Micah 6:8 (KJV): meaning and how to memorise it

What Micah 6:8 says

The prophet tells Israel what the Lord requires: to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.

Micah 6:8 in context

⁵O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord. ⁶Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? ⁷Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? ⁸He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? ⁹The Lord’s voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it. ¹⁰Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable? ¹¹Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?

Micah 6, verses 5–11. Read the whole chapter with John Brown’s notes in the Self-Interpreting Bible.

Micah 6:8 in the catechisms

The Reformation catechisms and confessions cite Micah 6:8 7 times as a proof text.

WSC 3
What do the Scriptures principally teach?
WSC 39
What is the duty which God requireth of man?
WLC 91
What is the duty which God requireth of man?
WLC 95
Of what use is the moral law to all men?
WLC 104
What are the duties required in the first commandment?
WLC 192
What do we pray for in the third petition?
WCF 16.1
Good works are only such as God hath commanded in his holy Word, and not such as, without the warrant thereof, are devised by men out of blind zeal, or upon any pretense of…

How to memorise Micah 6:8

Hearers breaks the verse into clauses and teaches each clause in four steps. Then it brings each clause back just before you forget it.

01
Read
Read the verse with the clauses marked. Listen to it read aloud.
02
Trace
Type the first letter of each word, with the words shown faintly.
03
Fade
Half of the words go. Type the text again, and fill the gaps from memory.
04
Recall
All the words go. Type it or say it aloud. Each clause gets its own grade and its own review date.