1Woe to those who scheme iniquity,
         Who work out evil on their beds!
         When morning comes, they do it,
         For it is in the power of their hands.

2They covet fields and then seize them,
         And houses, and take them away.
         They rob a man and his house,
         A man and his inheritance.

3Therefore thus says the LORD,
         “Behold, I am planning against this family a calamity
         From which you cannot remove your necks;
         And you will not walk haughtily,
         For it will be an evil time.

4“On that day they will take up against you a taunt
         And utter a bitter lamentation and say,
         ‘We are completely destroyed!
         He exchanges the portion of my people;
         How He removes it from me!
         To the apostate He apportions our fields.’

5“Therefore you will have no one stretching a measuring line
         For you by lot in the assembly of the LORD.

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.

7“Is it being said, O house of Jacob:
         ‘Is the Spirit of the LORD impatient?
         Are these His doings?’
         Do not My words do good
         To the one walking uprightly?

8“Recently My people have arisen as an enemy—
         You strip the robe off the garment
         From unsuspecting passers-by,
         From those returned from war.

9“The women of My people you evict,
         Each one from her pleasant house.
         From her children you take My splendor forever.

10“Arise and go,
         For this is no place of rest
         Because of the uncleanness that brings on destruction,
         A painful destruction.

11“If a man walking after wind and falsehood
         Had told lies and said,
         ‘I will speak out to you concerning wine and liquor,’
         He would be spokesman to this people.

12“I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob,
         I will surely gather the remnant of Israel.
         I will put them together like sheep in the fold;
         Like a flock in the midst of its pasture
         They will be noisy with men.

13“The breaker goes up before them;
         They break out, pass through the gate and go out by it.
         So their king goes on before them,
         And the LORD at their head.”

Parallel Verses

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
Woe to those who scheme iniquity, Who work out evil on their beds! When morning comes, they do it, For it is in the power of their hands.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
How horrible it will be for those who invent trouble and work out plans for disaster while in bed. When the morning dawns, they carry out their plans because they are able to.

King James Bible
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.

Douay-Rheims Bible
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.

Darby Bible Translation
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.

English Revised Version
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.

Webster's Bible Translation
Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand.

World English Bible
Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil on their beds! When the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand.

Young's Literal Translation
Woe to those devising iniquity, And working evil on their beds, In the light of the morning they do it, For their hand is -- to God.

Cross References

Genesis 31:29 "It is in my power to do you harm, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, 'Be careful not to speak either good or bad to Jacob.'

Deuteronomy 28:32 "Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and yearn for them continually; but there will be nothing you can do.

Job 24:14 "The murderer arises at dawn; He kills the poor and the needy, And at night he is as a thief.

Psalm 36:4 He plans wickedness upon his bed; He sets himself on a path that is not good; He does not despise evil.

Proverbs 3:27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, When it is in your power to do it.

Proverbs 4:16 For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; And they are robbed of sleep unless they make someone stumble.

Proverbs 6:14 Who with perversity in his heart continually devises evil, Who spreads strife.

Proverbs 14:22 Will they not go astray who devise evil? But kindness and truth will be to those who devise good.

Isaiah 29:20 For the ruthless will come to an end and the scorner will be finished, Indeed all who are intent on doing evil will be cut off;

Isaiah 32:7 As for a rogue, his weapons are evil; He devises wicked schemes To destroy the afflicted with slander, Even though the needy one speaks what is right.

Ezekiel 11:2 He said to me, "Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and give evil advice in this city,

Ezekiel 33:26 "You rely on your sword, you commit abominations and each of you defiles his neighbor's wife. Should you then possess the land?"'

Ezekiel 38:10 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "It will come about on that day, that thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil plan,

Ezekiel 46:18 "The prince shall not take from the people's inheritance, thrusting them out of their possession; he shall give his sons inheritance from his own possession so that My people will not be scattered, anyone from his possession."'"

Hosea 7:6 For their hearts are like an oven As they approach their plotting; Their anger smolders all night, In the morning it burns like a flaming fire.

Hosea 7:7 All of them are hot like an oven, And they consume their rulers; All their kings have fallen. None of them calls on Me.

Micah 6:12 "For the rich men of the city are full of violence, Her residents speak lies, And their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

Nahum 1:11 From you has gone forth One who plotted evil against the LORD, A wicked counselor.

Zechariah 7:10 and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.'

Commentary

Matthew Henry's Whole Bible Commentary

Chapter 2

In this chapter we have, I. The sins with which the people of Israel are charged-covetousness and oppression, fraudulent and violent practices (v. 1, 2), dealing barbarously, even with women and children, and other harmless people (v. 8, 9). Opposition of God's prophets and silencing them (v. 6, 7), and delighting in false prophets (v. 11). II. The judgments with which they are threatened for those sins, that they should be humbled, and impoverished (v. 3-5), and banished (v. 10). III. Gracious promises of comfort, reserved for the good people among them, in the Messiah (v. 12, 13). And this is the sum and scope of most of the chapters of this and other prophecies.

Verses 1-5

Here is, I. The injustice of man contriving the evil of sin, v. 1, 2. 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. Let us see the steps of it. 1. They eagerly desire that which is not their own-that is the root of bitterness, the root of all evil, v. 2. They covet fields and houses, as Ahab did Naboth's vineyard. "Oh that such a one's field and house were mine! It lies convenient for me, and I would manage it better than he does; it is fitter for me than for him." 2. They set their wits on work to invent ways of accomplishing their desire (v. 4); they devise iniquity with a great deal of cursed art and policy; they plot how to do it effectually, and yet so as not to expose themselves, or bring themselves into danger, or under reproach, by it. This is called working evil! they are working it in their heads, in their families, and are as intent upon it, and with as much pleasure, as if they were doing it, and are as confident of their success (so wisely do they think they have laid the scheme) as if it were assuredly done. Note, It is bad to do mischief upon a sudden thought, but much worse to devise it, to do it with design and deliberation; when the craft and subtlety of the old serpent appear with his poison and venom, it is wickedness in perfection. They devised it upon their beds, when they should have been asleep; care to compass a mischievous design held their eyes waking. Upon their beds, where they should have been remembering God, and meditating upon him, where they should have been communing with their own hearts and examining them, they were devising iniquity. It is of great consequence to improve and employ the hours of our retirement and solitude in a proper manner. 3. They employ their power in executing what they have designed and contrived; they practise the iniquity they have devised, because it is in the power of their hand; they find that they can compass it by the help of their wealth, and the authority and interest they have, and that none dare control them, or call them to an account for it; and this, they think, will justify them and bear them out in it. Note, It is the mistake of many to think that as they can do they may do; whereas no power is given for destruction, but all for edification. 4. They are industrious and very expeditious in accomplishing the iniquity they have devised; when they have settled the matter in their thoughts, in their beds, they lose no time, but as soon as the morning is light they practice it; they are up early in the prosecution of their designs, and what ill their hand finds to do they do it with all their might, which shames our slothfulness and dilatoriness in doing good, and should shame us out of them. In the service of God, and our generation, let it never be said that we left that to be done to-morrow which we could do to-day. 5. They stick at nothing to compass their designs; what they covet they take away, if they can, and, (1.) They care not what wrong they do, though it be ever so gross and open; they take away men's fields by violence, not only by fraud, and underhand practices and colour of law, but by force and with a high hand. (2.) They care not to whom they do wrong nor how far the iniquity extends which they devise: They oppress a man and his house; they rob and ruin those that have numerous families to maintain, and are not concerned though they send them and their wives and children a begging. They oppress a man and his heritage; they take away from men that which they have an unquestionable title to, having received it from their ancestors, and which they have but in trust, to transmit it to their posterity; but those oppressors care not how many they impoverish, so they may but enrich themselves. Note, If covetousness reigns in the heart, commonly all compassion is banished from it; and if any man love this world, as the love of the Father, so the love of his neighbour is not in him.

II. The justice of God contriving the evil of punishment for this sin (v. 3): Therefore thus saith the Lord, the righteous God, that judges between man and man, and is an avenger on those that do wrong, Behold, against this family do I devise an evil, that is, against the whole kingdom, the house of Israel, and particularly those families in it that were cruel and oppressive. They unjustly devise evil against their brethren, and God will justly devise evil against them. Infinite Wisdom will so contrive the punishment of their sin that it shall be very sure, and such as cannot be avoided, very severe, and such as they cannot bear, very signal and remarkable, and such as shall be universally observed to answer to the sin. The more there appears of a wicked wit in the sin the more there shall appear of a holy wisdom and fitness in the punishment; for the Lord will be known by the judgments he executes; he will be owned by them. 1. He finds them very secure, and confident that they shall in some way or other escape the judgment, or, though they fall under it, shall soon throw it off and get clear of it, and therefore he tells them, It is an evil from which they shall not remove their neck. They were children of Belial, that would not endure the easy yoke of God's righteous commands, but broke those bonds asunder, and cast away those cords from them; and therefore God will lay upon them the heavy yoke of his righteous judgments, and they shall not be able to withdraw their necks from that; those that will not be overruled shall be overcome. 2. He finds them very proud and stately, and therefore he tells them that they shall not go haughtily, with stretched-forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go (Isa. 3:16); for this time is evil, and the events of it are very humbling and mortifying, and such as will bring down the stoutest spirit. 3. He finds them very merry and jovial, and therefore tells them their note shall be changed, their laughter shall be turned into mourning and their joy into heaviness (v. 4): In that day, when God comes to punish you for your oppression, shall one take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, with a lamentation of lamentations (so the word is), a most lamentable lamentation, as a song of songs is a most pleasing song. Their enemies shall insult over them, and make a jest of their griefs, for they shall take up a parable against them. Their friends shall mourn over them, and lay to heart their calamities, and this shall be the general cry, "We are utterly spoiled; we are all undone." Note, Those that were most haughty and secure in their prosperity are commonly most dejected and most ready to despair in their adversity. 4. He finds them very rich in houses and lands, which they have gained by oppression, and therefore tells them that they shall be stripped of all. (1.) They shall, in their despair, give it all up; they shall say, We are utterly spoiled; he has changed the portion of my people, so that it is now no longer theirs, but it is in the possession and occupation of their enemies: How has he removed it from me! How suddenly, how powerfully! What is unjustly got by us will not long continue with us; the righteous God will remove it. Turning away from us in wrath, he has divided our fields, and given them into the hands of strangers. Woe to those from whom God turns away. The margin reads it, "Instead of restoring, he has divided our fields; instead of putting us again in the possession of our estates, he has confirmed those in the possession of them that have taken them from us." Note, It is just with God that those who have dealt fraudulently and violently with others should themselves be dealt fraudulently and violently with. (2.) God shall ratify what they say in their despair (v. 5); so it shall be: Thou shalt have none to cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the Lord, none to divide inheritances, because there shall be no inheritances to divide, no courts to try titles to lands, or determine controversies about them, or cast lots upon them, as in Joshua's time, for all shall be in the enemies' hand. This land, which should be taken from them, they had not only an unquestionable title to, but a very comfortable enjoyment of, for it was in the congregation of the Lord, or rather the congregation of the Lord was in it; it was God's land; it was a holy land, and therefore it was the more grievous to them to be turned out of it. Note, Those are to be considered the sorest calamities which cut us off from the congregation of the Lord, or cut us short in the enjoyment of the privileges of it.

Calvin's Commentary

1. Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand.

1. Vae cogitantibus iniquitatem et fabricantibus malitiam super cubilibus suis! Quum illuxerit mane, exequentur eam, quia est ad potentiam manus ipsorum.

The Prophet does not here speak only against the Israelites, as some think, who have incorrectly confined this part of his teaching to the ten tribes; but he, on the contrary, (in discharging his office, addresses also the Jews. He refers not here to idolatry, as in the last chapter; but inveighs against sins condemned in the second table. As then the Jews had not only polluted the worship of God, but also gave loose reins to many iniquities, so that they dealt wrongfully with their neighbors, and there was among them no attention to justice and equity, so the prophet inveighs here as we shall see, against avarice, robberies, and cruelty: and his discourse is full of vehemence; for there was no doubt such licentiousness then prevailing among the people, that there was need of severe and sharp reproofs. It is at the same time easy to perceive that his discourse is mainly directed against the chief men, who exercised authority, and turned it to wrong purposes.

Woe, he says, to those who meditate on iniquity, and devise [78] evil on their beds, that, when the morning shines, they may execute it Here the Prophet describes to the life the character and manners of those who were given to gain, and were intent only on raising themselves. He says, that in their beds they were meditating on iniquity, and devising wickedness. Doubtless the time of night has been given to men entirely for rest; but they ought also to use this kindness of God for the purpose of restraining themselves from what is wicked: for he who refreshes his strength by nightly rest, ought to think within himself, that it is an unbecoming thing and even monstrous, that he should in the meantime devise frauds, and guiles, and iniquities. For why does the Lord intend that we should rest, except that all evil things should rest also? Hence the Prophet shows here, by implication, that those who are intent on devising frauds, while they ought to rest, subvert as it were the course of nature; for they have no regard for that rest, which has been granted to men for this end, -- that they may not trouble and annoy one another.

He afterwards shows how great was their desire to do mischief, When it shines in the morning, he says, they execute it He might have said only, They do in the daytime what they contrive in the night: but he says, In the morning; as though he had said, that they were so heated by avarice, that they rested not a moment; as soon as it shone, they were immediately ready to perpetrate the frauds they had thought of in the night. We now then apprehend the import of the Prophet's meaning.

He now subjoins, For according to their power is their hand As 'l, al, means God, an old interpreter has given this rendering, Against God is their hand: but this does not suit the passage. Others have explained it thus, For strength is in their hand: and almost all those well-skilled in Hebrew agree in this explanation. Those who had power, they think, are here pointed out by the Prophet, -- that as they had strength, they dared to do whatever they pleased. But the Hebrew phrase is not translated by them; and I greatly wonder that they have mistaken in a thing so clear: for it is not, There is power in their hand; but their hand is to power. The same mode of speaking is found in Proverbs 3, and there also many interpreters are wrong; for Solomon there forbids us to withhold from our neighbor his right, When thine hand, he says, is for power; some say, When there is power to help the miserable. But Solomon means no such thing; for he on the contrary means this, When thine hand is ready to execute any evil, abstain. So also the Lord says in Deuteronomy 28,

"When the enemy shall take away thy spoils, thy hand will not be for power;"

that is, "Thou wilt not dare to move a finger to restrain thy enemies; when they will plunder thee and rob thee of thy substance, thou wilt stand in dread, for thy hand will be as though it were dead." I come now to the present passage, Their hand is for power: [79] the Prophet means, that they dared to try what they could, and that therefore their hand was always ready; whenever there was hope of lucre or gains the hand was immediately prepared. How so? Because they were restrained neither by the fear of God nor by any regard for justice; but their hand was for power, that is, what they could, they dared to do. We now then see what the Prophet means as far as I can judge. He afterwards adds --

Footnotes:

[78] Literally, work; but phl means to work not only with the hands, but also with the mind; and hence, to contrive, to devise, to machinate. Henderson has "fabricate," while Newcome, less suitably, retains the word, "work." Marckius justly observes, that the working here is not external but internal, the framing, the setting in order, the preparation of evil in the mind. The Prophet points out here that source from which outward evils proceed. What numberless schemes, both good and evil, are concocted and arranged by men on their beds! "They set their wits on work to invent ways of accomplishing their desire. They devise iniquity with a great deal of cursed art and policy; they plot how to do it effectually, and yet so as not to expose themselves. This is called working evil; they are working it in their heads." -- Henry.

[79] The original is, ky ys-l'l ydm Marckius after having referred to Calvin's version, says, that he prefers that of Junius and Tremelius which is as follows: "Quum est in potestate manus ipsoram -- When it is in the power of their hand," ky is taken as an adverb of time. The phrase is found in four other places, -- Genesis 31:29; Deuteronomy 28:32; Nehemiah 5:5; and Proverbs 3:27. So that to render 'l here "God," as it is done by the Septuagint, Theodoret, and Jerome, and some others, must be wrong. ky is rendered "because" both by Newcome and Henderson, but not so suitably as to the sense. -- Ed.

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