Micah Chapter 2

The Israelites by their crying injustices provoke God to punish them. He shall at last restore Jacob.

English (Douay-Rheims)

1 Woe to you that devise that which is unprofitable, and work evil in your beds: in the morning light they execute it, because their hand is against God.
2 And they have coveted fields, and taken them by violence, and houses they have forcibly taken away: and oppressed a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.
3 Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I devise an evil against this family: from which you shall not withdraw your necks, and you shall not walk haughtily, for this is a very evil time.
4 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? How shall he depart, etc... How do you pretend to say that the Assyrian is departing; when indeed he is coming to divide our lands amongst his subjects?
5 Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast the cord of a lot in the assembly of the Lord. Thou shalt have none, etc... Thou shalt have no longer any lot or inheritance in the land of the people of the Lord.
6 Speak ye not, saying: It shall not drop upon these, confusion shall not take them. It shall not drop, etc... That is, the prophecy shall not come upon these. Such were the sentiments of the people that were unwilling to believe the threats of the prophets.
7 The house of Jacob saith: Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened or are these his thoughts? Are not my words good to him that walketh uprightly?
8 But my people, on the contrary, are risen up as an enemy: you have taken away the cloak off from the coat: and them that passed harmless you have turned to war. You have taken away, etc... You have even stripped people of their necessary garments: and have treated such as were innocently passing on the way, as if they were at war with you.
9 You have cast out the women of my people from their houses, in which they took delight: you have taken my praise forever from their children. You have cast out, etc... either by depriving them of their houses: or, by your crimes, given occasion to their being carried away captives, and their children, by that means, never learning to praise the Lord.
10 Arise ye, and depart, for there is no rest here for you. For that uncleanness of the land, it shall be corrupted with a grievous corruption.
11 Would God I were not a man that hath the spirit, and that I rather spoke a lie: I will let drop to thee of wine, and of drunkenness: and it shall be this people upon whom it shall drop. Would God, etc... The prophet could have wished, out of his love to his people, that he might be deceived in denouncing to them these evils that were to fall upon them: but by conforming himself to the will of God, he declares to them, that he is sent to prophesy, literally to let drop upon them, the wine of God's indignation, with which they should be made drunk; that is, stupefied and cast down.
12 I will assemble and gather together all of thee, O Jacob: I will bring together the remnant of Israel, I will put them together as a flock in the fold, as sheep in the midst of the sheepcotes, they shall make a tumult by reason of the multitude of men.
13 For he shall go up that shall open the way before them: they shall divide and pass through the gate, and shall come in by it: and their king shall pass before them, and the Lord at the head of them.

Old Testament first published 1609 by the English College at Douay
New Testament first published 1582 by the English College at Rheims
Revised and Annotated 1749 by Bishop Richard Challoner
Imprimatur. +James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, September 1, 1899

Latin (Clementine Vulgate)

1 Væ qui cogitatis inutile,
et operamini malum in cubilibus vestris!
In luce matutina faciunt illud,
quoniam contra Deum est manus eorum.
2 Et concupierunt agros, et violenter tulerunt:
et rapuerunt domos,
et calumniabantur virum, et domum ejus:
virum, et hæreditatem ejus.
3 Idcirco hæc dicit Dominus:
Ecce ego cogito super familiam istam malum,
unde non auferetis colla vestra,
et non ambulabitis superbi:
quoniam tempus pessimum est.
4 In die illa sumetur super vos parabola,
et cantabitur canticum cum suavitate, dicentium:
Depopulatione vastati sumus;
pars populi mei commutata est:
quomodo recedet a me, cum revertatur,
qui regiones nostras dividat?
5 Propter hoc non erit tibi mittens funiculum sortis in cœtu Domini.
6 Ne loquamini loquentes;
non stillabit super istos, non comprehendet confusio.
7 Dicit domus Jacob:
Numquid abbreviatus est spiritus Domini,
aut tales sunt cogitationes ejus?
nonne verba mea bona sunt cum eo qui recte graditur?
8 et e contrario populus meus in adversarium consurrexit.
Desuper tunica pallium sustulistis:
et eos qui transibant simpliciter convertistis in bellum.
9 Mulieres populi mei ejecistis de domo deliciarum suarum;
a parvulis earum tulistis laudem meam in perpetuum.
10 Surgite, et ite, quia non habetis hic requiem:
propter immunditiam ejus corrumpetur putredine pessima.
11 Utinam non essem vir habens spiritum,
et mendacium potius loquerer!
Stillabo tibi in vinum et in ebrietatem;
et erit super quem stillatur populus iste.
12 Congregatione congregabo, Jacob, totum te;
in unum conducam reliquias Israël:
pariter ponam illum quasi gregem in ovili,
quasi pecus in medio caularum:
tumultuabuntur a multitudine hominum.
13 Ascendet enim pandens iter ante eos:
divident, et transibunt portam,
et ingredientur per eam:
et transibit rex eorum coram eis,
et Dominus in capite eorum.

Transcribed as part of the Clementine Vulgate Project
Please notify the original transcriber (little.mouth@soon.com) of any errors in this Latin edition