112 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Wherewith shall I come before the Lord,.... These are not the words of the people of Israel God had a controversy with, and now made sensible of their sin, and humbled for it; and willing to appease the Lord, and make it up with him at any rate; for there are such things proposed by them as do by no means suit with persons of such a character,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,.... If single burnt offerings of bullocks and heifers will not do, will rams, and thousands of them, be acceptable to him? if they will, they are at his service, even as many as he pleases; such creatures, as well as oxen, were offered by Balak, Numbers 23:1; [or] with ten thousands of rivers of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
He hath showed me, O man, what [is] good,.... This is not the answer of the prophet to the body of the people, or to any and every one of the people of Israel; but of Balaam to Balak, a single man, that consulted with him, and put questions to him; particularly what he should do to please the Lord, and what righteousness he required of him, that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The Lord's voice crieth unto the city,.... The Lord having bid his prophet call to the mountains and hills to hear his voice, and the prophet having obeyed his will, and the Lord having by him addressed his people Israel, and expostulated with them about their ingratitude, observing to them many instances of his goodness; here informs them, that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Are there yet the treasures of wickedness the house of the wicked?.... There are; they continue there. This is the voice of the Lord by the prophet, and the language of the rod of correction to be heard, exposing the sins of the people, for which the Lord had a controversy with them; particularly their mammon of unrighteousness, the vast wealth,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Shall I count [them] pure with the wicked balances,.... These are the words either of the prophet, or rather of God, signifying that he could not, and would not, allow, countenance, and approve of persons that used false scales or balances; or justify and reckon them just, as they would be thought to be, but condemn them, and pronounce them very...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For the rich men thereof are full of violence,.... That is, the rich men of the city, to whom the voice of the Lord cried, Micah 6:9. Jerusalem or Samaria, or any or all the cities of Israel and Judah; the rich men of these cities, who had enough of the world, and were under no temptation to do an ill thing, to get money; and yet their hands and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee,.... With the rod to be heard, Micah 6:9; by sending among them some of his sore judgments, as famine, pestilence, the sword of the enemy, internal wars, and the like; which should cause their kingdom, and state, and families, to decline and waste away, as a sickly and diseased body. So the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied,.... Either not having enough to eat, for the refreshing and satisfying of nature; or else a blessing being withheld from food, though eaten, and so not nourishing; or a voracious and insatiable appetite being given as a curse; the first sense seems best: and thy casting down [shall be] in the midst of thee;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thou shall sow, but thou shalt not reap,.... Either that which is sown shall not spring up, but rot in the earth; or if it does spring up, and come to maturity, yet, before that, they should be removed into captivity, or slain by the sword, and their enemies should reap the increase of their land, their wheat and their grain: thou shall tread the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For the statutes of Omri are kept,.... Who of a captain of the army was made king of Israel, and proved a wicked prince; he built Samaria, and set up idolatrous worship there, after the example of Jeroboam, in whose ways he walked, and, as it seems, established the same by laws and edicts; and which were everyone of them observed by the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Micah 7 This chapter begins with a lamentation of the prophet, in the name of the church and people of God, concerning the general depravity and corruption of the times in which he lived, Micah 7:1; then declares what he was determined to do for his relief in such circumstances, Micah 7:7; comforts himself and the church with a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Woe is me!.... Alas for me unhappy man that I am, to live in such an age, and among such a people, as I do! this the prophet says in his own name, or in the name of the church and people of God in his time; so Isaiah, who was contemporary with him, Isaiah 6:5; see also Psalms 120:5; for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The good [man] is perished out of the earth,.... Here the prophet expresses in plain words what he had before delivered in figurative terms. The "good" or "godly" man, as in Psalms 12:1; is one that has received the grace of God, and blessings of grace from him, and lives a godly life and conversation; who has the good work of grace begun in him...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
That they may do evil with both hands earnestly,.... Or "well" (t), strenuously, diligently, to the utmost of their power, labouring at it with all their might and main; as wicked men generally are more industrious, and exert themselves more to do evil than good men do to do good; and even weary themselves to commit iniquity: or, "instead of doing...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The best of them [is] as a brier,.... Good for nothing but for burning, very hurtful and mischievous, pricking and scratching those that have to do with them: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge; which, if a man lays hold on to get over, or attempts to pass through, his hands will be pricked, his face scratched, and his clothes tore off...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Trust ye not in a friend,.... This is not said to lessen the value of friendship; or to discourage the cultivation of it with agreeable persons; or to dissuade from a confidence in a real friend; or in the least to weaken it, and damp the pleasure of true friendship, which is one of the great blessings of life; but to set forth the sad degeneracy...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For the son dishonoureth the father,.... Speaks contemptibly of him; behaves rudely towards him; shows him no respect and reverence; exposes his failings, and makes him the object of his banter and ridicule; who ought to have honoured, reverenced, and obeyed him, being the instrument of his being, by whom he was brought up, fed, clothed, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore I will look unto the Lord,.... Here the prophet, in the name of the church and people of God, declares what he would do in such circumstances, since there was no dependence on men of any rank, in any relation or connection with each other; he resolved to look alone to the Lord, and put his trust in him; look up to the Lord in prayer, use...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy,.... These are the words of the prophet in the name of the church, continued in an apostrophe or address to his and their enemy; by whom may be meant, literally, the Chaldeans or Edomites, or both, who rejoiced at the destruction of Jerusalem, and the calamities the people of the Jews were brought into at it;...