Bible Strands
Micah 2:6
“Do not preach,” they preach. “Do not preach these things; disgrace will not overtake us.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Micah addresses corrupt leaders and false prophets who are actively suppressing divine warnings. They issue this command during a period of impending national judgment to avoid social disgrace.
The words — תַּטִּ֖פוּ (ta.Ti.fu) and יַטִּיפ֑וּ (ya.ti.Fu) both mean “you prophesy” or “they prophesy,” while יִסַּ֖ג (yi.Sag) literally means “it will be turned back” or “overtake.” The text records the crowd’s direct injunction to halt prophetic declarations of coming disaster.
The thread — This suppression of divine warning recurs in Amos 2:12, Isaiah 30:10, and Ezekiel 3:26. Each passage documents authorities demanding silence from seers and prophets to avoid confronting hard truths.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that comfort-seeking silence actively resists divine correction. It asks the reader to reject the impulse to silence uncomfortable truth and instead face the unvarnished word.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy: they shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take shame.
Cross-references
- Amos 2:12 “But you made the Nazirites drink wine and commanded the prophets not to prophesy.
- Isaiah 30:10 They say to the seers, “Stop seeing visions!” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us the truth! Speak to us pleasant words; prophesy illusions.
- Ezekiel 3:26 I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, and you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, though they are a rebellious house.
- Acts 5:40 At this, they yielded to Gamaliel. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and released them.
- Psalms 74:9 There are no signs for us to see. There is no longer any prophet. And none of us knows how long this will last.
- Jeremiah 6:14 They dress the wound of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.
- Jeremiah 8:11 They dress the wound of the daughter of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.
- Jeremiah 26:8 and as soon as he had finished telling all the people everything the LORD had commanded him to say, the priests and prophets and all the people seized him, shouting, “You must surely die!
- Jeremiah 26:20 Now there was another man prophesying in the name of the LORD, Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land the same things that Jeremiah did.
- Ezekiel 20:46 “Son of man, set your face toward the south, preach against it, and prophesy against the forest of the Negev.