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Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins.
Micah 6:13 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB Therefore I also have struck you with a grievous wound. I have made you desolate because of your sins.
  • BSB Therefore I am striking you severely, to ruin you because of your 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 because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
  • Deut 28:21–22The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.
  • Lev 26:16I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
  • Hos 13:16Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.
  • Acts 12:23And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.
  • Job 33:19–22He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain:
  • Lam 3:11He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.
  • Lam 1:13From above hath he sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: he hath made me desolate and faint all the day.
  • Hos 5:9Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be.
  • Jer 14:18If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not.
  • Isa 6:11Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,
  • Isa 1:5–7Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Micah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Micah 6:13YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on MicahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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.