Micah 6:11

Easy-to-Read Version

Some people carry special weights that they use to cheat people when they weigh their goods. Should I pardon them?

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Can I excuse wicked scalesor bags of deceptive weights?

Hebrew Names Version
Shall I be pure with dishonest scales, And with a bag of deceitful weights?

King James Version (1611)
Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitfull weights?

King James Version
Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?

English Standard Version
Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights?

New American Standard Bible
"Can I justify dishonest balances, And a bag of fraudulent weights?

New Century Version
Can I forgive people who cheat others with wrong weights and scales?

Amplified Bible
"Can I [be guiltless and] justify deceptive scales And a bag of dishonest weights?

Geneva Bible (1587)
Shall I iustifie the wicked balances, and the bag of deceitfull weightes?

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Can I justify wicked scales And a bag of deceptive weights?

Legacy Standard Bible
Can I purify wicked scalesAnd a bag of deceptive weights?

Berean Standard Bible
Can I excuse dishonest scales or bags of false weights?

Contemporary English Version
But I, the Lord , will punish you for cheating with weights and with measures.

Complete Jewish Bible
Should I declare innocent wicked scales and a bag of fraudulent weights?

Darby Translation
Shall I be pure with the unjust balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?

George Lamsa Translation
How can they justify themselves with the wicked scales and with the bag of deceitful weights?

Good News Translation
How can I forgive those who use false scales and weights?

Lexham English Bible
Shall I regard as pure the one with scales of wickedness, and with a bag of deceitful weights?

Literal Translation
Shall I declare wicked balances to be pure, or a bag of stones of fraud?

American Standard Version
Shall I be pure with wicked balances, and with a bag of deceitful weights?

Bible in Basic English
Is it possible for me to let wrong scales and the bag of false weights go without punishment?

JPS Old Testament (1917)
'Shall I be pure with wicked balances, and with a bag of deceitful weights?'

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Should I iustifie the false balaunces, and the bagge of deceitfull weightes?

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Shall the wicked be justified by the balanced, or deceitful weights in the bag,

English Revised Version
Shall I be pure with wicked balances, and with a bag of deceitful weights?

World English Bible
Shall I be pure with dishonest scales, And with a bag of deceitful weights?

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whether Y schal iustifie the wickid balaunce, and the gileful weiytis of litil sak,

Update Bible Version
Shall I be pure with wicked balances, and with a bag of deceitful weights?

Webster's Bible Translation
Shall I count [them] pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?

New English Translation
I do not condone the use of rigged scales, or a bag of deceptive weights.

New King James Version
Shall I count pure those with the wicked scales, And with the bag of deceitful weights?

New Living Translation
How can I tolerate your merchants who use dishonest scales and weights?

New Life Bible
Can I make a man not guilty who lies and has false weights in his bag?

New Revised Standard
Can I tolerate wicked scales and a bag of dishonest weights?

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Shall I be pure with lawless balances? or with bag of deceitful weights?

Douay-Rheims Bible
Shall I justify wicked balances, and the deceitful weights of the bag?

Revised Standard Version
Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights?

Young's Literal Translation
Do I reckon [it] pure with balances of wickedness? And with a bag of deceitful stones?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Or shulde I iustfie the false balaunces and the bagge of disceatfull weightes,

Contextual Overview

⁹ The Lord shouts to the city: "A wise person respects the Lord's name. So pay attention to the punishing rod and to the one who uses it! ¹⁰ Do the wicked still hide treasures that they have stolen? Do they still cheat people with baskets that are too small? Yes, all of this is still happening! ¹¹ Some people carry special weights that they use to cheat people when they weigh their goods. Should I pardon them? ¹² The rich in that city are still cruel. The people there still tell lies. Yes, they tell their lies. ¹³ So I have begun to punish you. I will destroy you because of your sins. ¹⁴ You will eat, but you will not become full. You will still be hungry and empty. You will try to bring people to safety, but people with swords will kill the people you rescued. ¹⁵ You will plant your seeds, but you will not gather food. You will try to squeeze oil from your olives, but you will not get any oil. You will crush your grapes, but you will not get enough juice to have wine to drink. ¹⁶ This is because you obey the laws of Omri. You do all the evil things that Ahab's family does. You follow their teachings, so I will let you be destroyed. People will whistle in amazement when they see your destroyed city. Then you will bear the shame that the other nations bring to you."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

count them pure: or, be pure

the wicked: Hosea 12:7

the bag: Proverbs 16:11

Reciprocal: Exodus 20:15 - General Exodus 34:7 - that will by no means clear the guilty Deuteronomy 25:13 - in thy bag Job 31:6 - Let me be weighed in an even balance Proverbs 11:1 - A false balance is Proverbs 20:10 - both Jeremiah 5:27 - so are Ezekiel 22:13 - thy dishonest Ezekiel 45:10 - General Amos 8:5 - making James 2:6 - Do

Cross-References

Genesis 6:1
The number of people on earth continued to increase. When these people had daughters, the sons of God saw how beautiful they were. So they chose the women they wanted. They married them, and the women had their children. Then the Lord said, "People are only human. I will not let my Spirit be troubled by them forever. I will let them live only 120 years." During this time and also later, the Nephilim people lived in the land. They have been famous as powerful soldiers since ancient times.

Genesis 7:1
Then the Lord said to Noah, "I have seen that you are a good man, even among the evil people of this time. So gather your family, and all of you go into the boat.

Genesis 10:9
He was a great hunter before the Lord . That is why people compare other men to him and say, "That man is like Nimrod, a great hunter before the Lord ."

Genesis 13:13
The Lord knew that the people of Sodom were very evil sinners.

2 Chronicles 34:27
Josiah, when you heard my words against this city and its people, you were sorry and humbled yourself before me. You even tore your clothes to show your sorrow and cried before me. Because your heart was tender, I the Lord , have heard you.

Psalms 11:5
The Lord examines those who are good and those who are wicked; he hates those who enjoy hurting others.

Psalms 55:9
My Lord, confuse their words and stop their plans. I see so much cruelty and fighting in this city.

Psalms 140:11
Don't let those cruel liars enjoy success here. Let disaster hunt them down.

Isaiah 60:18
There will never again be news of violence in your country. People will never again attack your country and steal from you. You will name your walls, ‘Salvation' and your gates, ‘Praise.'

Jeremiah 6:7
As a well keeps its water fresh, so Jerusalem keeps its wickedness fresh. I hear about the robbing and violence in this city all the time. I see nothing but pain and sickness there all the time.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Shall I count [them] pure with the wicked balances,.... These are the words either of the prophet, or rather of God, signifying that he could not, and would not, allow, countenance, and approve of persons that used false scales or balances; or justify and reckon them just, as they would be thought to be, but condemn them, and pronounce them very wicked men, and deserving of punishment here and hereafter:

and with the bag of deceitful weights? or "stones" o; which were used in weighing goods, and which were deceitful, when a heavier was used in buying, and a lighter in selling. So the Targum,

"and with the bag, in which are weights greater and lesser;''

condemned in Deuteronomy 25:13.

o אבני מרמה "lapidum doli", Piscator; "lapidum fraudis", Montanus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Shall I count them pure? - Rather, (as the English margin) “Shall I be pure?” The prophet takes for the time their person and bids them judge themselves in him. If it would defile me, how are ye, with all your other sins, not defiled? All these things were expressly forbidden in the law. “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in mete-yard, in weight or in measure. Just balances, just weights, a just ephah and a just him, shall ye have” Leviticus 19:35-36; and, “Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small. Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small. For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteousness are an abomination unto the Lord thy God” (Deuteronomy 25:13, Deuteronomy 25:15-16, add Proverbs 11:1; Proverbs 16:11; Proverbs 20:10). Yet are not these things common even now?