Micah 6:13 (YLT)

Passage

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

Nearby Context

Micah 6:11 Do I reckon <FI>it<Fi> pure with balances of wickedness? And with a bag of deceitful stones?

Micah 6:12 Whose rich ones have been full of violence, And its inhabitants have spoken falsehood, And their tongue <FI>is<Fi> deceitful in their mouth.

Micah 6:13 And I also, I have begun to smite thee, To make desolate, because of thy sins.

Micah 6:14 Thou--thou eatest, and thou art not satisfied, And thy pit <FI>is<Fi> in thy midst, And thou removest, and dost not deliver, And that which thou deliverest, to a sword I give.

Micah 6:15 Thou--thou sowest, and thou dost not reap, Thou--thou treadest the olive, And thou pourest not out oil, And new wine--and thou drinkest not wine.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "begun", "smite", "thee", "make", "desolate", and "sins". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "begun" and "smite", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 12's "Whose rich ones have been full of..." into verse 14's "Thou--thou eatest and thou art not satisfied...", so "begun" and "smite" 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 "begun" and "smite" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.