Micah 2:1
in Micah 2Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
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.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Micah 2
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The prophet had declared that evil should come down on Samaria and Jerusalem for their sins. He had pronounced them sinners against God; he now speaks of their hard unlovingness toward man, as our Blessed Lord in the Gospel speaks of sins against Himself in His members, as the ground of the condemnation of the wicked. The time of warning is past. He speaks as in the person of the Judge, declaring the righteous judgments of God, pronouncing sentence on the hardened, but blessing on those who follow Christ.
This site's exposition
Woe to them that devise iniquity
on Micah 2:1-2
The second chapter opens with a woe against premeditated crime: they devise iniquity on their beds and carry it out at first light because it is in the power of their hand, planning replacing impulse as the mark of settled sin. Verse 2 names the specific crime, land seizure, coveting fields and houses and taking them by violence from a man and his heritage, the inheritance a family held from the original tribal allotment. The commentators read the timing detail, plotted at night and executed at dawn, as evidence of an organized class of landed men rather than isolated theft.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Chapter 2—Verse 1 onwards) Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil upon their beds! In the morning light they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand. They covet fields, and seize them; houses, and take them away; they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance. Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I am devising against this family an evil from which you cannot remove your necks, and you shall not walk haughtily, for it will be an evil time.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
That devise - Contrive and frame mischief. Evil work - Contrive how to work it. It is in the power - Because they can; without regarding right or wrong.
Woe to them that devise iniquity,....
God was coming forth against this people to destroy them, and here he shows what was the ground of his controversy with them; it is that which is often mentioned as a sin that hastens the ruin of nations and families as much as any, the sin of oppression.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
As in the former chapter sins against the first table are reproved, so in this chapter sins against the second table. A gradation: "devise" is the conception of the evil purpose; "work" (Ps 58:2), or "fabricate," the maturing of the scheme; "practise," or "effect," the execution of it. because it is in the power of their hand--for the phrase see Ge 31:29;
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Wo to them that devise iniquity - Who lay schemes and plans for transgressions; who make it their study to find out new modes of sinning; and make these things their nocturnal meditations, that, having fixed their plan, they may begin to execute it as soon as it is light in the morning. Because it is in the power of their hand - They think they may do whatever they have power and opportunity to do.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
and work evil on their bed —All night they decide in their hearts how they will perform evil in the morning.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ה֧וֹי | ho | woe to! | H1945 → | |
| חֹֽשְׁבֵי־ | choshevei- | [those who] plan | H2803 → | |
| אָ֛וֶן | ʾaven | <of> wickedness | H205 → | |
| וּפֹ֥עֲלֵי | ufoalei | and [those who] do | H6466 → | |
| רָ֖ע | ra' | <of> evil | H7451 → | 662 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| מִשְׁכְּבוֹתָ֑ם | mishkevotam | beds their | H4904 → | |
| בְּא֤וֹר | beor | at [the] light | H216 → | 121 times |
| הַבֹּ֙קֶר֙ | haboker | the morning | H1242 → | |
| יַעֲשׂ֔וּהָ | yaasuha | they do it | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| כִּ֥י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יֶשׁ־ | yesh- | there | H3426 → | |
| לְאֵ֖ל | leel | [belongs] to [the] power of | H410 → | |
| יָדָֽם׃ | yadam | hand their | H3027 → | 1618 times |
ה֧וֹיwoe to!
hoH1945 →
חֹֽשְׁבֵי־[those who] plan
choshevei-H2803 →
אָ֛וֶן<of> wickedness
ʾavenH205 →
וּפֹ֥עֲלֵיand [those who] do
ufoaleiH6466 →
רָ֖ע<of> evil
ra'H7451 →662 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
מִשְׁכְּבוֹתָ֑םbeds their
mishkevotamH4904 →
בְּא֤וֹרat [the] light
beorH216 →121 times
הַבֹּ֙קֶר֙the morning
habokerH1242 →
יַעֲשׂ֔וּהָthey do it
yaasuhaH6213 →2628 times
כִּ֥יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
יֶשׁ־there
yesh-H3426 →
לְאֵ֖ל[belongs] to [the] power of
leelH410 →
יָדָֽם׃hand their
yadamH3027 →1618 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 36:4Even on his bed he plots wickedness; he sets himself on a path that is not good; he fails to reject evil.
it leads to
- Proverbs 4:16
For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; they are deprived of slumber until they make someone fall.
- Isaiah 65:2
All day long I have held out My hands to an obstinate people who walk in the wrong path, who follow their own imaginations,
- Romans 12:9
Love must be sincere. Detest what is evil; cling to what is good.
- Psalms 97:10
Hate evil, O you who love the LORD! He preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
- Proverbs 4:16
Through
Isaiah 32:7The weapons of the scoundrel are destructive; he hatches plots to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 5:26–28
For among My people are wicked men; they watch like fowlers lying in wait; they set a trap to catch men.
- Jeremiah 5:26–28
Through
Nahum 1:11From you, O Nineveh, comes forth a plotter of evil against the LORD, a counselor of wickedness.
it leads to
- Nahum 1:9
Whatever you plot against the LORD, He will bring to an end. Affliction will not rise up a second time.
- 2 Chronicles 13:7
Then worthless and wicked men gathered around him to resist Rehoboam son of Solomon when he was young, inexperienced, and unable to resist them.
- 2 Kings 18:30
Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD when he says, ‘The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’
- Nahum 1:9
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Micah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Micah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.