Therefore I am striking you severely, to ruin you because of your sins.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore I also have struck you with a grievous wound. I have made you desolate because of your sins.
- KJV Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins.
- NKJV “Therefore I will also make you sick by striking you, By making you desolate because of your sins.
- NASB “So also I will make you sick, striking you down, Making you desolate because of your sins.
- NLT “Therefore, I will wound you! I will bring you to ruin for all your sins.
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
Because of their sins, God Himself has struck them with a wounding blow and made them desolate. It announces that judgment is the LORD's deliberate response to sin.
Overview
God declares that He is the agent behind Israel's coming devastation, "I have made you desolate because of your sins." The judgment is neither random nor merely natural consequence but the righteous act of the covenant Lord. Such sober warning underscores why a Savior is needed, one who would bear God's wounding stroke in the place of His people (Isaiah 53).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ps 107:17–18Fools, in their rebellious ways, and through their iniquities, suffered affliction.
- Deut 28:21–22The LORD will make the plague cling to you until He has exterminated you from the land that you are entering to possess.
- Lev 26:16then this is what I will do to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting disease, and fever that will destroy your sight and drain your life. You will sow your seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.
- Hos 13:16Samaria will bear her guilt because she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.
- Acts 12:23Immediately, because Herod did not give glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.
- Job 33:19–22A man is also chastened on his bed with pain and constant distress in his bones,
- Lam 3:11He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces; He left me without help.
- Lam 1:13He sent fire from on high, and it overpowered my bones. He spread a net for my feet and turned me back. He made me desolate, faint all the day long.
- Hos 5:9Ephraim will be laid waste on the day of rebuke. Among the tribes of Israel I proclaim what is certain.
- Jer 14:18If I go out to the country, I see those slain by the sword; if I enter the city, I see those ravaged by famine! For both prophet and priest travel to a land they do not know.’”
- Isa 6:11Then I asked: “How long, O Lord?” And He replied: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left unoccupied and the land is desolate and ravaged,
- Isa 1:5–7Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep rebelling? Your head has a massive wound, and your whole heart is afflicted.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 6:13 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.