The Meaning of Micah 6:13 Explained

Micah 6:13

KJV: Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins.

YLT: And I also, I have begun to smite thee, To make desolate, because of thy sins.

Darby: Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee; I will make thee desolate because of thy sins.

ASV: Therefore I also have smitten thee with a grievous wound; I have made thee desolate because of thy sins.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Therefore also will I make [thee] sick  in smiting  thee, in making [thee] desolate  because of thy sins. 

What does Micah 6:13 Mean?

Verse Meaning

Because of these sins the Lord promised to make His people sick, downtrodden, and desolate.

Context Summary

Micah 6:1-16 - "what Doth The Lord Require Of Thee?"
In Micah 6:1-4 the prophet returns from his vision of the future to the actual condition of his people, which was utterly desperate. The mountains, as the most enduring monuments of nature, are summoned as witnesses in the great trial between Jehovah and His people. Like Israel, we have been delivered from the house of bondage with infinite love, but how wayward and willful we have been! Micah 6:5-8 prove the impotence of a religion which is only external.
Few have known more sublime truth than Baalim, Micah 6:5, but he loved the wages of unrighteousness; and this eclipsed the divine radiance that became overcast and finally overwhelmed. Micah 6:9-11 reveal the fruitlessness of a life of sin. Sooner or later nature herself becomes unresponsive-sowing, but no harvest; the treading of the press, but no juice. The only path to real satisfaction and peace is in the love and faithful service of God. Why are we so slow to tread it? [source]

Chapter Summary: Micah 6

1  God's punishment for ingratitude;
6  for ignorance,
10  for injustice;
16  and for idolatry

What do the individual words in Micah 6:13 mean?

Therefore also I will make [you] sick by striking you by making [you] desolate because of your sins
וְגַם־ אֲנִ֖י הֶחֱלֵ֣יתִי הַכּוֹתֶ֑ךָ הַשְׁמֵ֖ם עַל־ חַטֹּאתֶֽךָ

וְגַם־  Therefore  also 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Conjunction
Root: גַּם  
Sense: also, even, indeed, moreover, yea.
הֶחֱלֵ֣יתִי  will  make  [you]  sick 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Perfect, first person common singular
Root: חָלָה 
Sense: to be or become weak, be or become sick, be or become diseased, be or become grieved, be or become sorry.
הַכּוֹתֶ֑ךָ  by  striking  you 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Infinitive construct, second person masculine singular
Root: נָכָה  
Sense: to strike, smite, hit, beat, slay, kill.
הַשְׁמֵ֖ם  by  making  [you]  desolate 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Infinitive absolute
Root: שָׁמֵם  
Sense: to be desolate, be appalled, stun, stupefy.
עַל־  because 
Parse: Preposition
Root: עַל 
Sense: upon, on the ground of, according to, on account of, on behalf of, concerning, beside, in addition to, together with, beyond, above, over, by, on to, towards, to, against.
חַטֹּאתֶֽךָ  of  your  sins 
Parse: Noun, feminine plural construct, second person masculine singular
Root: חַטָּאָה 
Sense: sin, sinful.