Micah 2 Contemporary English Version

Punishment for Those Who Abuse Their Power

2 Doomed! You're doomed!
At night you lie in bed,
    making evil plans.
And when morning comes,
you do what you've planned
    because you have the power.
²You grab any field or house
    that you want;
you cheat families
    out of homes and land.

³But here is what the Lord says:
“I am planning trouble for you.
Your necks will be caught
in a noose,
and you will be disgraced
in this time of disaster.”

⁴When that happens,
this sorrowful song
    will be sung about you:
“Ruined! Completely ruined!
The Lord has taken our land
    and given it to traitors.”^[a]
⁵And so you will never again
own property
    among the Lord's people.

⁶“Enough of your preaching!”
That's what you tell me.
“We won't be disgraced,
so stop preaching!”

⁷Descendants of Jacob,
    is it right for you to claim
that the Lord did what he did
    because he was angry?
Doesn't he always bless
    those who do right?
⁸My people, you have turned against
    one another!
You have even stolen
    clothes right off the backs
of innocent neighbors
    who pass by in peace.^[b]
⁹You take over lovely homes
that belong to the women
    of my nation.
Then you cheat their children
out of the inheritance
    that comes from the Lord.^[c]

¹⁰Get out of here, you crooks!
    You'll find no rest here.
You're not fit to belong
to the Lord's people,
    and you will be destroyed.^[d]
¹¹The only prophet you want
is a liar who will say,
    “Drink and get drunk!”

A Promise of Hope

¹²I, the Lord, promise
    to bring together
the people of Israel
    who have survived.
I will gather them,
    just as a shepherd
brings sheep together,
    and there will be many.
¹³I will break down the gate
and lead them out—
    then I will be their king.

Footnotes

2.4 The Lord … traitors: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
2.8 of innocent neighbors … peace: Or “of your unsuspecting soldiers returning home from battle.”
2.9 inheritance … Lord: The Hebrew text has “my glory,” which refers to the inheritance of land that the Lord had promised his people.
2.10 destroyed: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.