Micah 6:13

Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Micah 6:13-15. Therefore will I make thee sick in smiting thee —

Therefore, upon account of these thy sins, I will, ere long, so smite thee, O Israel, that the strokes shall reach thy heart, and make thee sick unto death of thy wounds. Or, the punishment wherewith I will afflict thee shall waste thy strength like a consuming sickness which preys upon the vitals. Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied — See note on Hosea 4:10. And thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee — Thou shalt be depressed within thee, or have no courage, or spirits, left to support thee. Thou shalt take hold, but not deliver, &c. — Thou shalt lay hold on things to secure them to thee, but thou shalt not be able to save them from the enemy. All the advantages that thou hast made by any means shall become a prey to them. Archbishop Newcome translates it, Thou shalt take hold, but shalt not carry away; contrary to what is said of thy enemies, Isaiah 5:29; They shall lay hold of the prey, and carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it, or retake it. Thou shalt sow, but shalt not reap — Thou shalt not enjoy the fruit of thy labour: a curse often threatened for disobedience.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:9-16 God, having showed how necessary it was that they should do justly, here shows how plain it was that they had done unjustly. This voice of the Lord says to all, Hear the rod when it is coming, before you see it, and feel it. Hear the rod when it is come, and you are sensible of the smart; hear what counsels, what cautions it speaks. The voice of God is to be heard in the rod of God. Those who are dishonest in their dealings shall never be reckoned pure, whatever shows of devotion they may make. What is got by fraud and oppression, cannot be kept or enjoyed with satisfaction. What we hold closest we commonly lose soonest. Sin is a root of bitterness, soon planted, but not soon plucked up again. Their being the people of God in name and profession, while they kept themselves in his love, was an honour to them; but now, being backsliders, their having been once the people of God turns to their reproach.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Therefore also will I-- (Literally, And I too,) that is, this dost thou, and thus will I too do. Pococke: "As thou madest sick the heart of the poor oppressed, so will I, by My grievous and severe punishments, make thee sick," or make thy wound incurable, as in Nahum, "thy wound is grievous," (Nahum 3:19 literally, made sick. In making thee desolate because of thy sins. The heaping up riches shall itself be the cause of thy being waste, deserted, desolate.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

13. make thee sick in smiting—(Le 26:16, to which perhaps the allusion here is, as in Mic 6:14; Ps 107:17, 18; Jer 13:13).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Therefore, for these many sins of violence, frauds, and lies,

also will I make thee sick in smiting thee; some read, I have begun to smite thee, so it suits well with the history of the wars, rapine, captivity, or desolation by the Syrians, Assyrians, Arabians, &c. brought upon Israel and Judah, which were the beginnings of their sorrows, and God’s just punishments; but as we read it

sick in smiting; it will as well suit with the grammatical construction of the words, with the history too, and thus it will give the greater emphasis to the words; God will ere long so smite, that the strokes of his rod should reach the very heart, and make Israel heart-sick of his wounds, inflicted on him by the Lord.

In making thee desolate: this was fully accomplished, when the kingdom of the ten tribes was overthrown by Shalmaneser, and the kingdom of the two tribes captivated by Nebuchadnezzar.

Because of thy sins; multiplied, aggravated, obstinately retained, and not repented of.

Therefore, for these many sins of violence, frauds, and lies,

also will I make thee sick in smiting thee; some read, I have begun to smite thee, so it suits well with the history of the wars, rapine, captivity, or desolation by the Syrians, Assyrians, Arabians, &c. brought upon Israel and Judah, which were the beginnings of their sorrows, and God’s just punishments; but as we read it

sick in smiting; it will as well suit with the grammatical construction of the words, with the history too, and thus it will give the greater emphasis to the words; God will ere long so smite, that the strokes of his rod should reach the very heart, and make Israel heart-sick of his wounds, inflicted on him by the Lord.

In making thee desolate: this was fully accomplished, when the kingdom of the ten tribes was overthrown by Shalmaneser, and the kingdom of the two tribes captivated by Nebuchadnezzar.

Because of thy sins; multiplied, aggravated, obstinately retained, and not repented of.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee,.... With the rod to be heard, Micah 6:9; by sending among them some of his sore judgments, as famine, pestilence, the sword of the enemy, internal wars, and the like; which should cause their kingdom, and state, and families, to decline and waste away, as a sickly and diseased body. So the Targum,

"and I brought upon thee illness and a stroke.''

The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, render it, "and I began to smite thee"; as by Hazael, king of Syria, and Tiglathpileser, king of Assyria, who had carried part of them captive;

in making thee desolate because of thy sins; went on, not only to make them sick, and bring them into a declining state, but into utter desolation; as by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, who carried Israel captive; and by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who led Judah captive, because of their sins of idolatry, injustice, and oppression, with others that abounded among them.

Geneva Study Bible

Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

13. will I make thee sick] Deadly sick is the meaning; comp. Nahum 3:19, where the term is explained in the parallel clause to mean ‘incurable.’

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 13-16. - § 4. For all this God threatens punishment. Verse 13. - Will I make thee sick in smiting thee; literally, have made the smiting thee sick; i.e. incurable, as Nahum 3:19, or, "have made the blows mortal that are given thee." The perfect is used to express the certainty of the future. The Septuagint and Vulgate read, "I have begun [or, will begin] to smite thee." Micah 6:13

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The threat of punishment follows in Micah 6:13-16. Micah 6:13. "So also now do I smite thee incurably, laying waste because of thy sins. Micah 6:14. Thou wilt eat, and not be satisfied; and thine emptiness remains in thee; and thou wilt remove, and not save; and what thou savest I will give to the sword. Micah 6:15. Thou wilt sow, and not reap; thou wilt tread olives, and not anoint thyself with oil; new wine, and not drink wine." With וגם־אני the threatened punishment is represented as the consequence of, or retribution for, the sins of the people. החליתי הך: literally, I have made the smiting thee sick, i.e., smitten thee with incurable sickness (for hechelaah, see at Nahum 3:19 and Jeremiah 30:12; and for the fact itself, Isaiah 1:5-6). The perfect expresses the certainty of the future. The suffix refers to the people, not of the capital only, but, as we may see from Micah 6:16, of the whole of the kingdom of Judah. Hashmēm (an uncontracted form; see Ges. 67, Anm. 10), devastando, is attached to the preceding verb in an adverbial sense, as a practical exemplification, like the שׁבע in Leviticus 26:18, Leviticus 26:24, Leviticus 26:28, which Micah had in his eye at the time. For the individualizing of the punishment, which follows, rests upon Leviticus 26:25-26, and Deuteronomy 28:39-40. The land is threatened with devastation by the foe, from which the people flee into fortresses, the besieging of which occasions starvation. For the fulfilment of this, see Jeremiah 52:6 (cf. 2 Kings 6:25). ישׁח, ἁπ.λεγ., hollowness, or emptiness of stomach. ותסּג, thou mayest remove, i.e., carry off thy goods and family, yet wilt thou not save; but even if thou shouldst save anything, it will fall into the hands of the enemy, and be destroyed by his sword (vid., Jeremiah 50:37). The enemy will also partly consume and partly destroy the corn and field-fruit, as well as the stores of oil and wine (vid., Amos 5:11). ולא תסוּך שׁמן is taken verbatim from Deuteronomy 28:40.