Micah 2
1 Woe [to] those devising iniquity, And working evil on their beds, In the morning light they do it, For their hand is—to God.
Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plan on their beds to do evil. In the morning light they do it because they have power.
2 And they have desired fields, And they have taken violently, And houses, and they have taken away, And have oppressed a man and his house, Even a man and his inheritance.
They desire fields and seize them; they desire houses and take them. They oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.
3 Therefore, thus said YHWH: “Behold, I am devising against this family calamity, From which you do not remove your necks, Nor walk loftily, for it [is] a time of evil.
Therefore Yahweh says this, “Look, I am about to bring disaster against this clan, from which you will not remove your necks. You will not walk arrogantly, for it will be an evil time.
4 In that day [one] takes up for you an allegory, And he has wailed a wailing of woe, He has said, We have been utterly spoiled, The portion of my people He changes, How He moves toward me! To the backslider our fields He apportions.
In that day men will sing a song about you, and lament with a wailing lamentation. They will sing, 'We Israelites are completely ruined; Yahweh changes the territory of my people. How can he remove it from me? He portions out our fields to traitors!'”
5 Therefore, you have no caster of a line by lot In the assembly of YHWH.
Therefore, you rich people will have no descendants to divide up the territory by lot in the assembly of Yahweh.
6 You do not prophesy—they prophesy, They do not prophesy to these, It does not remove shame.
“Do not prophesy,” they say. “They must not prophesy these things; reproaches must not come.”
7 [Those] named the house of Jacob: Has the Spirit of YHWH been shortened? Are these His doings? Do My words not benefit the people that are walking uprightly?
Should it really be said, house of Jacob, “Is the Spirit of Yahweh angry? Are these really his deeds?” Do not my words do good to anyone who walks uprightly?
8 And recently My people raise up as an enemy, You strip off the honorable ornament from the outer garment, From the confident passers by, You who are turning back from war.
Lately my people have risen up like an enemy. You strip the robe, the garment, from those who pass by unsuspectingly, as soldiers return from war to what they think is safety.
9 The women of My people you cast out from its delightful house, From its sucklings you take away My honor for all time.
You drive the women belonging to my people from their pleasant houses; you take my blessing from their young children forever.
10 Rise and go, for this [is] not the rest, Because of uncleanness it corrupts, And corruption is powerful.
Get up and leave, for this is not a place where you can stay, because of its uncleanness; it is destroyed with complete destruction.
11 If one is going [with] the wind, And [with] falsehood has lied: I prophesy to you of wine, and of strong drink, He has been the prophet of this people!
If someone comes to you in a spirit of falsehood and lies and says, “I will prophesy to you about wine and strong drink,” he would be considered to be a prophet for this people.
12 I surely gather you, O Jacob, all of you, I surely bring together the remnant of Israel, Together I set it as the flock of Bozrah, As a drove in the midst of its pasture, It makes a noise because of man.
I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob. I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a fold, like a flock in the midst of their pasture. There will be a loud noise because of the multitude of people.
13 The breaker has gone up before them, They have broken through, Indeed, they pass through the gate, Indeed, they go out through it, And their king passes on before them, And YHWH at their head!”
Someone who breaks open their way for them will go ahead of them. They break through the gate and go out; their king will pass on before them. Yahweh will be at their head.
