Woe to Oppressors
1Woe 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.
2They covet fields and seize them;
they take away houses.
They deprive a man of his home,
a fellow man of his inheritance.
3Therefore this is what Yahweh 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.
4In 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.’”
5Therefore, you will have no one in the assembly of Yahweh
to divide the land by lot.
Reproof of False Prophets// Ezekiel 13:1–16
6“Do not preach,” they preach.
“Do not preach these things;
disgrace will not overtake us.”
7Should it be said, O house of Jacob,
“Is the Spirit of Yahweh impatient?
Are these the things He does?”
Do not My words bring good
to him who walks uprightly?
8But of late My people have risen up
like an enemy:
You strip off the splendid robe
from unsuspecting passersby
like men returning from battle.
9You drive the women of My people
from their pleasant homes.
You take away My blessing
from their children forever.
10Arise and depart,
for this is not your place of rest,
because its defilement brings destruction—
a grievous destruction!
11If 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
12I 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.
13One 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,
Yahweh as their leader.