Micah 2

Woe to Oppressors

1Woe to those who devise wickedness
and work out evil upon their beds.
When the morning light comes,
they carry it out,
because it is in the power of their hand.

2They covet fields and seize them,
and houses and take them away.
They oppress a man and his house,
a man and his inheritance.

3Therefore thus says the LORD:
“Behold,
I am devising against this family a disaster
from which you cannot remove your necks.
You shall not walk proudly,
for it will be a time of calamity.

4In that day
they shall take up a taunt against you
and lament with bitter lamentation,
saying,
‘We are utterly ruined.
He changes the portion of my people.
How he removes it from me.
To the faithless he apportions our fields.’”

5Therefore you shall have no one
to cast the measuring line by lot
in the assembly of the LORD.

The People Reject the Prophets

6“Do not preach,” they preach.
“One should not preach of such things.
Disgrace will not overtake us.”

7Should this be said,
O house of Jacob?
Has the Spirit of the LORD become impatient?
Are these his deeds?
Do not my words do good
to the one who walks uprightly?

8But lately my people
have risen up as an enemy.
You strip the robe from the garment
from those who pass by trustingly,
returning from war. 9The women of my people
you drive out from their pleasant houses.
From their young children
you take away my glory forever.

10Arise and go,
for this is no place of rest,
because it is defiled;
it is ruined
with a grievous destruction.

11If a man should go about
with wind and falsehood,
saying,
“I will preach to you
of wine and strong drink,”
he would be the preacher for this people.

Promise of Restoration

12I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob.
I will surely assemble the remnant of Israel.
I will set them together like sheep in a fold,
like a flock in its pasture.
They shall be noisy with the multitude of people.

13The one who breaks through
goes up before them.
They break through and pass through the gate
and go out by it.
Their king passes on before them,
the LORD at their head.