Micah 6:11

THE MESSAGE

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?

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

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 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. ¹⁰"Do you expect me to overlook obscene wealth you've piled up by cheating and fraud? Do you think I'll tolerate shady deals and shifty scheming? I'm tired of the violent rich bullying their way with bluffs and lies. I'm fed up. Beginning now, you're finished. You'll pay for your sins down to your last cent. No matter how much you get, it will never be enough— hollow stomachs, empty hearts. No matter how hard you work, you'll have nothing to show for it— bankrupt lives, wasted souls. You'll plant grass but never get a lawn. You'll make jelly but never spread it on your bread. You'll press apples but never drink the cider. You have lived by the standards of your king, Omri, the decadent lifestyle of the family of Ahab. Because you've slavishly followed their fashions, I'm forcing you into bankruptcy. Your way of life will be laughed at, a tasteless joke. Your lives will be derided as futile and fake."

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
When the human race began to increase, with more and more daughters being born, the sons of God noticed that the daughters of men were beautiful. They looked them over and picked out wives for themselves.

Genesis 7:1
Next God said to Noah, "Now board the ship, you and all your family—out of everyone in this generation, you're the righteous one.

Genesis 13:13
The people of Sodom were evil—flagrant sinners against God .

Psalms 55:9
Come down hard, Lord—slit their tongues. I'm appalled how they've split the city Into rival gangs prowling the alleys Day and night spoiling for a fight, trash piled in the streets, Even shopkeepers gouging and cheating in broad daylight.

Ezekiel 8:17
He said, "Have you seen enough, son of man? Isn't it bad enough that Judah engages in these outrageous obscenities? They fill the country with violence and now provoke me even further with their obscene gestures. That's it. They have an angry God on their hands! From now on, no mercy. They can shout all they want, but I'm not listening."

Ezekiel 28:16
The Money Has Gone to Your Head God's Message came to me, "Son of man, tell the prince of Tyre, ‘This is what God , the Master, says: "‘Your heart is proud, going around saying, "I'm a god. I sit on God's divine throne, ruling the sea"— You, a mere mortal, not even close to being a god, A mere mortal trying to be a god. Look, you think you're smarter than Daniel. No enigmas can stump you. Your sharp intelligence made you world-wealthy. You piled up gold and silver in your banks. You used your head well, worked good deals, made a lot of money. But the money has gone to your head, swelled your head—what a big head! "‘Therefore, God , the Master, says: "‘Because you're acting like a god, pretending to be a god, I'm giving fair warning: I'm bringing strangers down on you, the most vicious of all nations. They'll pull their swords and make hash of your reputation for knowing it all. They'll puncture the balloon of your god-pretensions. They'll bring you down from your self-made pedestal and bury you in the deep blue sea. Will you protest to your assassins, "You can't do that! I'm a god"? To them you're a mere mortal. They're killing a man, not a god. You'll die like a stray dog, killed by strangers— Because I said so. Decree of God , the Master.'" God 's Message came to me: "Son of man, raise a funeral song over the king of Tyre. Tell him, A Message from God , the Master: "You had everything going for you. You were in Eden, God's garden. You were dressed in splendor, your robe studded with jewels: Carnelian, peridot, and moonstone, beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald, all in settings of engraved gold. A robe was prepared for you the same day you were created. You were the anointed cherub. I placed you on the mountain of God. You strolled in magnificence among the stones of fire. From the day of your creation you were sheer perfection... and then imperfection—evil!—was detected in you. In much buying and selling you turned violent, you sinned! I threw you, disgraced, off the mountain of God. I threw you out—you, the anointed angel-cherub. No more strolling among the gems of fire for you! Your beauty went to your head. You corrupted wisdom by using it to get worldly fame. I threw you to the ground, sent you sprawling before an audience of kings and let them gloat over your demise. By sin after sin after sin, by your corrupt ways of doing business, you defiled your holy places of worship. So I set a fire around and within you. It burned you up. I reduced you to ashes. All anyone sees now when they look for you is ashes, a pitiful mound of ashes. All who once knew you now throw up their hands: ‘This can't have happened! This has happened!'" God 's Message came to me: "Son of man, confront Sidon. Preach against it. Say, ‘Message from God , the Master: "‘Look! I'm against you, Sidon. I intend to be known for who I truly am among you.' They'll know that I am God when I set things right and reveal my holy presence. I'll order an epidemic of disease there, along with murder and mayhem in the streets. People will drop dead right and left, as war presses in from every side. Then they'll realize that I mean business, that I am God . "No longer will Israel have to put up with their thistle-and-thorn neighbors Who have treated them so contemptuously. And they also will realize that I am God ." God , the Master, says, "When I gather Israel from the peoples among whom they've been scattered and put my holiness on display among them with all the nations looking on, then they'll live in their own land that I gave to my servant Jacob. They'll live there in safety. They'll build houses. They'll plant vineyards, living in safety. Meanwhile, I'll bring judgment on all the neighbors who have treated them with such contempt. And they'll realize that I am God ."

Habakkuk 2:8
class="poetry"> What's God going to say to my questions? I'm braced for the worst. I'll climb to the lookout tower and scan the horizon. I'll wait to see what God says, how he'll answer my complaint. And then God answered: "Write this. Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run. This vision-message is a witness pointing to what's coming. It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait! And it doesn't lie. If it seems slow in coming, wait. It's on its way. It will come right on time. "Look at that man, bloated by self-importance— full of himself but soul-empty. But the person in right standing before God through loyal and steady believing is fully alive, really alive. "Note well: Money deceives. The arrogant rich don't last. They are more hungry for wealth than the grave is for cadavers. Like death, they always want more, but the ‘more' they get is dead bodies. They are cemeteries filled with dead nations, graveyards filled with corpses. Don't give people like this a second thought. Soon the whole world will be taunting them: "‘Who do you think you are— getting rich by stealing and extortion? How long do you think you can get away with this?' Indeed, how long before your victims wake up, stand up and make you the victim? You've plundered nation after nation. Now you'll get a taste of your own medicine. All the survivors are out to plunder you, a payback for all your murders and massacres.

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?