Micah 2
Good News Translation
The Fate of Those Who Oppress the Poor
2 How terrible it will be for those who lie awake and plan evil! When morning comes, as soon as they have the chance, they do the evil they planned. 2 When they want fields, they seize them; when they want houses, they take them. No one's family or property is safe.
3 And so the Lord says, “I am planning to bring disaster on you, and you will not be able to escape it. You are going to find yourselves in trouble, and then you will not walk so proudly any more. 4 When that time comes, people will use the story about you as an example of disaster, and they will sing this song of despair about your experience:
We are completely ruined!
The Lord has taken our land away
And given it to those who took us captive.”[a]
5 So then, when the time comes for the land to be given back to the Lord's people, there will be no share for any of you.
6 The people preach at me and say, “Don't preach at us. Don't preach about all that. God is not going to disgrace us. 7 Do you think the people of Israel are under a curse?[b] Has the Lord lost his patience? Would he really do such things? Doesn't he[c] speak kindly to those who do right?”
8 The Lord replies, “You attack my people[d] like enemies. Men return from battle, thinking they are safe at home, but there you are, waiting to steal the coats off their backs. 9 You drive the women of my people out of the homes they love, and you have robbed their children of my blessings forever. 10 Get up and go; there is no safety here any more. Your sins have doomed this place to destruction.
11 “These people want the kind of prophet who goes around full of lies and deceit and says, ‘I prophesy that wine and liquor will flow for you.’
12 “But I will gather you together, all you people of Israel that are left. I will bring you together like sheep returning to the fold. Like a pasture full of sheep, your land will once again be filled with many people.”
13 God will open the way for them and lead them out of exile. They will break out of the city gates and go free. Their king, the Lord himself, will lead them out.
Micah 2
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Social Evils Denounced
2 Woe to those who devise wickedness
and evil deeds[a] on their beds!
When the morning dawns, they perform it,
because it is in their power.(A)
2 They covet fields and seize them,
houses and take them away;
they oppress householder and house,
people and their inheritance.(B)
3 Therefore thus says the Lord:
Now, I am devising against this family an evil
from which you cannot remove your necks,
and you shall not walk arrogantly,
for it will be an evil time.(C)
4 On that day they shall take up a taunt song against you
and wail with bitter lamentation
and say, “We are utterly ruined;
the Lord[b] alters the inheritance of my people;
how he removes it from me!
Among our captors[c] he parcels out our fields.”(D)
5 Therefore you will have no one in the Lord’s assembly
to allot you a piece of land.(E)
6 “Do not preach”—thus they preach—
“one should not preach of such things;
disgrace will not overtake us.”(F)
7 Should this be said, O house of Jacob?
Is the Lord’s patience exhausted?
Are these his doings?
Do not my words do good
to one who walks uprightly?
8 But you rise up against my people[d] as an enemy;
you strip the robe from the peaceful,[e]
from those who pass by trustingly
with no thought of war.
9 The women of my people you drive out
from their pleasant houses;
from their young children you take away
my glory forever.
10 Arise and go,
for this is no place to rest,
because of uncleanness that destroys
with a violent destruction.(G)
11 If someone were to go about uttering empty falsehoods,
saying, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,”
such a one would be the preacher for this people!(H)
A Promise for the Remnant of Israel
12 I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob;
I will gather the survivors of Israel;
I will set them together
like sheep in a fold,
like a flock in its pasture;
it will resound with people.(I)
13 The one who breaks out will go up before them;
they will break through and pass the gate,
going out by it.
Their king will pass on before them,
the Lord at their head.(J)
Micah 2
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
2 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 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 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 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 thou shalt have none that shall cast the cord of a lot in the assembly of the Lord.
6 Speak ye not, saying: It shall not drop upon these, confusion shall not take them.
7 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 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 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 there is no rest here for you. For that uncleanness of the land, it shall be corrupted with a grievous corruption.
11 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 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 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.
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