Woe to Oppressors 1 UST Terrible things will happen to you who lie awake in bed at night planning how to do evil things. You get up at dawn and you do those things, simply because you are able to do them. BSB BSB: Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands.
2 UST You want fields that belong to other people, so you forcefully take them; you want their houses, so you steal them. You cheat people and take away their property, including what their families have owned for generations. BSB BSB: They covet fields and seize them; they take away houses. They deprive a man of his home, a fellow man of his inheritance.
3 UST So this is what Yahweh says,“Listen to me! I am planning to destroy you people, and you will not be able to escape from it. You will no longer be able to act proudly, because you will be experiencing terrible things. BSB BSB: Therefore this is what the LORD says: “I am planning against this nation a disaster from which you cannot free your necks. Then you will not walk so proudly, for it will be a time of calamity.
4 UST At that time, your enemies will mock you by singing this very sad song about you,‘Yahweh has completely destroyed us{ Israelites}! Yahweh is taking the portions of land away from us{ that he had given to us}! We are extremely distressed because he is giving our fields to our enemies!’” BSB BSB: In that day they will take up a proverb against you and taunt you with this bitter lamentation: ‘We are utterly ruined! He has changed the portion of my people. How He has removed it from me! He has allotted our fields to traitors.’”
5 UST So when Yahweh’ s people{ return to} divide up the land{ again}, no one from your families will be there to receive any of it. BSB BSB: Therefore, you will have no one in the assembly of the LORD to divide the land by lot.
Reproof of False Prophets (Ezekiel 13:1–16)
6 UST False prophets{ who hear me say this} prophesy to me,“Do not prophesy!” They do not prophesy about these things, therefore Yahweh will certainly dishonor{ them}. BSB BSB: “Do not preach,” they preach. “Do not preach these things; disgrace will not overtake us.”
7 UST You descendants of Jacob should not say such things as,“Yahweh does not become impatient.” Or“These are not the kinds of things that he does.” What I say certainly helps those who do what is right. BSB BSB: Should it be said, O house of Jacob, “Is the Spirit of the LORD impatient? Are these the things He does?” Do not My words bring good to him who walks uprightly?
8 UST { However, Yahweh says,}“Recently my people have turned against me and become my enemies. When people pass by feeling safe, like soldiers returning from battle{ to their own people}, you strip the fine outer garments right off their fronts. BSB BSB: But of late My people have risen up like an enemy: You strip off the splendid robe from unsuspecting passersby like men returning from battle.
9 UST You force the women among my people out of the homes that they love, and you take away from their children forever the good things that I wanted to give them. BSB BSB: You drive the women of My people from their pleasant homes. You take away My blessing from their children forever.
10 UST So get up and leave! This land is no longer a place where you can live. You have made it unacceptable to me by your sins, so I will destroy it in a way that is severe.” BSB BSB: Arise and depart, for this is not your place of rest, because its defilement brings destruction—a grievous destruction!
11 UST If someone who speaks nothing but lies were to say,“I will preach that you should drink wine and beer!” that is the kind of prophet you people would accept. BSB BSB: If a man of wind were to come and say falsely, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” he would be just the preacher for this people!
The Remnant of Israel (Micah 5:7–15)
12 UST “However, some day I will certainly gather all of you descendants of Jacob. I will certainly bring together the Israelite people who survive. I will bring them together in one place, as a shepherd gathers a flock of sheep into a good pasture. They will make a lot of noise because there will be very many of them. BSB BSB: I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob; I will collect the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in the midst of its pasture—a noisy throng.
13 UST I will send someone who will open the way in front of them, and they will follow behind him, going out through the gate. Their king will go before them, and{ I,} Yahweh, will be the one leading them.” BSB BSB: One who breaks open the way will go up before them; they will break through the gate, and go out by it. Their King will pass through before them, the LORD as their leader.