New English Translation
Micah 2:4
4In that day people will sing this taunt song to you – they will mock you with this lament: ‘We are completely destroyed; they sell off the property of my people. How they remove it from me! They assign our fields to the conqueror.’
Micah 2:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)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.
- New International Version (NIV)In that day people will ridicule you; they will taunt you with this mournful song: ‘We are utterly ruined; my people’s possession is divided up. He takes it from me! He assigns our fields to traitors.’ ”
- English Standard Version (ESV)In that day they shall take up a taunt song against you and moan bitterly, and say, "We are utterly ruined; he changes the portion of my people; how he removes it from me! To an apostate he allots our fields."
- New King James Version (NKJV)In that day one shall take up a proverb against you, And lament with a bitter lamentation, saying: ‘We are utterly destroyed! He has changed the heritage of my people; How He has removed it from me! To a turncoat He has divided our fields.’ ”
Context of Micah 2:4
2They confiscate the fields they desire, and seize the houses they want. They defraud people of their homes, and deprive people of the land they have inherited. 3Therefore the Lord says this: “Look, I am devising disaster for this nation! It will be like a yoke from which you cannot free your neck. You will no longer walk proudly, for it will be a time of catastrophe. In that day people will sing this taunt song to you – they will mock you with this lament: ‘We are completely destroyed; they sell off the property of my people. How they remove it from me! They assign our fields to the conqueror.’ 5Therefore no one will assign you land in the Lord’s community. 6‘Don’t preach with such impassioned rhetoric,’ they say excitedly. ‘These prophets should not preach of such things; we will not be overtaken by humiliation.’
Read all of Micah 2Micah 2:4 word by word
בַּיּ֨וֹם הַה֜וּא יִשָּׂ֧א עֲלֵיכֶ֣ם מָשָׁ֗ל וְנָהָ֨ה נְהִ֤י נִֽהְיָה֙ אָמַר֙ שָׁד֣וֹד נְשַׁדֻּ֔נוּ חֵ֥לֶק עַמִּ֖י יָמִ֑יר אֵ֚יךְ יָמִ֣ישׁ לִ֔י לְשׁוֹבֵ֥ב שָׂדֵ֖ינוּ יְחַלֵּֽק׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- In that dayיוֹםyôm · dayH3117
- take upנָשָׂאnâώâ' nâsâh · to lift: loudH5375
- a parableמָשָׁלmâshâl · proverbH4912
- against you, and lamentנָהָהnâhâh · to wailH5091
- with a dolefulנִהְיָהnihyâh · lamentH5093
- lamentationנְהִיnehîy · wailingH5092
- sayאָמַר'âmar · to sayH559
- We be utterlyשָׁדַדshâdad · to ruinH7703
- he hath changedמוּרmûr · to changeH4171
- the portionחֵ֫לֶקchêleq · portionH2506
- of my peopleעַם‛am · peopleH5971
- how hath he removedמוּשׁmûsh · to removeH4185
- from me! turning awayשׁוּבshûb · to return: returnH7725
- he hath dividedחָלַקchâlaq · to divideH2505
- our fieldsשָׂדֶהώâdeh ώâday · land: countryH7704
Cross-references for Micah 2:4
- Numbers 23:7Then Balaam uttered his oracle, saying, “Balak, the king of Moab, brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, ‘Come, pronounce a curse on Jacob for me; come, denounce Israel.’
- Numbers 24:3Then he uttered this oracle: “The oracle of Balaam son of Beor; the oracle of the man whose eyes are open;
- Job 27:1And Job took up his discourse again:
- Isaiah 14:4you will taunt the king of Babylon with these words: “Look how the oppressor has met his end! Hostility has ceased!
- Ezekiel 16:44“‘Observe – everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you: “Like mother, like daughter.”
- Habakkuk 2:6“But all these nations will someday taunt him and ridicule him with proverbial sayings: ‘The one who accumulates what does not belong to him is as good as dead (How long will this go on?) – he who gets rich by extortion!’
- Mark 12:12Now they wanted to arrest him (but they feared the crowd), because they realized that he told this parable against them. So they left him and went away.
- 2 Samuel 1:17Then David chanted this lament over Saul and his son Jonathan.
- 2 Chronicles 35:25Jeremiah composed laments for Josiah which all the male and female singers use to mourn Josiah to this very day. It has become customary in Israel to sing these; they are recorded in the Book of Laments.
- Jeremiah 9:10I said, “I will weep and mourn for the grasslands on the mountains, I will sing a mournful song for the pastures in the wilderness because they are so scorched no one travels through them. The sound of livestock is no longer heard there. Even the birds in the sky and the wild animals in the fields have fled and are gone.”
- Jeremiah 14:18If I go out into the countryside, I see those who have been killed in battle. If I go into the city, I see those who are sick because of starvation. For both prophet and priest go about their own business in the land without having any real understanding.’”
- Joel 1:8Wail like a young virgin clothed in sackcloth, lamenting the death of her husband-to-be.
- Amos 5:1Listen to this funeral song I am ready to sing about you, family of Israel:
- Lamentations 1:1Alas! The city once full of people now sits all alone! The prominent lady among the nations has become a widow! The princess who once ruled the provinces has become a forced laborer! ב (Bet)
- Ezekiel 2:10He unrolled it before me, and it had writing on the front and back; written on it were laments, mourning, and woe.
- Deuteronomy 28:29You will feel your way along at noon like the blind person does in darkness and you will not succeed in anything you do; you will be constantly oppressed and continually robbed, with no one to save you.
Commentaries on Micah 2:4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4Take 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? Micah 2:7.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4In that day shall one take up a parable against you - The mashal or likeness may, in itself, be any speech in which one thing is likened to another: 1) “figured speech,” 2) “proverb,” and, since such proverbs were often sharp sayings against others, 3) “taunting figurative speech.” But of the person himself it is always said, he “is made, becomes a proverb” Deuteronomy 28:37; 1 Kings 9:7; 2 Chronicles 7:20; Psalm 44:15; Psalm 69:12; Jeremiah 24:9; Ezekiel…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4The leaders would lose their wealth when their enemies took their property. The land they had taken unfairly from other Israelites would be taken away from them in return (Micah 2:5).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. one take up a parable against you--that is, Some of your foes shall do so, taking in derision from your own mouth your "lamentation," namely, "We be spoiled," &c. lament with a doleful lamentation--literally, "lament with a lamentation of lamentations." Hebrew, naha, nehi, nihyah, the repetition representing the continuous and monotonous wail. he hath changed the portion of my people--a charge of injustice against Jehovah. He transfers to other nations…Read the comment
Topics related to Micah 2:4
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Micah 2
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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