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2:1  Woe (judgment is coming) to those who devise wickedness And plot evil on their beds! When morning comes, they practice evil Because it is in the power of their hands.
2:2  They covet fields and seize them, And houses, and take them away. They oppress and rob a man and his house, A man and his inheritance.
2:3  Therefore, thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am planning against this family a disaster (exile) [Like a noose] from which you cannot remove your necks; Nor will you be able to walk haughtily and erect, For it will be an evil time [of subjugation to the invaders].
2:4  “On that day they shall take up a [taunting, deriding] parable against you And wail with a doleful and bitter song of mourning and say, ‘We are completely destroyed! God exchanges the inheritance of my people; How He removes it from me! He divides our fields to the rebellious [our captors].’
2:5  “Therefore, you will have no one stretching a measuring line [dividing the common land] For you by lot in the assembly of the Lord.
2:6  ‘Do not speak out,’ so they speak out. But if they do not speak out concerning these things, Reproaches will not be turned back.
2:7  “Is it being said, O house of Jacob: ‘Is the Spirit of the Lord impatient? Or are these [prophesied judgments] His doings?’ Do not My words do good To the one walking uprightly?
2:8  “But lately My people have stood up as an enemy [and have made Me their antagonist]. You strip the ornaments off the garment Of those unsuspecting passers-by, Like those returned from war.
2:9  “You evict the women (widows) of My people, Each one from her pleasant house; From her [young, fatherless] children you take away My splendor and blessing forever [by putting them among the pagans, away from Me].
2:10  “Arise and depart [because the captivity is inevitable], For this [land] is not the place of rest Because of the defilement that brings destruction, A painful and terrible destruction.
2:11  “If a man walking in a false spirit [spouting deception] Should lie and say, ‘I will prophesy to you [O Israel] of wine and liquor (greed, sensual pleasure),’ He would be the acceptable spokesman of this people.
2:12  “I shall most certainly assemble all of you, O Jacob; I shall surely gather the remnant of Israel. I shall bring them together like sheep in the fold [multiplying the nation]; Like a flock in the midst of its pasture. The place will swarm with many people and hum loudly with noise.
2:13  “The breaker [the Messiah, who opens the way] shall go up before them [liberating them]. They will break out, pass through the gate and go out; So their King goes on before them, The Lord at their head.”