Bible Strands
Micah 6:15
You will sow but not reap; you will press olives but not anoint yourselves with oil; you will tread grapes but not drink the wine.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Yahweh pronounces judgment on Israel for covenant unfaithfulness, immediately following His declaration that saved resources will be given to the sword. The prophet delivers this oracle against a nation that has adopted the religious and political practices of Omri and Ahab.
The words — The Hebrew תִזְרַ֖ע (tiz.Ra') means "you will sow," while תִקְצ֑וֹר (tik.Tzor) means "you will reap." The conjunction וְ/לֹא (ve./Lo') negates the expected outcome, structurally linking the agricultural commands to their frustrated results.
The thread — This pattern of futile labor appears in Jeremiah 12:13, where sown wheat yields thorns, and in Zephaniah 1:13, where built houses remain uninhabited. Amos 5:11 similarly warns that trampling the poor will prevent enjoyment of stone houses.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that covenant rebellion renders human effort meaningless before divine judgment. It requires the reader to confront the direct consequence of rejecting God's statutes without offering comfort or excuse.
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
Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine.
Cross-references
- Zephaniah 1:13 Their wealth will be plundered and their houses laid waste. They will build houses but not inhabit them, and plant vineyards but never drink their wine.
- Amos 5:11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact from him a tax of grain, you will never live in the stone houses you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted.
- Jeremiah 12:13 They have sown wheat but harvested thorns. They have exhausted themselves to no avail. Bear the shame of your harvest because of the fierce anger of the LORD.”
- Leviticus 26:20 and your strength will be spent in vain. For your land will not yield its produce, and the trees of the land will not bear their fruit.
- Deuteronomy 28:38 You will sow much seed in the field but harvest little, because the locusts will consume it.
- Isaiah 62:8 The LORD has sworn by His right hand and by His mighty arm: “Never again will I give your grain to your enemies for food, nor will foreigners drink the new wine for which you have toiled.
- Haggai 1:6 You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough. You drink but never have your fill. You put on clothes but never get warm. You earn wages to put into a bag pierced through.”
- Isaiah 65:21 They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
- Joel 1:10 The field is ruined; the land mourns. For the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, and the oil fails.