Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable?
Parallel translations
- WEB Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and a short ephah that is accursed?
- BSB Can I forget any longer, O house of the wicked, the treasures of wickedness and the short ephah, which is accursed?
- NKJV Are there yet the treasures of wickedness In the house of the wicked, And the short measure that is an abomination?
- NASB “Is there still a person in the wicked house, Along with treasures of wickedness, And a short measure that is cursed?
- NLT What shall I say about the homes of the wicked filled with treasures gained by cheating? What about the disgusting practice of measuring out grain with dishonest measures?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God indicts the wicked for hoarding ill-gotten wealth and using fraudulent, undersized measures. It condemns dishonest gain as something He abhors.
Overview
The LORD exposes specific sins: "treasures of wickedness" gained by injustice and the "short ephah," a cheating measure used to defraud buyers. Such practices violate the justice God requires (v. 8) and bring His curse. God's concern for honest dealings shows that true faith touches everyday commerce, and that the gospel reshapes how we treat our neighbor.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Amos 3:10For they know not to do right, saith the LORD, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.
- Prov 20:10Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the LORD.
- Amos 8:5–6Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?
- Prov 21:6The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death.
- Jer 5:26–27For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.
- Jas 5:1–4Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
- Deut 25:13–16Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small.
- Prov 10:2Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death.
- 2 Kgs 5:23–24And Naaman said, Be content, take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants; and they bare them before him.
- Ezek 45:9–12Thus saith the Lord GOD; Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice, take away your exactions from my people, saith the Lord GOD.
- Prov 20:23Divers weights are an abomination unto the LORD; and a false balance is not good.
- Hab 2:5–11Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people:
- Lev 19:35–36Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure.
- Prov 11:1A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight.
- Josh 7:1But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel.
- Zech 5:3–4Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it.
- Hos 12:7–8He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress.
- Zeph 1:9In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit.
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Christ at the center
Micah names the town — 'But you, Bethlehem... from you shall come forth one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origins are from of old' — the birthplace of the eternal King.
How Micah 6:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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