Bible Strands
Micah 6:10
Can I forget any longer, O house of the wicked, the treasures of wickedness and the short ephah, which is accursed?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses the "house of the wicked" while calling the city to heed the rod He ordained (Micah 6:9). He immediately poses a rhetorical question about overlooking their corrupt practices before moving to judgment.
The words — The Hebrew od (still) and ra.Zon (scantness) frame the inquiry into God's tolerance of dishonest commerce. The text explicitly names the "treasures of wickedness" and the cursed "short ephah" used to cheat buyers.
The thread — This condemnation of fraudulent measures echoes the denunciation of dishonest scales in Proverbs 20:10 and the warning that wealth gained through deception is fleeting in Proverbs 21:6. The theme of hoarding ill-gotten gain in fortified places appears in Amos 3:10.
Why it lands — The passage demands recognition that corrupt economic systems are not neutral business practices but direct violations of divine justice. Readers must abandon deceptive weights and measures because God explicitly refuses to ignore or excuse such wickedness.
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
Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable?
Cross-references
- Amos 3:10 “For they know not how to do right,” declares the LORD. “They store up violence and destruction in their citadels.”
- Proverbs 20:10 Differing weights and unequal measures—both are detestable to the LORD.
- Proverbs 21:6 Making a fortune by a lying tongue is a vanishing mist, a deadly pursuit.
- Jeremiah 5:26 For among My people are wicked men; they watch like fowlers lying in wait; they set a trap to catch men.
- Amos 8:5 asking, “When will the New Moon be over, that we may sell grain? When will the Sabbath end, that we may market wheat? Let us reduce the ephah and increase the shekel; let us cheat with dishonest scales.
- Leviticus 19:35 You must not use dishonest measures of length, weight, or volume.
- Deuteronomy 25:13 You shall not have two differing weights in your bag, one heavy and one light.
- Joshua 7:1 The Israelites, however, acted unfaithfully regarding the things devoted to destruction. Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of what was set apart. So the anger of the LORD burned against the Israelites.
- 2 Kings 5:23 But Naaman insisted, “Please, take two talents.” And he urged Gehazi to accept them. Then he tied up two talents of silver in two bags along with two sets of clothing and gave them to two of his servants, who carried them ahead of Gehazi.
- Proverbs 10:2 Ill-gotten treasures profit nothing, but righteousness brings deliverance from death.