Micah 2

International Standard Version

³ “Therefore this is what the Lord says,
‘I’m crafting evil against this family,
    from which you can’t escape.^[d]
You won’t strut around arrogantly,
    because the times are evil.’
⁴ “When this happens,^[e] someone will compose a proverb about you, lamenting sorrowfully,
    ‘We are completely ruined!
        He has given my people’s heritage to others.^[f]
    How he has removed it from me,
        dividing up our fields!’
⁵ “This is why there will not be left even a single person
    to settle boundary disputes^[g] in the Lord’s community.
⁶ To those who speak out, they will declare,
    ‘Don’t prophesy to anyone!’
        so their shame won’t go away.

⁷ “It is said, house of Jacob,
    ‘The Spirit of the Lord is limited,
        if he acts this way, is he not?’
“But my words benefit those who live righteously, do they not?
⁸ Lately my people have acted like an enemy—
    you strip travelers who thought they were^[h] as secure
        as those who return from war.
⁹ You have evicted the wives of my people from their dream homes;
    you have removed my majesty from their children permanently.

¹⁰ “Get up and go,
    because there’s no rest for you here!
Since everything^[i] is polluted, it can only cause destruction,
    even heavy destruction.
¹¹ Suppose a man who keeps company with a deceiving spirit prophesies like this:
    ‘Drink wine and strong drink!’
        Won’t the people accept him as a prophet?”