Micah 2:4

Verse

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.’”

American Standard Version (1901)

In that day shall they take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, and say, We are utterly ruined: he changeth the portion of my people: how doth he remove it from me! to the rebellious he divideth our fields.

Bible in Basic English

In that day this saying will be said about you, and this song of grief will be made: The heritage of my people is measured out, and there is no one to give it back; those who have made us prisoners have taken our fields from us, and complete destruction has come to us.

Douay-Rheims 1899

In that day a parable shall be taken up upon you, and a song shall be sung with melody by them that say: We are laid waste and spoiled: the portion of my people is changed: how shall he depart from me, whereas he is returning that will divide our land?

Free Bible Version

On that day they will make up a saying to taunt you. With a mocking lament they will say, “We are totally ruined! Our possessions are being sold off. They've taken everything away, and given our fields to your conquerors.”

Geneva Bible 1599

In that daye shall they take vp a parable against you, and lament with a dolefull lamentation, and say, We be vtterly wasted: hee hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he taken it away to restore it vnto mee? he hath deuided our fieldes.

King James (Authorized) Version

¶ 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.

Translation for Translators

At that time, your enemies will make fun of you; they will ridicule you by singing this sad song about you: ‘We are completely ruined; Yahweh is taking our land/fields from us, and he will give it to those who will capture us.’ ”

Unlocked Literal Bible

In that day men will sing a song about you, and lament with a wailing lamentation. They will sing, 'We Israelites are completely ruined; Yahweh changes the territory of my people. How can he remove it from me? He portions out our fields to traitors!'”

Noah Webster Bible

In that day shall one take up a parable against you, and lament with a grievous lamentation, and say, We are utterly wasted: he hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed it from me! turning away he hath divided our fields.

World English Bible

In that day they will take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, saying, ‘We are utterly ruined! My people’s possession is divided up. Indeed he takes it from me and assigns our fields to traitors!’”

Young's Literal Translation

In that day doth [one] take up for you a simile, And he hath wailed a wailing of woe, He hath said, We have been utterly spoiled, The portion of my people He doth change, How doth He move toward me! To the backslider our fields He apportioneth.

Context

Woe to Oppressors

³Therefore 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. 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.’”

Sermons

Living That Grieves the Spirit

A.W. Tozer

Summary

Micah 2:4 condemns those who devise evil plans and plot wicked schemes, warning that God will bring disaster upon them. The verse emphasizes that God is against those who exploit and oppress others for their own gain, promising that they will not find success in their deceitful ways. This passage serves as a reminder that God's justice will ultimately prevail, holding wrongdoers accountable for their actions and protecting the vulnerable from harm.

Commentary

Adam Clarke
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
John Gill
Tyndale

Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

Take up a parable against you - Your wickedness and your punishment shall be subjects of common conversation; and a funeral dirge shall be composed and sung for you as for the dead. The lamentation is that which immediately follows: We be utterly spoiled; and ends, Are these his doings? Mic 2:7.

John Gill Bible Commentary

In that day shall one take up a parable against you,.... Making use of your name, as a byword, a proverb, a taunt, and a jeer; mocking at your calamities and miseries: or, "concerning you" (c); take up and deliver out a narrative of your troubles, in figurative and parabolical expressions; which Kimchi thinks is to be understood of a false prophet, finding his prophecies and promises come to nothing; or rather a stranger, a bystander, a spectator of their miseries, an insulting enemy, mimicking and representing them; or one of themselves, in the name of the rest: and lament with a doleful lamentation; or, "lament a lamentation of lamentation" (d): a very grievous one; or, "a lamentation that is", or "shall be", or "is done" (e); a real one, and which will continue: and say, we be utterly spoiled; our persons, families, and friends; our estates, fields, and vineyards; our towns and cities, and even our whole land, all laid waste, spoiled, and plundered: he hath changed the portion of my people; the land of Israel, which was the portion of the people of it, given unto them as their portion by the Lord; but now he, or the enemy the Assyrian, or God by him, had changed the possessors of it; had taken it away from Israel, and given it to others: how hath he removed it from me! the land that was my portion, and the portion of my people; how comes it to pass that he hath taken away that which was my property, and given it to another! how strange is this! how suddenly was it done! and by what means! turning away, he hath divided our fields; either God, turning away from his people, because of their sins, divided their fields among their enemies; "instead of restoring" (f), as some read it, he did so; or the enemy the Assyrian, turning away after he had conquered the land, and about to return to his own country, divided it among his soldiers: or, "to the perverse", or "rebellious one (g), he divideth our fields"; that is, the Lord divides them to the wicked, perverse, and blaspheming king of Assyria; so the word is used of one that goes on frowardly, and backslides, Isa 57:17. (c) "super vos", Pagninus, Montanus; "de vobis", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "super vobis", Cocceius. (d) "et lamentabitur lamentum lamenti", Montanus. (e) "factum est", De Dieu; "ejulatu vero", Cocceius; "actum est", Burkius. (f) "pro reddendo", Castalio. (g) "aversus, refractarius", Drusius; "ingrato et rebelli", De Dieu.