Micah — Chapter 6

Quid dignum offeram Domino

'Wherewith shall I come to meet the Lord?' The interrogator asks whether rams, oil, or even firstborn children would suffice. À Lapide reads this as a catechetical dialogue on the nature of acceptable worship. The escalating offers (rams, oil, firstborn) model the logic of cultic substitution taken to its limit; verse 8's answer overturns the entire framework by demanding interior virtue rather than exterior sacrifice.

Indicabo tibi o homo quid sit bonum

'I will show thee, O man, what is good and what the Lord requireth of thee: verily to do judgment and to love mercy and to walk solicitous with thy God.' À Lapide calls this the Old Testament's perfect summary of the moral law. He aligns the three elements with the three theological virtues: doing judgment (faith operative in justice), loving mercy (charity), walking humbly (hope in dependence on God). He cites Origen, Chrysostom, and Jerome on the verse's comprehensive scope.