Passage

Micah 6.1-2

Book: Micah · ASV

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. Hear ye now what Jehovah saith: Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. 2. Hear, O ye mountains, Jehovah's controversy, and ye enduring foundations of the earth; for Jehovah hath a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel."

"3. O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. 4. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam." (Micah 6:1-4, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"1. Listen now to what Yahweh says: “Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear what you have to say. 2. Hear, you mountains, Yahweh’s controversy, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for Yahweh has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel."

"3. My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me! 4. For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage. I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam." (Micah 6:1-4, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. ^{before: or, with} 2. Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD'S controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel."

"3. O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. 4. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam." (Micah 6:1-4, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. Hear, I pray you, that which Jehovah is saying: 'Rise, strive thou with the mountains, And cause thou the hills to hear thy voice.' 2. Hear, O mountains, the strife of Jehovah, Ye strong ones, foundations of earth! For a strife [is] to Jehovah, with His people, And with Israel He doth reason."

"3. O My people, what have I done to thee? And what, have I wearied thee? Testify against Me. 4. For I brought thee up from the land of Egypt, And from the house of servants I have ransomed thee, And I send before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam." (Micah 6:1-4, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: YHWH through Micah of Moresheth
Audience: Judah, with the mountains and enduring foundations of the earth summoned as cosmic witnesses
Location: Judah; possibly Jerusalem
Time period: late 8th century BC, contemporary with Isaiah; reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah

Theological reading

The verse opens Micah's most-formal covenant-lawsuit (rîb) pericope. The Hebrew uses [[H8085 - shama|shama]] three times in two verses, shimu na et asher YHWH omer ("hear ye now what Jehovah saith"), ve-tishma'nah ha-geva'ot qoli ("let the hills hear thy voice"), shimu harim et riv YHWH ("hear, O ye mountains, Jehovah's controversy"). The cosmic-witness summons parallels Deut 32:1 ("Give ear, ye heavens") and Isa 1:2 ("Hear, O heavens"); Micah's variation summons the mountains and foundations, the geological-permanence as witness to the permanence of YHWH's claim. The technical term rîb (often rendered "controversy") is the legal-jurisprudential term for a covenant-lawsuit; YHWH brings formal-charge against His covenant-people, with the heavens, earth, mountains, and foundations as witnesses to the original Sinai-covenant-stipulations now violated. The lawsuit culminates in the famous Mic 6:8, "he hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God?", the OT's most-quoted ethical-summary, which functions as the defense's verdict in the lawsuit: YHWH has not over-demanded; He has demanded only the covenantal-essence.

Key words

H8085 - shama, shimu, the threefold-imperative opening the lawsuit; the load-bearing covenantal-hearing verb.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.