Micah 2
1 Woe to you who devise useless things and who work evil in your beds. In the morning light, they undertake it, because their hand is against God.
Woe to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds! When the morning is light, they execute it, because it is in the power of their hand.
2 And they have desired fields and have taken them by violence, and they have stolen houses. And they have made false accusations against a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.
And they covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take them away; thus they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.
3 For this reason, thus says the Lord: Behold, I devise an evil against this family, from which you will not steal away your necks. And you will not walk in arrogance, because this is a most wicked time.
Therefore thus saith the LORD: Behold, against this family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks, neither shall ye walk upright; for it shall be an evil time.
4 In that day, a parable will be taken up about you, and a song will be sung with sweetness, saying: “We have been devastated by depopulation.” The fate of my people has been altered. How can he withdraw from me, when he might be turned back, he who might tear apart our country?
In that day shall they take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, and say: 'We are utterly ruined; he changeth the portion of my people; how doth he remove it from me! Instead of restoring our fields, he divideth them.'
5 Because of this, there will be for you no casting of the cord of fate in the assembly of the Lord.
Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast the line by lot in the congregation of the LORD.
6 Do not speak by saying, “It will not drop on these ones; shame will not embrace them.”
'Preach ye not', they preach; 'They shall not preach of these things, that they shall not take shame.'
7 The house of Jacob says, “Has the Spirit of the Lord been weakened, or are such things his thoughts?” Are not my words good for him who walks uprightly?
Do I change, O house of Jacob? Is the spirit of the LORD straitened? Are these His doings? Do not My words do good to him that walketh uprightly?
8 But, to the contrary, my people have risen up in opposition. You have lifted the cover from the undergarment, and those who passed by harmlessly, you have converted into war.
But of late My people is risen up as an enemy; with the garment ye strip also the mantle from them that pass by securely, so that they are as men returning from war.
9 You have evicted the women among my people from their delicate houses. You have taken my praise forever from their little ones.
The women of My people ye cast out from their pleasant houses; from their young children ye take away My glory for ever.
10 Rise and depart, for there is no relief for you here. Because of its uncleanness, it will be corrupted with a most wicked decay.
Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your resting-place; because of the uncleanness thereof, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.
11 I wish that I were not a man who has breath, and that I rather spoke a lie. I will drop it down to you in wine and in drunkenness. And it will be this people on whom it will rain down.
If a man walking in wind and falsehood do lie: 'I will preach unto thee of wine and of strong drink'; he shall even be the preacher of this people.
12 I will gather together in a congregation all of you, Jacob. I will lead together as one, the remnant of Israel. I will set them together like a flock in the fold, like a sheep in the midst of the sheep pen. They will cause a tumult before the multitude of men.
I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will render them all as sheep in a fold; as a flock in the midst of their pasture; they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.
13 For he will ascend, opening the way before them. They will separate, and they will cross the gate and enter through it. And their king will pass by, before their very eyes, and the Lord will be at their head.
The breaker is gone up before them; they have broken forth and passed on, by the gate, and are gone out thereat; and their king is passed on before them, and the LORD at the head of them.
