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.

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.

COMMENTARY by Dr. Dave Burnette

Written By: God through Inspiration

Penned By: Micah

Date Penned: BC 742-687

Overview: To Warn God's People of Judgement and to Repent (c 1-7)

Theme: The Trial of the Captives (c 1-2)

Message: God will Remove Injustice (v 1-13)

Micah 2 Commentary

(2:1) Micah warned against those who use their position to take advantage of others. Less than a century earlier King Ahab of Israel had pouted because he couldn't get Naboth's vineyard. So his wife, Jezebel, had Naboth killed in order to give the garden to Ahab (1 Kings 21) This kind of immorality had spread throughout Judah and like a disease, was destroying the nation from the inside out. Many are victims of unethical attempts to take what little they have and give it to those who are more powerful, Some of these actions may be legally permissible, but they are not morally acceptable to God. Being legal does not make it right.

(2:2) Micah spoke out against those who planned evil deeds at night and rose at dawn to do them. A person's thoughts reflect his character. What do you think about as you lie down to sleep? Do your desires involve greed or stepping on others to achieve your goals? Evil thoughts lead to evil deeds.

(2:5) Those who have been oppressing others will find the tables turned. They will end up not having any share in the divisions to divide the land because they won't have any surviving relatives.

(2:6,7) If these messages seem harsh, remember God did not want to take revenge on Israel, He wanted to get them back on the right path. The people had rejected what was true and right, and they needed stern discipline. Children may think discipline is harsh, but it helps keep them on the right path. If we only want God's comforting messages, we may miss what he has for us. Listen whenever God speaks, even when the message is hard to take.

(2:11) The people liked the false prophets who told them only what they wanted to hear. Micah spoke against prophets who encouraged the people to feel comfortable in their sin. Preachers are popular when they don't ask too much of us. When they tell us our greed or lust might be good for us we know they are false but a true teacher speaks the truth in love, no matter how it is received.

(2:12,13) Michah's prophecy telescopes two great events- Judah's return from captivity in Babylon and the great gathering of all believers when the Messiah returns. God gave his prophets visions of various future events, but not necessarily the ability to discern when these events would happen. For example: they could not see the long period of time between Babylonian captivity and the coming of the Messiah, but they could clearly see that the Messiah was coming. The purpose of this prophecy was not to predict exactly how this would occur, but that it would. This gave the people hope and help to keep themselves from sin.

LIFE APPLICATION by Dr. Dave Burnette

Each day we walk through the Bible chapter by chapter making an application of our text to help us grow in the Lord. Many applications can be made from each day's text. Today we continue with the book of Micah with Chapter 2. In our text today we see Micah speaking out against those who plan evil deeds explaining how God removes those who do injustice. In making application we see how to handle those who do evil or wrong to us by simply giving it over to the Lord. The Lord will fight our battles and remove those who do us wrong. Today it seems like evil is winning but rest assured that the Lord will remove the injustice and we need to reach out to the lost before they face a certain judgement. How about you? Do you understand that the Lord will fight our battles for us? Let us learn from our text today and the Warning of Micah to see that the Lord will judge those who do injustice so we need to give those who wrong us over to the Lord who will fight our battles for us and bring judgement to those who refuse to repent.