Micah 2:1-11

Woe to Oppressors

1 Woe to those who ¹scheme iniquity, Who work out evil on their beds! ²When morning comes, they do it, For it is in the ³power of their hands.

2 They ⁴covet fields and then ⁵seize them, And houses, and take them away. They ⁶rob a man and his house, A man and his inheritance.

3 Therefore thus says the LORD, "Behold, I am ⁷planning against this ⁸family a calamity From which you ⁹cannot remove your necks; And you will not walk ¹⁰haughtily, For it will be an ¹¹evil time.

4 "On that day they will ¹²take up against you a taunt And ¹³utter a bitter lamentation and say, 'We are completely ¹⁴destroyed! He exchanges the portion of my people; How He removes it from me! To the apostate He ¹⁵apportions our fields.'

5 "Therefore you will have no one ¹⁶stretching a measuring line For you by lot in the assembly of the LORD.

6 '¹⁷Do not speak out,' so they speak out. But if they do ¹⁸not speak out concerning these things, ¹⁹Reproaches will not be turned back.

7 "Is it being said, O house of Jacob: 'Is the Spirit of the LORD ²⁰impatient? Are these His doings?' Do not My words ²¹do good To the one ²²walking uprightly?

8 "Recently My people have arisen as an ²³enemy - You ²⁴strip the robe * off the garment From ²⁵unsuspecting passers-by, From those returned from war.

9 "The women of My people you ²⁶evict, Each one from her pleasant house. From her children you take My ²⁷splendor forever.

10 "Arise and go, For this is no place ²⁸of rest Because of the ²⁹uncleanness that brings on destruction, A painful destruction.

11 "If a man walking after wind and ³⁰falsehood Had told lies and said, 'I will speak out to you concerning ³¹wine and liquor,' He would be spokesman to ³²this people.

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Micah 2:1-11 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO MICAH 2

In this chapter complaint is made of the sins of the people of Israel, and they are threatened with punishment for them. The sins they are charged with are covetousness, oppression, and injustice, which were premeditated, and done deliberately, Mic 2:1,2; therefore the Lord devised evil against them, they should not escape; and which would bring down their pride, and cause them to take up a lamentation, because they should not enjoy the portion of land that belonged to them, Mic 2:3-5; they are further charged with opposing the prophets of the Lord, the folly and wickedness of which is exposed, Mic 2:6,7; and with great inhumanity and barbarity, even to women and children, Mic 2:8,9; and therefore are ordered to expect and prepare for a removal out of their land, Mic 2:10; and the rather, since they gave encouragement and heed to false prophets, and delighted in them, Mic 2:11; and the chapter is concluded with words of comfort to the remnant among them, and with precious promises of the Messiah, and the blessings of grace by him, Mic 2:12,13.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 32

1. Psalms 36:4; Isaiah 32:7; Nahum 1:11
2. Hosea 7:6, 7
3. Genesis 31:29; Deuteronomy 28:32; Proverbs 3:27
4. Jeremiah 22:17; Amos 8:4
5. Isaiah 5:8
6. 1 Kings 21:1-15
7. Deuteronomy 28:48; Jeremiah 18:11
8. Jeremiah 8:3; Amos 3:1, 2
9. Lamentations 1:14; Lamentations 5:5
10. Isaiah 2:11, 12
11. Amos 5:13
12. Habakkuk 2:6
13. Jer 9:10, 17-21; Micah 1:8
14. Isaiah 6:11; Isaiah 24:3; Jeremiah 4:13
15. Jeremiah 6:12; Jeremiah 8:10
16. Num 34:13, 16-29; Deuteronomy 32:8; Joshua 18:4, 10
17. Isaiah 30:10; Amos 2:12; Amos 7:16
18. Isaiah 29:10; Micah 3:6
19. Micah 6:16
20. Isaiah 50:2; Isaiah 59:1
21. Ps 119:65, 68, 116; Jeremiah 15:16
22. Psalms 15:2; Psalms 84:11
23. Jeremiah 12:8
24. Micah 3:2, 3; Micah 7:2, 3
25. Psalms 120:6, 7
26. Jeremiah 10:20
27. Ezekiel 39:21; Habakkuk 2:14
28. Deuteronomy 12:9
29. Psalms 106:38
30. Jeremiah 5:31
31. Isaiah 28:7
32. Isaiah 30:10, 11

Footnotes 13

[a]. Lit "In the light of the morning"
[b]. Lit "oppress"
[c]. Or "proverb"
[d]. Lit "lament"
[e]. Lit "casting"
[f]. Lit "flow"
[g]. Lit "flow"
[h]. I.e. God's prophets
[i]. Lit "flow"
[j]. Lit "And yesterday"
[k]. Or "ornaments"
[l]. Lit "flow"
[m]. Lit "one who flows" oracles