Immerse: Prophets - Flipbook - Page 57
1:16–2:7
M icah
Oh, people of Judah, shave your heads in sorrow,
for the children you love will be snatched away.
Make yourselves as bald as a vulture,
for your little ones will be exiled to distant lands.
What sorrow awaits you who lie awake at night,
thinking up evil plans.
You rise at dawn and hurry to carry them out,
simply because you have the power to do so.
When you want a piece of land,
you find a way to seize it.
When you want someone’s house,
you take it by fraud and violence.
You cheat a man of his property,
stealing his family’s inheritance.
But this is what the Lord says:
“I will reward your evil with evil;
you won’t be able to pull your neck out of the
noose.
You will no longer walk around proudly,
for it will be a terrible time.”
In that day your enemies will make fun of you
by singing this song of despair about you:
“We are finished,
completely ruined!
God has confiscated our land,
taking it from us.
He has given our fields
to those who betrayed us.”
Others will set your boundaries then,
and the Lord’s people will have no say
in how the land is divided.
“Don’t say such things,”
the people respond.
“Don’t prophesy like that.
Such disasters will never come our way!”
Should you talk that way, O family of Israel?
Will the Lord’s Spirit have patience with such
behavior?
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