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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.
They covet fields, and seize them;
    and houses, and take them away:
    and they oppress a man and his house,
    even a man and his heritage.
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.
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!’”
Therefore you will have no one who divides the land by lot in Yahweh’s assembly.
“Don’t prophesy!”
    They prophesy.
“Don’t prophesy about these things.
    Disgrace won’t overtake us.”
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?”
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.
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:
    “I will prophesy to you of wine and of strong drink;”
    he would be the prophet of this people.
12 I will surely assemble, Jacob, all of you;
    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.
    And their king passes on before them,
    with Yahweh at their head.

God’s Warning to His People

“Woe to those who are crafting iniquity,
planning evil well into the night![a]
When morning’s light comes,
    they carry out their plans[b] because they have the power to do so.
They covet fields and seize them;
    they covet[c] houses, and grab them, too.
They harass the valiant man, along with his household,
    an individual and his estate.

“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.’
“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!’
“This is why there will not be left even a single person
    to settle boundary disputes[g] in the Lord’s community.
To those who speak out, they will declare,
    ‘Don’t prophesy to anyone!’
        so their shame won’t go away.

“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?
Lately my people have acted like an enemy—
    you strip travelers who thought they were[h] as secure
        as those who return from war.
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?”

The Coming Judgment

12 “Jacob, how I will surely gather all of you!
    How I will gather the survivors of Israel!
I will gather them together like sheep in a pen,[j]
    like the flock in the midst of the sheepfold.
        There will be a great commotion because of all[k] the people.
13 God will stand up and break through[l] in their presence.
    Then they will pass through the gate, going out by it.
Their king will pass in front of them
    with the Lord at their head.”

Footnotes

  1. Micah 2:1 Lit. evil upon their beds
  2. Micah 2:1 The Heb. lacks their plans
  3. Micah 2:2 The Heb. lacks they covet
  4. Micah 2:3 Lit. can’t remove your necks
  5. Micah 2:4 Lit. In that day
  6. Micah 2:4 The Heb. lacks to others
  7. Micah 2:5 Lit. to stretch out a measuring line
  8. Micah 2:8 The Heb. lacks thought they were
  9. Micah 2:10 Lit. it
  10. Micah 2:12 Or sheep of Bozrah
  11. Micah 2:12 The Heb. lacks all
  12. Micah 2:13 Lit. The one who breaks through will arise

Human Plans and God’s Plans

Woe to those who plan iniquity,
    to those who plot evil(A) on their beds!(B)
At morning’s light they carry it out
    because it is in their power to do it.
They covet fields(C) and seize them,(D)
    and houses, and take them.
They defraud(E) people of their homes,
    they rob them of their inheritance.(F)

Therefore, the Lord says:

“I am planning disaster(G) against this people,
    from which you cannot save yourselves.
You will no longer walk proudly,(H)
    for it will be a time of calamity.
In that day people will ridicule you;
    they will taunt you with this mournful song:
‘We are utterly ruined;(I)
    my people’s possession is divided up.(J)
He takes it from me!
    He assigns our fields to traitors.’”

Therefore you will have no one in the assembly of the Lord
    to divide the land(K) by lot.(L)

False Prophets

“Do not prophesy,” their prophets say.
    “Do not prophesy about these things;
    disgrace(M) will not overtake us.(N)
You descendants of Jacob, should it be said,
    “Does the Lord become[a] impatient?
    Does he do such things?”

“Do not my words do good(O)
    to the one whose ways are upright?(P)
Lately my people have risen up
    like an enemy.
You strip off the rich robe
    from those who pass by without a care,
    like men returning from battle.
You drive the women of my people
    from their pleasant homes.(Q)
You take away my blessing
    from their children forever.
10 Get up, go away!
    For this is not your resting place,(R)
because it is defiled,(S)
    it is ruined, beyond all remedy.
11 If a liar and deceiver(T) comes and says,
    ‘I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,’(U)
    that would be just the prophet for this people!(V)

Deliverance Promised

12 “I will surely gather all of you, Jacob;
    I will surely bring together the remnant(W) of Israel.
I will bring them together like sheep in a pen,
    like a flock in its pasture;
    the place will throng with people.(X)
13 The One who breaks open the way will go up before(Y) them;
    they will break through the gate(Z) and go out.
Their King will pass through before them,
    the Lord at their head.”

Footnotes

  1. Micah 2:7 Or Is the Spirit of the Lord