Micah 2 KJV
Woe to Oppressors
Micah Chapter 2: Woe to Oppressors
The reversal in verse 3, where God devises an 'evil' (ra'ah) against the schemers, applies the covenantal principle of measure-for-measure judgment by turning their own predatory planning back upon them as inescapable calamity.
1oe 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: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.
3 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, against this family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks; neither shall ye go haughtily: for this time is evil.
4 In that day shall one take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, and say, We be utterly spoiled: he hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed it from me! turning away he hath divided our fields.
5 Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the LORD.
6 Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy: they shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take shame.
7 O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the LORD straitened? are these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?
8 Even of late my people is risen up as an enemy: ye pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from war.
9 The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses; from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever.
10 Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.
11 If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.
12 I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.
13 The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their king shall pass before them, and the LORD on the head of them.
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Did You Know?
The reversal in verse 3, where God devises an 'evil' (ra'ah) against the schemers, applies the covenantal principle of measure-for-measure judgment by turning their own predatory planning back upon them as inescapable calamity.
Verse 13's portrayal of 'the breaker' (happoretz) leading the people through the gate draws on ancient Near Eastern divine-warrior motifs and anticipates later messianic readings that connect this figure to a deliverer who breaches barriers, echoing Exodus and Davidic conquest imagery.
The abrupt shift from oracles of doom (vv. 1-5) to the remnant's restoration (vv. 12-13) creates a compressed 'doom-hope' pattern that structures Micah's overall rhetoric and mirrors the editorial shaping seen in other eighth-century prophetic books.
Reference to casting lots for inheritance in verse 5 alludes to the Joshua-era land division (Josh 18-19) while indicting the elite for undermining the tribal allotment system, thereby threatening Israel's covenant identity tied to specific territories.
The sarcastic question in verse 7 about whether the Spirit of the Lord is 'straitened' employs a rare verb implying spatial constriction, rhetorically exposing how the people's moral corruption has effectively limited their experience of divine power and patience.