Thy Strong Word - Micah 2: Woe to the Oppressors

Hosted by Rev. Will Weedon, LCMS Director of Worship and International Center Chaplain.

With guest Rev. Ryan Fehrmann from Zion Lutheran Church in Wausau, Wisconsin.

Micah 2

Woe to the Oppressors

2 Woe to those who devise wickedness
    and work evil on their beds!
When the morning dawns, they perform it,
    because it is in the power of their hand.
²They covet fields and seize them,
    and houses, and take them away;
they oppress a man and his house,
    a man and his inheritance.
³Therefore thus says the Lord:
behold, against this family I am devising disaster,^[a]
    from which you cannot remove your necks,
and you shall not walk haughtily,
    for it will be a time of disaster.
⁴In 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.”
⁵Therefore you will have none to cast the line by lot
    in the assembly of the Lord.

⁶“Do not preach”—thus they preach—
    “one should not preach of such things;
    disgrace will not overtake us.”
⁷Should this be said, O house of Jacob?
    Has the Lord grown impatient?^[b]
    Are these his deeds?
Do not my words do good
    to him who walks uprightly?
⁸But lately my people have risen up as an enemy;
you strip the rich robe from those who pass by trustingly
    with no thought of war.^[c]
⁹The women of my people you drive out
    from their delightful houses;
from their young children you take away
    my splendor forever.
¹⁰Arise and go,
    for this is no place to rest,
because of uncleanness that destroys
    with a grievous destruction.
¹¹If a man should go about and utter wind and lies,
    saying, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,”
    he would be the preacher for this people!
¹²I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob;
    I will gather the remnant of Israel;
I will set them together
    like sheep in a fold,
like a flock in its pasture,
    a noisy multitude of men.
¹³He who opens the breach goes up before them;
    they break through and pass the gate,
    going out by it.
Their king passes on before them,
    the Lord at their head.

Footnotes:

Micah 2:3 The same Hebrew word can mean evil or disaster, depending on the context
Micah 2:7 Hebrew Has the spirit of the Lord grown short?
Micah 2:8 Or returning from war

Lutheran Heritage Foundation - Underwriter of Thy Strong Word — Underwriter of Thy Strong Word

Rev. William Weedon

We have the distinct privilege of borrowing LCMS Director of Worship and International Center Chaplain Rev. William Chancellor Weedon for an hour a day to add Host of Thy Strong Word to his list of titles. Native to the central Maryland area just outside of Washington D.C., he enthusiastically enjoys his coffee, playing piano, and singing heartily, as well as spending time in the pool with his wife Cindi, three children and their spouses, and seven grandchildren. He’s one of those people that listens to Christmas music year-round, but we still let him in our studios. You may find him reading a good murder mystery or some writing by Johann Gerhard, Joseph Ratzinger, or Alexander Schmemann while eating a chocolate torte made by his wife Cindi. When he’s read all the books he can manage, he escapes outside to hike, bike, or even run in his Vivobarefoot shoes that Andy Bates, his favorite famous person, told him to buy.