Micah

Woe to Oppressors

1Woe to those who devise iniquityand plot evil on their beds!At morning’s light they accomplish itbecause the power is in their hands.

2They covet fields and seize them;they take away houses.They deprive a man of his home,a fellow man of his inheritance.

3Therefore this is what the LORD says: “I am planning against this nation a disasterfrom which you cannot free your necks.Then you will not walk so proudly,for it will be a time of calamity.

4In that day they will take up a proverb against youand taunt you with this bitter lamentation:‘We are utterly ruined!He has changed the portion of my people.How He has removed it from me!He has allotted our fields to traitors.’”

5Therefore, you will have no one in the assembly of the LORDto divide the land by lot.

Reproof of False Prophets

6“Do not preach,” they preach.“Do not preach these things; disgrace will not overtake us.”

7Should it be said, O house of Jacob,“Is the Spirit of the LORD impatient? Are these the things He does?” Do not My words bring goodto him who walks uprightly?

8But of late My people have risen uplike an enemy:You strip off the splendid robefrom unsuspecting passersby like men returning from battle.

9You drive the women of My peoplefrom their pleasant homes.You take away My blessingfrom their children forever.

10Arise and depart,for this is not your place of rest,because its defilement brings destruction—a grievous destruction!

11If a man of wind were to comeand say falsely,“I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,”he would be just the preacher for this people!

The Remnant of Israel

12I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob;I will collect the remnant of Israel.I will bring them together like sheep in a pen,like a flock in the midst of its pasture— a noisy throng.

13One who breaks open the waywill go up before them;they will break through the gate,and go out by it.Their King will pass through before them,the LORD as their leader.

1Woe 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.

2And 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.

3Therefore 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.

4In 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?

5Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast the cord of a lot in the assembly of the Lord.

6Speak ye not, saying: It shall not drop upon these, confusion shall not take them.

7The 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?

8But 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.

9You 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.

10Arise 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.

11Would 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.

12I 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.

13For 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.