Micah 6:9

JPS Old Testament

Hark! the LORD crieth unto the city--and it is wisdom to have regard for Thy name--hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The voice of the Lord calls out to the city(and it is wise to fear your name):“Pay attention to the rodand the one who ordained it.

Hebrew Names Version
The LORD's voice calls to the city, And wisdom sees your name: "Listen to the rod, And he who appointed it.

King James Version (1611)
The Lords voice cryeth vnto the citie, and the man of wisedome shall see thy Name: heare ye the rodde, and who hath appointed it.

King James Version
The Lord 's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.

English Standard Version
The voice of the Lord cries to the city— and it is sound wisdom to fear your name: "Hear of the rod and of him who appointed it!

New American Standard Bible
The voice of the LORD will call to the city— And it is sound wisdom to fear Your name: "Hear, you tribe. Who has designated its time?

New Century Version
The voice of the Lord calls to the city, and the wise person honors him. So pay attention to the rod of punishment; pay attention to the One who threatens to punish.

Amplified Bible
The voice of the LORD shall call to the city [of Jerusalem]— And it is sound wisdom to heed [solemnly] and fear Your name [with awe-filled reverence]; "Hear, O tribe [the rod of punishment]. Who has appointed its time?

Geneva Bible (1587)
The Lordes voyce cryeth vnto the citie, and the man of wisedome shall see thy name: Heare the rodde, and who hath appoynted it.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
The voice of the LORD will call to the city— And it is sound wisdom to fear Your name: "Hear, O tribe. Who has appointed its time?

Legacy Standard Bible
The voice of Yahweh will call to the city—And it is sound wisdom to fear Your name:"Hear, O tribe. Who even has appointed its time?

Berean Standard Bible
The voice of the LORD calls out to the city-and it is sound wisdom to fear Your name-"Heed the rod and the One who ordained it.

Contemporary English Version
I am the Lord , and it makes sense to respect my power to punish. So listen to my message for the city of Jerusalem:

Complete Jewish Bible
The voice of Adonai ! He calls to the city — and it is wisdom to fear your name — "Listen to the rod and to him who commissioned it.

Darby Translation
Jehovah's voice crieth unto the city, and wisdom looketh on thy name. Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.

Easy-to-Read Version
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!

George Lamsa Translation
The voice of the LORD cries upon the city, preaching doctrine to those who revere his name; hear, O tribe, him who testifies against you.

Good News Translation
It is wise to fear the Lord . He calls to the city, "Listen, you people who assemble in the city!

Lexham English Bible
The voice of Yahweh calls to the city (it is sound judgment to fear your name): "Hear, O staff! Now who has appointed it?

Literal Translation
The voice of Jehovah calls out to the city; and one of sound wisdom will see Your name. Hear the rod, and Him who appointed it.

American Standard Version
The voice of Jehovah crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom will see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.

Bible in Basic English
The voice of the Lord is crying out to the town: Give ear, you tribes and the meeting of the town.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
The Lordes voyce cryeth vnto the citie, and the man that shalbe saued considereth thy name: hearken what is your rodde, & heare him that warneth you.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
The Lord’s voice shall be proclaimed in the city, and he shall save those that fear his name: hear, O tribe; and who shall order the city?

English Revised Version
The voice of the LORD crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom will see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.

World English Bible
Yahweh's voice calls to the city, And wisdom sees your name: "Listen to the rod, And he who appointed it.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The vois of the Lord crieth to the citee, and heelthe schal be to alle men dredynge thi name. Ye lynagis, here; and who schal approue it?

Update Bible Version
The voice of Yahweh cries to the city, and wisdom will see your name: hear the rod, and who has appointed it.

Webster's Bible Translation
The LORD'S voice crieth to the city, and [the man of] wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.

New English Translation
Listen! The Lord is calling to the city! It is wise to respect your authority, O Lord ! Listen, O nation, and those assembled in the city!

New King James Version
The LORD's voice cries to the city-- Wisdom shall see Your name: "Hear the rod! Who has appointed it?

New Living Translation
Fear the Lord if you are wise! His voice calls to everyone in Jerusalem: "The armies of destruction are coming; the Lord is sending them.

New Life Bible
The voice of the Lord is calling to the city, and it is wise to fear Your name: "Listen, O family of Judah, you who are gathered in the city.

New Revised Standard
The voice of the Lord cries to the city (it is sound wisdom to fear your name): Hear, O tribe and assembly of the city!

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
The voice of Yahweh, to the city, crieth out, With safety for him who regardeth his name, - Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.

Douay-Rheims Bible
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?

Revised Standard Version
The voice of the LORD cries to the city--and it is sound wisdom to fear thy name: "Hear, O tribe and assembly of the city!

Young's Literal Translation
A voice of Jehovah to the city calleth, And wisdom doth fear Thy name, Hear ye the rod, and Him who appointed it.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
that thou mayest be called a cite of the LORDE, & that thy name maye be rightuousnesse. Heare (o ye trybes) who wolde els geue you soch warnynge?

THE MESSAGE
Attention! God calls out to the city! If you know what's good for you, you'll listen. So listen, all of you! This is serious business.

Contextual Overview

⁹ Hark! the LORD crieth unto the city--and it is wisdom to have regard for Thy name--hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it. ¹⁰ Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable? ¹¹ 'Shall I be pure with wicked balances, and with a bag of deceitful weights?' ¹² For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. ¹³ Therefore I also do smite thee with a grievous wound; I do make thee desolate because of thy sins. ¹⁴ Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy sickness shall be in thine inward parts; and thou shalt conceive, but shalt not bring forth; and whomsoever thou bringest forth will I give up to the sword. ¹⁵ Thou shalt sow, but shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but shalt not anoint thee with oil; and the vintage, but shalt not drink wine. ¹⁶ For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I may make thee an astonishment, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing; and ye shall bear the reproach of My people.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Lord's: Micah 3:12, Isaiah 24:10-12, Isaiah 27:10, Isaiah 32:13, Isaiah 32:14, Isaiah 40:6-8, Isaiah 66:6, Jeremiah 19:11-13, Jeremiah 26:6, Jeremiah 26:18, Jeremiah 37:8-10, Hosea 13:16, Amos 2:5, Amos 3:8-15, Amos 6:1, Jonah 3:4, Zephaniah 3:2

and: 2 Kings 22:11-20, Psalms 107:43, Proverbs 22:3, Isaiah 26:11, Hosea 14:9

the man of wisdom shall see thy name: or, thy name shall see that which is wisdom, Exodus 34:5-7, Psalms 9:16, Psalms 48:10, Psalms 83:18, Isaiah 30:27

hear: 2 Samuel 21:1, Job 5:6-8, Job 5:17, Job 10:2, Isaiah 9:13, Isaiah 10:5, Isaiah 10:6, Jeremiah 14:18-22, Lamentations 3:39-42, Joel 2:11-18, Amos 4:6-12, Jonah 3:5-10, Haggai 1:5-7, Revelation 3:19

Reciprocal: Leviticus 14:34 - I put the plague of leprosy Judges 3:20 - I have 1 Chronicles 12:32 - understanding of the times 2 Chronicles 33:12 - And when Job 23:14 - appointed Psalms 94:12 - teachest Ecclesiastes 7:14 - but Isaiah 2:1 - saw Isaiah 18:3 - see ye Isaiah 42:23 - will give Isaiah 48:6 - hast heard Jeremiah 2:31 - see ye Jeremiah 47:7 - hath he Ezekiel 7:9 - the Lord Ezekiel 33:29 - because John 7:37 - and cried Revelation 1:12 - see

Cross-References

Genesis 2:4
These are the generations of the heaven and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made earth and heaven.

Genesis 5:1
This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made He him;

Genesis 5:22
And Enoch walked with God after he begot Methuselah three hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:24
And Enoch walked with God, and he was not; for God took him.

Genesis 6:9
These are the generations of Noah. Noah was in his generations a man righteous and whole-hearted; Noah walked with God.

Genesis 6:15
And this is how thou shalt make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.

Genesis 7:1
And the LORD said unto Noah: 'Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before Me in this generation.

Genesis 10:1
Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and unto them were sons born after the flood.

Genesis 17:1
And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him: 'I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be thou wholehearted.

Genesis 48:15
And he blessed Joseph, and said: 'The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God who hath been my shepherd all my life long unto this day,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The Lord's voice crieth unto the city,.... The Lord having bid his prophet call to the mountains and hills to hear his voice, and the prophet having obeyed his will, and the Lord having by him addressed his people Israel, and expostulated with them about their ingratitude, observing to them many instances of his goodness; here informs them, that this voice of his, whether in his prophet, or in his judgments, was directed to the city, either Samaria or Jerusalem, or both, and even to all the cities of Israel and Judah, the singular being put for the plural; that is, to the inhabitants of them. Cities being populous, and where persons of the highest rank and figure, as well as of the best sense, dwell, and generally very wicked, though favoured with greater advantages; all which are reasons why the voice of the Lord, in his word and providences, particularly cries to them to repent of their sins, and reform from them, as might be expected from such persons; and so doing would set a good example to those who live in the country. Some render it, "the Lord's voice crieth to awake" f; or to "stir up"; it calls upon men asleep to awake out of sleep; to arouse from their carnal security; to attend to their sins, their danger, and their duty; to repent of their sins, and so avoid the danger they were in through them, and perform their duty they had such a voice as this, see in Ephesians 5:14; this reading of the words is mentioned by Kimchi;

and [the man of] wisdom shall see thy name; not the mere natural man, or who is possessed only of natural wisdom, though he may have ever so great a share of it; for as he sees not the things of the Spirit of God, the things of the Gospel, so neither the name and perfections of God in his judgments on the earth; much less the man that is wise to do evil, full of wicked subtlety, and makes a jest of everything religious and serious; nor such as are wise in their own opinion, or have only a superficial share of wisdom; but such who have a share of solid and substantial wisdom, a man of "substance", as the word g sometimes signifies; see Proverbs 8:21; such who have true wisdom in the hidden part, that which comes from above, and is pure and peaceable, and makes men wise to salvation; such men see and discern the power and providence of God in all the judgments that are in the earth; his attributes and perfections; his severity on some, and goodness to others; his sparing grace and mercy, and his special lovingkindness, and even all his perfections, for he is known to such by the judgments he executeth; see Psalms 9:16; and such, "fear" his "name" also, as some render the words h; they not only fear the Lord and his goodness, but have an awful sense of his judgments, and tremble at them. Some read the words, "thy name sees that which is" i; so the margin of our Bibles; that is, the Lord seeth that which is done in the city, though ever so secret and private, and therefore his voice cries to it;

hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it; these are the words of the man of wisdom, as Kimchi observes; who, seeing the name and perfections of God in his judgments on the earth, upon others, and exhorts them to hear the voice rod, of the rod of correction and affliction, the rod of judgment and vengeance, as held in the hand of God, and shook over a city or nation; which has a voice in if to men, reproving them for their sins; commanding them to return from them; calling them to repentance and humiliation; teaching and instructing them in their duty; and giving cautions and warnings to others, lest the like should befall them; and this is the voice that is to be attended to: audit should be considered, that there is no affliction, calamity, or judgment, but is appointed by the Lord, the kind and nature, measure and duration, of it; what its end, issue, and use; and he that has appointed it is all wise and all knowing, unchangeable and invariable, all powerful, and able to put his purposes and decrees into execution; nor can they be frustrated. The Targum of the whole is,

"with the voice the prophets of the Lord Cry to the city; and teachers fear the name (of the Lord); hear, O king and rulers, and the rest of the people of the land.''

f לעיר "ad suscitandum", Vatablus; "ad expergefaciendum", Calvin; "ad excitandum", Drusius. So Joseph Kimchi. g תושיה "vir constans", Pagninus; "vir essentilae", Gualtherus apud Tarnovium. h יראה שמך "timebit nomen tuum", Pagninus, Montanus. So the Targum. i "Nam quod res est, videt nomen tuum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Tarnovius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The voice of the Lord crieth unto the city - that is, Jerusalem, as the metropolis of their wealth and their sin, the head and heart of their offending. “Crieth,” aloud, earnestly, intently, so that all might hear. So God says, “Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding pat forth her voice? She crieth at the gates, - unto you, O men, I cry, and my voice is to the sons of men” Proverbs 8:1, Proverbs 8:3-4; and Isaiah prophesied of John the Immerser, “the voice of one crying in the wilderness” Isaiah 40:3; Matthew 3:3; and our Lord saith, “He that heareth you, heareth Me. And the man of wisdom shall see Thy Name” Luke 10:16. The voice of God is in the hearing of all, but the wise only seeth the Name of God. The word rendered “wisdom” means, “that which is,” “See ye the word of the Lord.”) They shall see His power and majesty and all which His Name expresses, as they are displayed severally in each work of His: He shall speak to them by all things wherein He is; and so seeing Him now in a glass darkly, they shall hereafter see all, His Glory, His Goodness, His Love, Himself, “face to face.”

Hear ye the rod - that is, the scourge of the wrath of God. The name and the image recall the like propecies of Isaiah, so that Micah in one word epitomises the prophecies of Isaiah, or Isaiah expands the word of Micah. “The rod in thine hand is My indignation” Isaiah 10:5; “As if the rod lifted up Him, who is not wood” Isaiah 10:15; “He lifteth up his rod against thee” Isaiah 10:24; “Thou hast broken the rod (which is) on his shoulder” (Isaiah 9:3, Hebrew); “The Lord hath broken the rod of the wicked” Isaiah 14:5; “wheron the grounded (that is, fixed by the decree of God) staff shall pass” Isaiah 30:32.

And who hath appointed it - that is, beforehand, fixing the time and place, when and where it should come. So Jeremiah says, “How canst thou (sword of the Lord) be quiet, and the Lord hath given it a charge to Ashkelon and to the seashore? there hath He appointed it” Jeremiah 47:7. He who has “appointed it,” changeth not His decree, unless man changeth; nor is He lacking in power to fulfill it. He will surely bring it to pass. All which can be thought of, of fear, terror, motives to repentance, awe, hope, trust, is in that word “who.” It is God; hopes and fears may be infinite.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 9. The Lord's voice crieth unto the city — No man is found to hear; but the man of wisdom will hear, תושיה tushiyah; a word frequent in the writings of Solomon and Job, signifying wisdom, wealth, substance, reason, essence, happiness; any thing that is complete; or that which is substantial, in opposition to vanity, emptiness, mere show, unsubstantiality. When God speaks, the man of common sense, who has any knowledge of God or his own soul, will see thy name; but instead of יראה yireh, will see, the Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, and Arabic, with twelve of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., have read יראי yirey, they that FEAR. The Vulgate reads: -

Et salus erit timentibus nomen tuum.

"And thou shalt be salvation to them that fear thy name."

The Septuagint - Και σωσει φαβουμενους το ονομα αυτου.

And he shall save those who fear his name. - This the Arabic copies.

The Targum has, "And the teachers shall fear the name." That is, Yehovah.

The French Bible is very strange: -

Car ton nom volt comme il va de tout.

"For thy name sees how every thing goes."

The word תושיה tushiyah, mentioned above, which occasions all the difficulty, has been read with an ע ain by the Vulgate and Septuagint, as coming from the root ישע yasha, to be saved; and it is very likely that this was the original reading. The two last letters in the word, יה, might have been easily mistaken in the MS. for the letter ע where I may suppose the word stood thus, תושע, shall be saved; and as several MSS. read יראי yirey, they who fear, instead of יראה yireh, he shall see, the whole clause might have been just what it appears in the Vulgate and Septuagint. It is also necessary to remark that the word in dispute has various forms in some MSS., which is a strong presumption against its authenticity. See Kennicott and De Rossi.