Micah 2
World English Bible
2 Woe to those who devise iniquity
and work evil on their beds!
When the morning is light, they practice it,
because it is in the power of their hand.
2 They covet fields and seize them,
and houses, then take them away.
They oppress a man and his house,
even a man and his heritage.
3 Therefore Yahweh says:
“Behold, I am planning against these people a disaster,
from which you will not remove your necks,
neither will you walk haughtily,
for it is an evil time.
4 In that day they will take up a parable against you,
and lament with a doleful lamentation, saying,
‘We are utterly ruined!
My people’s possession is divided up.
Indeed he takes it from me and assigns our fields to traitors!’”
5 Therefore you will have no one who divides the land by lot in Yahweh’s assembly.
6 “Don’t prophesy!”—they prophesy—
“Don’t prophesy about these things.
Disgrace won’t overtake us.”
7 Shall it be said, O house of Jacob,
“Is Yahweh’s Spirit angry?
Are these his doings?
Don’t my words do good to him who walks blamelessly?”
8 But lately my people have risen up as an enemy.
You strip the robe and clothing from those who pass by without a care, returning from battle.
9 You drive the women of my people out from their pleasant houses;
from their young children you take away my blessing forever.
10 Arise, and depart!
For this is not your resting place,
because of uncleanness that destroys,
even with a grievous destruction.
11 If a man walking in a spirit of falsehood lies, saying,
“I will prophesy to you of wine and of strong drink,”
he would be the prophet of this people.
12 I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob.
I will surely gather the remnant of Israel.
I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah,
as a flock in the middle of their pasture.
They will swarm with people.
13 He who breaks open the way goes up before them.
They break through the gate, and go out.
Their king passes on before them,
with Yahweh at their head.
Micah 2
Living Bible
2 Woe to you who lie awake at night, plotting wickedness; you rise at dawn to carry out your schemes; because you can, you do. 2 You want a certain piece of land or someone else’s house (though it is all he has); you take it by fraud and threats and violence.
3 But the Lord God says, “I will reward your evil with evil; nothing can stop me; never again will you be proud and haughty after I am through with you. 4 Then your enemies will taunt you and mock your dirge of despair: ‘We are finished, ruined. God has confiscated our land and sent us far away; he has given what is ours to others.’” 5 Others will set your boundaries then. “The People of the Lord” will live where they are sent.
6 “Don’t say such things,” the people say. “Don’t harp on things like that. It’s disgraceful, that sort of talk. Such evils surely will not come our way.”
7 Is that the right reply for you to make, O House of Jacob? Do you think the Spirit of the Lord likes to talk to you so roughly? No! His threats are for your good, to get you on the path again.
8 Yet to this very hour my people rise against me. For you steal the shirts right off the backs of those who trusted you, who walk in peace.
9 You have driven out the widows from their homes and stripped their children of every God-given right. 10 Up! Begone! This is no more your land and home, for you have filled it with sin, and it will vomit you out.
11 “I’ll preach to you the joys of wine and drink”—that is the kind of drunken, lying prophet that you like!
12 “The time will come, O Israel, when I will gather you—all that are left—and bring you together again like sheep in a fold, like a flock in a pasture—a noisy, happy crowd. 13 The Messiah[a] will lead you out of exile and bring you through the gates of your cities of captivity, back to your own land. Your King will go before you—the Lord leads on.”
Footnotes
- Micah 2:13 The Messiah, literally, “He who opens the breach.”
by Public Domain. The name "World English Bible" is trademarked.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.