Micah 2

Woe to the Oppressors

1  a Woe to those who devise wickedness
and work evil b on their beds!
When the morning dawns, they perform it,
because it is in the power of their hand.
 2 They covet fields and c seize them,
and houses, and take them away;
they oppress a man and his house,
a man and his inheritance.
 3 Therefore thus says the  Lord:
behold, against d this family I am devising disaster ▼
▼ The same Hebrew word can mean evil or  disaster, depending on the context

from which you cannot remove your necks,
and you f shall not walk haughtily,
g for it will be a time of disaster.
 4 In that day h they shall take up a taunt song against you
and moan bitterly,
and say, “We are utterly ruined;
i he changes the portion of my people;
j how he removes it from me!
k To an apostate he allots our fields.”
 5 Therefore you will have none l to cast the line by lot
in the assembly of the  Lord.
 6  m “Do not preach”—thus they preach—
n “one should not preach of such things;
o disgrace will not overtake us.”
 7 Should this be said, O house of Jacob?
p Has the  Lord grown impatient? ▼
▼ Hebrew  Has the spirit of the  Lord grown short?

Are these his deeds?
Do not my words do good
to him who walks uprightly?
 8 But lately r my people have risen up as an enemy;
you strip the rich robe from those who pass by trustingly
with no thought of war. ▼
▼ Or returning from war

 9 The women of my people you drive out
from their delightful houses;
from their young children you take away
my splendor forever.
 10  t Arise and go,
for this is no u place to rest,
because of v uncleanness that destroys
with a grievous destruction.
 11 If a man should go about and w utter wind and lies,
saying, “I will preach to you x of wine and strong drink,”
he would be the preacher for this people!
 12 I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob;
y I will gather z the remnant of Israel;
I will set them together
like sheep in a fold,
aa like a flock in its pasture,
a noisy multitude of men.
 13  ab He who opens the breach goes up before them;
they break through and pass the gate,
ac going out by it.
Their king passes on before them,
ad the  Lord at their head.
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