Bible Strands
Micah 6:1
Hear now what the LORD says: “Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The LORD speaks through Micah, addressing His own people Israel at the opening of a formal divine lawsuit. The mountains and hills are summoned as witnesses, not the accused.
The words — רִיב (rîḇ, H7378) is the legal term for conducting a case or pleading a dispute; it frames what follows as a courtroom proceeding, not a sermon.
The thread — The same summons of creation as witness appears in Deuteronomy 32:1 (heavens and earth), Micah 1:2 (earth and all in it), and Jeremiah 22:29 (land, hear), each introducing a divine indictment.
Why it lands — The verse places the reader on the defendant's side of the courtroom; the mountains are the ones who must listen, which means the people have already lost the right to be the audience.
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
Hear ye now what the Lord saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 22:29 O land, land, land, hear the word of the LORD!
- Deuteronomy 32:1 Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
- Micah 1:2 Hear, O peoples, all of you; listen, O earth, and everyone in it! May the Lord GOD bear witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple.
- Ezekiel 36:1 “And you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say: O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD.
- Psalms 50:4 He summons the heavens above, and the earth, that He may judge His people:
- Deuteronomy 4:26 I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live long upon it, but will be utterly destroyed.
- Isaiah 1:2 Listen, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the LORD has spoken: “I have raised children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against Me.
- Ezekiel 36:8 But you, O mountains of Israel, will produce branches and bear fruit for My people Israel, for they will soon come home.
- Psalms 50:1 A Psalm of Asaph. The Mighty One, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from where the sun rises to where it sets.
- Luke 19:40 “I tell you,” He answered, “if they remain silent, the very stones will cry out.”