What Does Micah 3:8 Mean in the King James?

But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.

Micah 3:8 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

Micah names two different fractures, a rebellion and a miss, through a voice filled with the LORD’s breath.

THE MEANING

This verse speaks now of speech filled with the LORD’s breath, judgment, and might, speech that names both rebellion and the mark missed in the community. It holds each rupture in view without blurring one into the other.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that every failure is only an accidental miss: Micah names rebellion alongside missing.

THE ROOT

רוּחַ

ruach

GROWS FROM

רוח

r-w-ḥ

Air in motion: wind or breath, and the animating force carried by breath.

“spirit” in this verse is ruach. ⁨רוּחַ⁩ (ruach, breath) is the LORD’s breath here, the same Hebrew word that can also mean wind. The line presents the speaker’s force to name what is wrong as coming through that breath.

ALSO GROWS

ruach: Wind, moving air

רוּחַ

Wind and breath are not separate Hebrew words here; the shared word joins their movement.

ruach: Breath, the air breathed

רוּחַ

This sense makes the LORD’s breath the source of the speaker’s voice and force.

ruach: Animating inward force

רוּחַ

This is often rendered “spirit” in English, while the Hebrew word still holds the breath within it.

פִּשְׁעוֹ

pishʿo

GROWS FROM

פשע

p-sh-ʿ

To rebel or break away.

The word translated “transgression” names rebellion, a breakaway, not just a general failure. Micah’s speech identifies that rupture plainly.

ALSO GROWS

pesha: Rebellion, a breakaway

פֶּשַׁע

This is the core noun behind Jacob’s “transgression.”

poshea: A rebel, one who breaks away

פּוֹשֵׁעַ

This form names the one acting in rebellion, keeping the word tied to an act rather than an abstract label.

חַטָּאתוֹ

chattaʾto

GROWS FROM

חטא

ḥ-ṭ-ʾ

To miss, or fail to hit the mark.

“sin” in this verse is chattaʾto. This word gives a second description beside rebellion: a missing. The verse holds both a breakaway and a miss in view, letting each be named with its own word.

ALSO GROWS

ḥata: To miss, to sin

חָטָא

The verb shows the action carried by the root beneath “sin.”

ḥote: One who misses, one who sins

חֹטֵא

This form describes the person in relation to the miss, giving the word a human dimension.

THE PATTERN

God-sourced speech names what is wrong, bringing rebellion and missing into the open.

Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.

Jeremiah 1:9 · KJVThe LORD places words in the speaker’s mouth, locating the source of the speech in God.

And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

John 16:8 · KJVThe coming one brings sin and judgment into view, as Micah’s declaration does.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

2 Timothy 3:16 · KJVGod’s breath stands behind words that expose what is wrong and make correction possible.

THE THREAD

And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day.

Ezekiel 2:3 · KJV

The word translated “transgressed” comes from ⁨פשע⁩ (p-sh-ʿ), the same root as Micah’s ⁨פֶּשַׁע⁩ (pesha, rebellion). Ezekiel makes that shared seed visible in a verse that also names a rebellious nation.

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