Micah 2:2

2 And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away; and they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.

Micah 2:2 Meaning and Commentary

Micah 2:2

And they covet fields, and take [them] by violence
The fields of their poor neighbours, which lie near them, and convenient for them; they wish they were theirs, and they contrive ways and means to get them into their possession; and if they cannot get them by fair means, if they cannot persuade them to sell them, or at their price, they will either use some crafty method to get them from them, or they will take them away by force and violence; as Ahab got Naboth's vineyard from him: and houses, and take [them] away;
they covet the houses of their neighbours also, and take the same course to get them out of their hands, and add them to their own estates: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage;
not only dispossess him of his house to dwell in, but of his paternal inheritance, what he received from his ancestors, and should have transmitted to his posterity, being unalienable; and so distressed a man and his family for the present, and his posterity after him. The Vulgate Latin version is, "they calumniate a man and his house"; which seems to be designed to make it agree with the story of Ahab, ( 1 Kings 21:13 ) .

Micah 2:2 In-Context

1 Woe to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds! When the morning is light they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.

2 And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away; and they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.

3 Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Behold, against this family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks; neither shall ye walk haughtily: for it is an evil time.

4 In that day shall they take up a proverb concerning you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, [and] say, We are utterly spoiled: he hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed it from me! He hath distributed our fields to the rebellious.

5 Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast the measuring line upon a lot, in the congregation of Jehovah.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or 'defraud,' see Ezek. 22.12.
• [b]. Geber, Job 3.3.
• [c]. Ish, Gen. 2.23.