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