Minor Prophets · Chapter 2 of 7

Micah 2

Micah pronounces woe on the powerful who lie awake scheming how to seize the fields and houses of others, oppressing families and stealing inheritances. God devises a fitting disaster against them. They silence the true prophets and prefer those who promise wine and plenty. Yet the chapter ends with a promise of gathering: God will assemble the remnant like sheep, and the Breaker will go before them, their king leading them out.

What happens in Micah 2

Micah cries woe on those who lie on their beds plotting evil and carry it out at daybreak because they have the power. They covet fields and seize them, take houses, and defraud families of their inheritance. Therefore God is devising a disaster against this family from which they cannot pull their necks, and their own portion will be measured out to strangers. The oppressors try to silence Micah, but he answers that God's words do good to those who walk uprightly, while these have risen as enemies, stripping the robes of the peaceful and casting women from their pleasant homes.

He tells them to depart, for this polluted land is no longer their rest. The people prefer a prophet who promises wine and strong drink. Yet the chapter closes with hope: God will gather the remnant of Israel like a flock, and the Breaker will go up before them, their king passing on ahead, the LORD at their head.

Micah 2 in context

Micah confronts the land grabbing of Judah's wealthy and powerful, who used legal and economic force to dispossess ordinary families of the ancestral inheritances that Israelite law was meant to protect. The chapter also depicts the conflict between Micah and false prophets who told the people only what they wanted to hear.

It closes with an abrupt but powerful promise of a gathered remnant led out by a royal deliverer.

Main themes of Micah 2

Micah 2 (KJV)

1Woe 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. 2And 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. 3Therefore 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. 4In 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. 5Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the LORD. 6Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy: they shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take shame. 7O 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? 8Even 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. 9The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses; from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever. 10Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction. 11If 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. 12I 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. 13The 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.

Verses to carry from Micah 2

“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.”Micah 2:1

“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.”Micah 2:2

“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.”Micah 2:13

Reflection

Micah exposes how easily power turns desire into oppression, and how tempting it is to want only messages that soothe us. Ask whether you welcome God's correcting word or quietly prefer voices that promise only comfort. And consider whether your advantages are ever used, even subtly, at the expense of someone weaker.

A prayer from Micah 2