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The LORD’s voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.
Micah 6:9 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB Yahweh’s voice calls to the city, and wisdom sees your name: “Listen to the rod, and he who appointed it.
  • BSB The voice of the LORD calls out to the city (and it is sound wisdom to fear Your name): “Heed the rod and the One who ordained it.
  • NKJV The Lord’s voice cries to the city— Wisdom shall see Your name: “Hear the rod! Who has appointed it?
  • NASB ¶The voice of the Lord will call to the city— And it is sound wisdom to fear Your name: “Hear, you tribe. Who has designated its time?
  • NLT Fear the Lord if you are wise! His voice calls to everyone in Jerusalem: “The armies of destruction are coming; the Lord is sending them.

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

The LORD's voice cries out to the city, and the wise will heed the disciplining rod and the One who appointed it. It calls people to listen to God's corrective judgment.

Overview

God addresses Jerusalem, and true wisdom consists in fearing His name and submitting to the "rod" of coming chastisement, recognizing that He has appointed it. The Hebrew of this verse is difficult and translations vary, but its thrust is a summons to reverent attention. Discipline from God is an act of fatherly love meant to turn His people back, a theme the New Testament applies to believers as well.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 38

  • Hos 14:9Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.
  • Rev 3:19As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
  • Isa 30:27Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
  • Zeph 3:2She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God.
  • Lam 3:39–42Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
  • Isa 40:6–8The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
  • Ps 83:18That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.
  • Job 10:2I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.
  • Jer 26:18Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.
  • Exod 34:5–7And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
  • Amos 2:5But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.
  • Joel 2:11–18And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?
  • Amos 4:6–12And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
  • Amos 3:8–15The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?
  • Jer 19:11–13And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury.
  • Isa 24:10–12The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in.
  • Jonah 3:4–10And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
  • Ps 107:43Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the LORD.
  • Isa 27:10Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof.
  • Isa 10:5–6O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
  • Prov 22:3A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.
  • Mic 3:12Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.
  • Amos 6:1Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!
  • 2 Sam 21:1Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.
  • Job 5:17Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:
  • Jer 37:8–10And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire.
  • Ps 9:16The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.
  • Jer 26:6Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.
  • Isa 66:6A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that rendereth recompence to his enemies.
  • Isa 26:11LORD, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.
  • Ps 48:10According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness.
  • 2 Kgs 22:11–20And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes.
  • Hag 1:5–7Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
  • Jer 14:18–22If 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 9:13For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts.
  • Job 5:6–8Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;
  • 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.
  • Isa 32:13–14Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city:

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

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 6:9YouTube · 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 6:9 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.