Micah 6:15 (LSB)

Passage

You will sow but you will not reap. You will tread the olive but will not anoint yourself with oil; And the grapes, but you will not drink wine.

Nearby Context

Micah 6:13 So also I will make you sick, striking you down, Desolating you because of your sins.

Micah 6:14 You will eat, but you will not be satisfied, And your vileness will be in your midst. And you will try to remove something for safekeeping, But you will not cause anything to escape, And that which you do have escape, I will give to the sword.

Micah 6:15 You will sow but you will not reap. You will tread the olive but will not anoint yourself with oil; And the grapes, but you will not drink wine.

Micah 6:16 The statutes of Omri And all the works of the house of Ahab are kept; And in their counsels you walk. Therefore I will give you up as an object of horror And your inhabitants as an object of hissing, And you will bear the reproach of My people.”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "reap", "tread", "olive", "anoint", "yourself", "grapes", "drink", and "wine". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "reap" and "tread", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 14's "You will eat but you will not..." into verse 16's "The statutes of Omri And all the...", so "reap" and "tread" belong inside that flow. In Micah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "reap" and "tread" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.