Bible Strands
Micah 6:7
Would the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Micah poses rhetorical questions to Israel regarding their approach to worship. He addresses the people at a moment when they are questioning what sacrifices will satisfy God.
The words — The text uses יִרְצֶה (yir.Tzeh) for "will he take pleasure" and אֵילִים ('ei.Lim) for "rams." These terms frame the inquiry around divine satisfaction and standard livestock offerings.
The thread — This theme of questioning sacrificial adequacy appears in 1 Samuel 15:22 and Psalms 51:16, where obedience and inner disposition replace ritual volume. The extreme example of offering a firstborn echoes the condemned practices recorded in 2 Kings 16:3.
Why it lands — The verse demands a direct examination of whether external religious volume substitutes for genuine moral alignment. It requires the reader to reject transactional worship in favor of the justice, mercy, and humility outlined in the immediate context.
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
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 16:3 Instead, he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
- 1 Samuel 15:22 But Samuel declared: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to His voice? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams.
- Psalms 51:16 For You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You take no pleasure in burnt offerings.
- Psalms 50:9 I have no need for a bull from your stall or goats from your pens,
- Hosea 6:6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
- 2 Kings 3:27 So he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him, and offered him as a burnt offering on the city wall. And there was great fury against the Israelites, so they withdrew and returned to their own land.
- 2 Kings 21:6 He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced sorcery and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.
- 2 Kings 23:10 He also desecrated Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so that no one could sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech.
- Jeremiah 7:31 They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so they could burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I never commanded, nor did it even enter My mind.
- Leviticus 18:21 You must not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.