4“On that day they will take up against you a taunt
         And utter a bitter lamentation and say,
         ‘We are completely destroyed!
         He exchanges the portion of my people;
         How He removes it from me!
         To the apostate He apportions our fields.’

5“Therefore you will have no one stretching a measuring line
         For you by lot in the assembly of the LORD.

6‘Do not speak out,’ so they speak out.
         But if they do not speak out concerning these things,
         Reproaches will not be turned back.

7“Is it being said, O house of Jacob:
         ‘Is the Spirit of the LORD impatient?
         Are these His doings?’
         Do not My words do good
         To the one walking uprightly?

8“Recently My people have arisen as an enemy—
         You strip the robe off the garment
         From unsuspecting passers-by,
         From those returned from war.

9“The women of My people you evict,
         Each one from her pleasant house.
         From her children you take My splendor forever.

10“Arise and go,
         For this is no place of rest
         Because of the uncleanness that brings on destruction,
         A painful destruction.

11“If a man walking after wind and falsehood
         Had told lies and said,
         ‘I will speak out to you concerning wine and liquor,’
         He would be spokesman to this people.

12“I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob,
         I will surely gather the remnant of Israel.
         I will put them together like sheep in the fold;
         Like a flock in the midst of its pasture
         They will be noisy with men.

13“The breaker goes up before them;
         They break out, pass through the gate and go out by it.
         So their king goes on before them,
         And the LORD at their head.”

NASB ©1995

American Standard Version
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.

Douay-Rheims Bible
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?

Darby Bible Translation
In that day shall they take up a proverb concerning you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, and say, We are utterly spoiled: he hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed it from me! He hath distributed our fields to the rebellious.

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

Webster's Bible Translation
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.Christ the Breaker
'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.'--MICAH ii. 13. Micah was contemporary with Isaiah. The two prophets stand, to a large extent, on the same level of prophetic knowledge. Characteristic of both of them is the increasing clearness of the figure of the personal Messiah, and the increasing fulness of detail with which His functions are described. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Is the Spirit of the Lord Straitened?
'O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the Spirit of the Lord straitened? Are these His doings?'--MICAH ii. 7. The greater part of so-called Christendom is to-day[1] celebrating the gift of a Divine Spirit to the Church; but it may well be asked whether the religious condition of so-called Christendom is not a sad satire upon Pentecost. There seems a woful contrast, very perplexing to faith, between the bright promise at the beginning and the history of the development in the future. How few …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

"Is the Spirit of the Lord Straitened?"
THERE MAY BE SOME who think they can convert the world by philosophy; that they can renew the heart by eloquence; or that, by some witchcraft of ceremonies, they can regenerate the soul; but we depend wholly and simply and alone on the Spirit of God. He alone worketh all our works in us; and in going forth to our holy service we take with us no strength, and we rely upon no power, except that of the Spirit of the Most High. When Asher's foot was dipped in oil, no wonder he left a foot-mark wherever …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891

The Earliest Chapters in Divine Revelation
[Sidenote: The nature of inspiration] Since the days of the Greek philosophers the subject of inspiration and revelation has been fertile theme for discussion and dispute among scholars and theologians. Many different theories have been advanced, and ultimately abandoned as untenable. In its simplest meaning and use, inspiration describes the personal influence of one individual upon the mind and spirit of another. Thus we often say, "That man inspired me." What we are or do under the influence …
Charles Foster Kent—The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament

Standing with the People
We have found two simple and axiomatic social principles in the fundamental convictions of Jesus: The sacredness of life and personality, and the spiritual solidarity of men. Now confront a mind mastered by these convictions with the actual conditions of society, with the contempt for life and the denial of social obligation existing, and how will he react? How will he see the duty of the strong, and his own duty? DAILY READINGS First Day: The Social Platform of Jesus And he came to Nazareth, where …
Walter Rauschenbusch—The Social Principles of Jesus

Redemption for Man Lost to be Sought in Christ.
1. The knowledge of God the Creator of no avail without faith in Christ the Redeemer. First reason. Second reason strengthened by the testimony of an Apostle. Conclusion. This doctrine entertained by the children of God in all ages from the beginning of the world. Error of throwing open heaven to the heathen, who know nothing of Christ. The pretexts for this refuted by passages of Scripture. 2. God never was propitious to the ancient Israelites without Christ the Mediator. First reason founded on …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Micah
Micah must have been a very striking personality. Like Amos, he was a native of the country--somewhere in the neighbourhood of Gath; and he denounces with fiery earnestness the sins of the capital cities, Samaria in the northern kingdom, and Jerusalem in the southern. To him these cities seem to incarnate the sins of their respective kingdoms, i. 5; and for both ruin and desolation are predicted, i. 6, iii. 12. Micah expresses with peculiar distinctness the sense of his inspiration and the object …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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