Micah 2 — Legacy Standard Bible

An Evil Time

2Woe to those who ^adevise wickedness,Who work out evil on their beds!^bWhen the light of the morning comes, they do it,For it is in the ^cpower of their hands.²And they ^acovet fields and then ^btear them away,And houses, and take them away.And they ^coppress a man and his house,A man and his inheritance.

³Therefore thus says Yahweh, “Behold, I am ^adevising against this ^bfamily an evil demiseFrom which you ^ccannot remove your necks;And you will not walk ^dhaughtily,For it will be an ^eevil time.

⁴“On that day they will ^atake up against you a ¹tauntAnd ²^,^butter a bitter wailing and say,‘We are completely ^cdevastated!He exchanges the portion of my people;How He removes it from me!To the faithless one, He ^dapportions our fields.’⁵“Therefore you will have no one ¹^,^astretching a measuring lineFor you by lot in the assembly of Yahweh.⁶‘^aDo not speak, dripping out words,’ they say while dripping out words.But if ¹they do ^bnot drip out words concerning these things,^cDishonor will not be turned back.⁷“Is it being said, O house of Jacob:‘Is the Spirit of Yahweh ^aimpatient?Are these His deeds?’Do not My words ^bdo goodTo the one ^cwalking uprightly?⁸“¹And recently My people have arisen as an ^aenemy—You ^bstrip the ²robe off the garmentFrom ^cunsuspecting passers-by,From those returned from war.⁹“The women of My people you ^adrive out,Each one from her pleasant house.From her infants you take My ^bsplendor forever.¹⁰“Arise and go,For this is no place ^aof restBecause of the ^buncleanness that wreaks destruction,A painful destruction.¹¹“If a man walking after wind and ^alyingHad acted falsely and said,‘I will speak, dripping out words to you concerning ^bwine and liquor,’He would be one who drips out words as a spokesman to ^cthis people.¹²“I will surely ^aassemble all of you, Jacob;I will surely gather the ^bremnant of Israel.I will put them together like sheep in the fold;Like a flock in the midst of its pastureThey will be noisy with men.¹³“The breaker goes up before them;They break out, pass through the gate, and go out by it.So their king goes on before them,And Yahweh at their head.”