Micah 2
1 Woe to those that devise wickedness, and resolve on evil upon their couches! by the first light of the morning they execute it, if they have it in the power of their hand.
Woe to you that devise that which is unprofitable, and work evil in your beds: in the morning light they execute it, because their hand is against God.
2 And they covet fields, and rob them; and houses, and take them away: so they defraud the master and his house, and the man and his heritage.
And they have coveted fields, and taken them by violence, and houses they have forcibly taken away: and oppressed a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.
3 Therefore thus hath said the Lord, Behold, I will devise against this family an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks; nor shall ye go erect; for it is an evil time.
Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold, I devise an evil against this family: from which you shall not withdraw your necks, and you shall not walk haughtily, for this is a very evil time.
4 On that day shall one take up a parable against you, and lament with a mournful lamentation, and say, “We are utterly wasted: the portion of my people hath he exchanged; how hath he removed it from me! instead of restoring [them to us] he divideth our fields.”
In that day a parable shall be taken up upon you, and a song shall be sung with melody by them that say: We are laid waste and spoiled: the portion of my people is changed: how shall he depart from me, whereas he is returning that will divide our land?
5 Therefore shalt thou have none that shall draw the [measuring] cord in [his] lot in the congregation of the Lord.
Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast the cord of a lot in the assembly of the Lord.
6 “Preach not;” [but] they shall preach: they shall not preach [indeed] to these, that reproach may not overtake them.
Speak ye not, saying: It shall not drop upon these, confusion shall not take them.
7 Shall it be said [in] the house of Jacob, Is the spirit of the Lord straightened? are these his doings? Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?
The house of Jacob saith: Is the spirit of the Lord straitened, or are these his thoughts? Are not my words good to him that walketh uprightly?
8 But long since is my people risen up as an enemy: from the garment do you pull off the ornament; of those that pass by securely [ye make] men returned from war.
But my people, on the contrary, are risen up as an enemy: you have taken away the cloak off from the coat: and them that passed harmless you have turned to war.
9 The wives of my people do you drive out of their delightful houses; from their children do ye take away my ornament for ever.
You have cast out the women of my people from their houses, in which they took delight: you have taken my praise for ever from their children.
10 Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your resting-place; because it is polluted, it shall destroy [you], even with a grievous destruction.
Arise ye, and depart, for there is no rest here for you. For that uncleanness of the land, it shall be corrupted with a grievous corruption.
11 If a man that goeth after wind and lieth with falsehood [should say], “I will preach unto thee of wine and of strong drink:” he would be a preacher for this people.
Would God I were not a man that hath the spirit, and that I rather spoke a lie: I will let drop to thee of wine, and of drunkenness: and it shall be this people upon whom it shall drop.
12 I will [once] surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather up the remnant of Israel; I will place them together as flocks in the fold, as droves in the midst of their pen: they shall be crowded with men.
I will assemble and gather together all of thee, O Jacob: I will bring together the remnant of Israel, I will put them together as a flock in the fold, as the sheep in the midst of the sheepcotes, they shall make a tumult by reason of the multitude of men.
13 The wall-breaker cometh up before them; they break in and pass through the gate, and go out by it: and their king passeth on before them, and the Lord at their head.
For he shall go up that shall open the way before them: they shall divide, and pass through the gate, and shall come in by it: and their king shall pass before them, and the Lord at the head of them.
