Micah 2
1 Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds! When the morning is light they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand.
Terrible things will happen to you who lie awake at night, planning to do wicked things. You get up at dawn, and you do those things, [as soon as] you are able to do them.
2 And they covet fields, and seize them, and houses, and take them away. And they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.
You want fields [that belong to other people], so you seize them; you also take their houses. You cheat people to get their homes, taking away the property that belongs to their families.
3 Therefore thus says Jehovah: Behold, I devise an evil against this family, from which ye shall not remove your necks, nor shall ye walk haughtily, for it is an evil time.
Therefore, this is what Yahweh says: “I will cause you people to experience disasters, and you will not be able to escape [MTY] from them. You will no [longer] walk around proudly, because when those things happen, it will be a time of much trouble for you.
4 In that day they shall take up a taunt against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation. And say, We are utterly ruined. He changes the portion of my people. How he removes it from me! He divides our fields to the rebellious.
At that time, [your enemies] will make fun of you; they will ridicule you by singing this sad song about you: ‘We are completely ruined; Yahweh is taking our land/fields from us, and he will give it to those who will capture us.’”
5 Therefore thou shall have nobody to cast the line by lot in the assembly of Jehovah.
So [when it is the time for the land to be given back to you] people who belong to Yahweh, there will be no one [MTY] who will be able to (cast lots/throw marked stones) to determine which land belongs to whom.
6 Prophesy ye not, they prophesy. They shall not prophesy to these, so reproaches shall not depart.
The people [who heard me say that] replied to me, “Do not prophesy such things! Do not say that [Yahweh] is going to humiliate us [by causing us to experience disasters]!”
7 Shall it be said, O house of Jacob, Is the Spirit of Jehovah restricted? Are these his doings? Do not my words do good to him who walks uprightly?
But you people [MTY] of Israel should not [RHQ] talk like that! The Spirit of Yahweh will certainly not [RHQ] be patient [with people who say such things]! People who continually do things that are righteous will certainly [RHQ] like/appreciate what I say.
8 But of late my people have risen up as an enemy. Ye strip off the robe with the garment from those who pass by securely as men turning back from war.
[But Yahweh says], “[Recently] my people have been acting toward me like an enemy. When soldiers return from fighting [against their enemies], you [rich people refuse to return the coats of those poor soldiers who have borrowed money from you] [and given you their coats to guarantee that they will pay back the money that they borrowed from you]. [It is as though] you are waiting to forcefully take their coats off their backs!
9 Ye cast out the women of my people from their pleasant houses. Ye take away my glory from their young sons forever.
You have forced women to leave their nice homes, and you have stolen from their children forever the (blessings/good things) that I wanted to give them.
10 Arise ye, and depart, for this is not your resting-place, because of uncleanness that destroys, even with a grievous destruction.
[So] get up and leave [here]! This is not a place where you can rest [and be safe/protected], because you have (defiled it/caused it to be a place that I hate); it will be completely destroyed.
11 If a man walking in a spirit of falsehood lies, saying, I will prophesy to thee of wine and of strong drink, he shall even be the prophet of this people.
[You people want] a prophet who will lie to you, saying ‘I will preach [that you should drink] plenty of wine and [other] alcoholic drinks!’ That is the [kind of] prophet who [would please] you.”
12 I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee. I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as a flock in the midst of their pasture. They shall make great noise because of the multitude of men.
“[But some day], you descendants of Jacob, you Israeli people who have survived, I will bring you back [from (exile/other countries)], I will gather you together like [SIM] [a shepherd gathers his] sheep from the pasture into a pen [DOU]; there will be many of you in your land/country.
13 The breaker has gone up before them. They have broken forth and passed on to the gate, and have gone out there. And their king has passed on before them, and Jehovah at the head of them.
Your leader will enable them to leave the countries where they have been exiled; he will lead them out of the gates [of their enemies’ cities], [back to your own country]. Your king will lead them; [it is I], Yahweh, who will be their king!”
