Micah 1 · Verse 7

Micah 1:7

And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot.
Micah 1:7, King James Version

Micah 1:7 in other translations

BSBAll her carved images will be smashed to pieces; all her wages will be burned in the fire, and I will destroy all her idols. Since she collected the wages of a prostitute, they will be used again on a prostitute.
WEBAll her idols will be beaten to pieces, all her temple gifts will be burned with fire, and I will destroy all her images; for of the hire of a prostitute has she gathered them, and to the hire of a prostitute shall they return.”
ASVAnd all her graven images shall be beaten to pieces, and all her hires shall be burned with fire, and all her idols will I lay desolate; for of the hire of a harlot hath she gathered them, and unto the hire of a harlot shall they return.
YLTAnd all her graven images are beaten down, And all her gifts are burnt with fire, And all her idols I make a desolation, For, from the hire of a harlot she gathered, and unto the hire of a harlot they return.
DARBYAnd all her graven images shall be beaten to pieces, and all her harlot-gifts shall be burned with fire, and all her idols will I make a desolation; for of the hire of a harlot hath she gathered them, and to a harlot's hire shall they return.
BBEAnd all her pictured images will be hammered into bits, and all the payments for her loose ways will be burned with fire, and all the images of her gods I will make waste: for with the price of a loose woman she got them together, and as the price of a loose woman will they be given back.
WebsterAnd all her graven images shall be beaten to pieces, and all her hires shall be burned with the fire, and all her idols will I lay desolate: for she gathered it from the hire of a harlot, and they shall return to the hire of a harlot.

What does Micah 1:7 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
7. all the hires--the wealth which Israel boasted of receiving from her idols as the "rewards" or "hire" for worshipping them (Ho 2:5, 12). idols ... will I ... desolate--that is, give them up to the foe to strip off the silver and gold with which they are overlaid. she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot--Israel gathered (made for herself) her idols from the gold and silver received from false gods, as she thought, the "hire" of her worshipping them; and they shall again become what they had been before, the hire of spiritual harlotry, that is, the prosperity of the foe, who also being worshippers of idols will ascribe the acquisition to their idols [Maurer]. Grotius explains it, The offerings sent to Israel's temple by the Assyrians, whose idolatry Israel adopted, shall go back to the Assyrians, her teachers in idolatry, as the hire or fee for having taught it. The image of a harlot's hire for the supposed temporal reward of spiritual fornication, is more common in Scripture (Ho 9:1).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 7 All the hires thereof shall be burned - Multitudes of women gave the money they gained by their public prostitution at the temples for the support of the priesthood, the ornamenting of the walls, altars, and images. So that these things, and perhaps several of the images themselves, were literally the hire of the harlots: and God threatens here to deliver all into the hands of enemies who should seize on this wealth, and literally spend it in the same way in which it was acquired; so that "to the hire of a harlot these things should return."

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Micah 1:1-7

The earth is called upon, with all that are therein, to hear the prophet. God's holy temple will not protect false professors. Neither men of high degree, as the mountains, nor men of low degree, as the valleys, can secure themselves or the land from the judgments of God. If sin be found in God's people he will not spare them; and their sins are most provoking to him, for they are most reproaching. When we feel the…

Read the full comment on Micah 1:1-7 →

Micah 1:7 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וְכָל\־ve.kholand allH3605
פְּסִילֶ֣יהָpe.si.Lei.haimages itsH6456
יֻכַּ֗תּוּyu.Ka.tuthey will be crushedH3807
וְכָל\־ve.kholand allH3605
אֶתְנַנֶּ֙יהָ֙'et.na.Nei.hahire<s> itsH868
יִשָּׂרְפ֣וּyi.sa.re.Futhey will be burnedH8313
בָאֵ֔שׁva.'Eshwith <the> fireH784
וְכָל\־ve.kholand allH3605
עֲצַבֶּ֖יהָ'a.tza.Bei.haidols itsH6091
אָשִׂ֣ים'a.SimI will makeH7760
שְׁמָמָ֑הshe.ma.Maha wasteH8077
כִּ֠יkiforH3588
מֵאֶתְנַ֤ןme.'et.Nanfrom [the] hire ofH868
זוֹנָה֙zo.Naha prostituteH2181
קִבָּ֔צָהki.Ba.tzahit gathered [them]H6908
וְעַד\־ve.'ad-and toH5704
אֶתְנַ֥ן'et.Nan[the] hire ofH868
זוֹנָ֖הzo.Naha prostituteH2181
יָשֽׁוּבוּ\׃ya.Shu.vuthey will returnH7725

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Micah 1:7

  • Deuteronomy 23:18

    Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the Lord thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the Lord thy God.

  • Hosea 2:12

    And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.

  • Hosea 8:6

    For from Israel was it also: the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.

  • Hosea 10:5-6

    The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Beth–aven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it. It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to king Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.

  • Revelation 18:3

    For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

  • Leviticus 26:30

    And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.

  • 2 Kings 23:14-15

    And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men. Moreover the altar that was at Beth–el, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove.

  • 2 Chronicles 34:6-7

    And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about. And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.

  • Joel 3:3

    And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.

  • Isaiah 27:9

    By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up.

  • Hosea 2:5

    For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.

  • Jeremiah 44:17-18

    But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
all the graven.
Le 26:30; 2Ki 23:14,15; 2Ch 31:1; 34:6,7; Isa 27:9; Ho 8:6; 10:5,6
the hires.
Jer 44:17,18; Ho 2:5,12
for.
De 23:18; Joe 3:3; Re 18:3,9,12,13

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Micah 1:6

    Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof.

  • Micah 1:7

    And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot.

  • Micah 1:8

    Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.

Read all of Micah 1

Micah 1:7 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
Y todas sus estatuas serán despedazadas, y todos sus dones serán quemados en fuego, y asolaré todos sus ídolos; porque de dones de rameras los juntó, y á dones de rameras volverán.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
Et toutes ses images taillées seront mises en pièces; et tous ses présents de prostitution seront brûlés au feu; et je mettrai en désolation toutes ses idoles; car c’est avec un présent de prostituée qu’elle les a rassemblées, et elles redeviendront un présent de prostituée.
German
Elberfelder 1871
Und alle ihre gegossenen Bilder werden zerschlagen und alle ihre Hurengeschenke mit Feuer verbrannt werden, und ich werde alle ihre Götzenbilder zur Wüste machen; denn sie hat sie durch Hurenlohn gesammelt, und zum Hurenlohn sollen sie wieder werden.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Et omnia sculptilia ejus concidentur, et omnes mercedes ejus comburentur igne, et omnia idola ejus ponam in perditionem, quia de mercedibus meretricis congregata sunt, et usque ad mercedem meretricis revertentur.