Jehovah? Do I bow to God Most High? Do I come before Him with burnt-offerings? With calves, sons of a year? 7. Is Jehovah pleased with thousands of rams? With myriads of streams of oil? Do I give my first-born [for] my transgression? The fruit of my body [for] the sin of my soul? (Micah 6:3-7, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Jehovah, continuing his case against his people.
  • Audience: "O my people," Israel, called to remember.
  • Location: Judah, recalling the plains of Moab and the crossing of the Jordan.
  • Time period: Late eighth century BC, in the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah of Judah (Micah 1:1), the same years as Isaiah; Jeremiah 26:18 remembers Micah prophesying "in the days of Hezekiah".

Theological reading

Balak and Balaam. "Remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him." Balak hired Balaam to curse Israel, and Balaam could only bless (Numbers 22-24). Deuteronomy draws the lesson: "Jehovah thy God would not hearken unto Balaam; but Jehovah thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because Jehovah thy God loved thee" (Deuteronomy 23:5). Israel's enemies plotted, and God protected them without their asking.

From Shittim unto Gilgal. Shittim was Israel's last camp east of the Jordan (Joshua 3:1), and Gilgal its first camp in the land (Joshua 4:19). Between them lay the crossing of the Jordan. Shittim was also where "the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab" (Numbers 25:1). God brought them from the place of their sin into the land of promise anyway.

"The righteous acts of Jehovah." The purpose of remembering is "that ye may know the righteous acts of Jehovah." His righteousness here is his faithful, saving action on Israel's behalf, the same phrase used in the Song of Deborah: "There shall they rehearse the righteous acts of Jehovah" (Judges 5:11). This is the ground on which 6:8 stands: the people asked to do justly are asked to answer a God whose own acts toward them were righteous. See Micah 6:1-8.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

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Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.