Micah 2:9

Mic 2:9 The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses; from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever.

Ver. 9. The women of my people] Or, the wives; once wives, but now widows, and therefore calamitous, friendless, comfortless, as a vine whose root is uncovered, as a wandering bird, or a nest forsaken, Isa 16:2.

Have ye cast out from their pleasant houses] Where they had long lived with their husbands in love, peace, and much sweetness, as good Naboth’s wife had. This was barbarous cruelty. God had taken order in the law, that none should harm a bird sitting upon her own nest, how much less a daughter of Abraham! Widows and orphans are his clients, Psa 146:9.

From their children have ye taken away my glory] i.e. My maintenance and that livelihood that I had allowed them for their better education, which might have redounded to my great glory. Whereas now, being by you bereft both of friends and means, gemunt, fremunt, vobis maledicunt, clamantque vindictam in coelum, saith Montanus, they groan, they moan, they curse you, they cry to me for vengeance.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That is, their substance and living, which is God’s blessing, and as it were part of his glory.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The women of my people--that is, the widows of the men slain by you (Mic 2:2) ye cast out from their homes which had been their delight, and seize on them for yourselves.

from their children--that is, from the orphans of the widows.

taken away my glory--namely, their substance and raiment, which, being the fruit of God's blessing on the young, reflected God's glory. Thus Israel's crime was not merely robbery, but sacrilege. Their sex did not save the women, nor their age the children from violence.

for ever--There was no repentance. They persevered in sin. The pledged garment was to be restored to the poor before sunset (Exo 22:26-27); but these never restored their unlawful booty.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 9. The women of my people] Ye are the cause of the women and their children being carried into captivity-separated from their pleasant habitations, and from my temple and ordinances-and from the blessings of the covenant, which it is my glory to give, and theirs to receive. These two verses may probably relate to the war made on Ahaz by Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel. They fell suddenly upon the Jews; killed in one day one hundred and twenty thousand, and took two hundred thousand captive; and carried away much spoil. Thus, they rose up against them as enemies, when there was peace between the two kingdoms; spoiled them of their goods, carried away men, women, and children, till, at the remonstrances of the prophet Oded, they were released. See 2Ch 28:6, &c. Micah lived in the days of Ahaz, and might have seen the barbarities which he here describes.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

He proceeds with the same subject, that they refrained from no acts of injustice. It was indeed a proof of extreme barbarity not to spare women and children, for they are both weak and helpless. Their sex exempts women from violence, and their age, children. Even in wars, women, and also children, escape in safety. We hence see that the Prophet, by stating a part for the whole, proves here that the people had addicted themselves to cruelty really barbarous; they were not restrained from exercising it, no, not even on women and children. Since it was so, it follows, that their boast of being the chosen people was vain and fallacious.

House of delights he ascribes to the women who, being the weaker sex, prefer being at home and in the shade, rather than going abroad. The more necessary it was that their recesses should remain safe to them. Now, what was taken away from the children, God calls it his ornament; for his blessing, poured forth on children, is the mirror of his glory: he therefore condemns this plunder as a sacrilege. The word לעולם, laoulam, designates the continuance of their crimes, as though he had said, that they were cruel without ever showing any repentance. Now it follows —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(9) The women of my people.—They spared not even the widows and fatherless, the objects of God’s tender care.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. The women of my people] i.e. the unprotected widows. A similar complaint is made in Isaiah (Isa_10:2).

my glory] i.e. the privileges which every Israelite possessed as a member of God’s people. The prophet implies that the children of the widows have been sold into foreign slavery, which virtually annulled their glorious birthright. ‘How could they sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?’

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses,.... Not content to slay their husbands, they took their wives or widows captive, dispossessed them of their habitations, where they had lived delightfully with their husbands and children; so we find that, at the time before referred to, the people of Israel carried captive of their brethren two hundred thousand women, and brought them to Samaria, Ch2 28:8. Some understand this of divorce, which those men were the cause of, either by committing adultery with them, which was a just reason for their husband's divorcing them; or by frequenting their houses, which caused suspicion and jealousy:

from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever; that which God would have had glory from, and they would have given it to him on account of; as their being brought up in a religious way; their liberties, both civil and religious; their paternal estates and inheritances, and the enjoyment of their own land; and especially the worship of God in the temple, of which they were deprived by being carried away from their own country: or it may be understood of the glory that accrues to God by honourable marriage, and the bed undefiled; and the dishonour cast upon him by the contrary, as well as upon children, who may be suspected to be illegitimate.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses - (literally, from her pleasant house,) each from her home. These were probably the widows of those whom they had stripped. Since the houses were their’s, they were widows; and so their spoilers were at war with those whom God had committed to their special love, whom He had declared the objects of His own tender care, “the widows and the fatherless.” The widows they “drove vehemently forth”, as having no portion in the inheritance which God had given them, as God had driven out their enemies before them, each “from her pleasant house,” the home where she had lived with her husband and children in delight and joy.

From (off) their (young) children have ye taken away My glory - Primarily, the glory, comeliness, was the fitting apparel which God had given them (as Hos 2:11), and laid upon them , and which these oppressors stripped off from them. But it includes all the gifts of God, wherewith God would array them. Instead of the holy home of parental care, the children grew up in want and neglect, away from all the ordinances of God, it may be, in a strange land. “For ever.” They never repented, never made restitution; but so they incurred the special woe of those who ill-used the unprotected, the widow, and the fatherless. The words “forever” anticipate the punishment. The punishment is according to the sin. They never ceased their oppression. They, with the generation who should come after them, should be deprived of God’s “glory,” and cast out of His land forever.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Cast out, &c. Either by depriving them of their houses; or, by your crimes, giving occasion to their being carried away captives, and their children, by that means, never learning to praise the Lord. (Challoner) --- The Jews accustomed them to sing God’s praises early, while they were still innocent, Psalm viii. 2. Misery might cause them to complain of Providence. Perhaps the prophet alludes to the custom of divorces, Malachias ii. 15.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The women; the poor disconsolate widows, whose husbands you had first slain with the sword of war, or unjustly condemned to death; or else the wives of husbands whom you had oppressed, and by perverted judgment had condemned to forfeit their estates.

Of my people: this aggravates the sin, that this was done against Israelitish women, not strangers, against those that were by peculiar provision of God’s law to be tenderly and mercifully dealt with, Exo 22:22.

Cast out; disseised, and turned out, as if unworthy to dwell longer in their old habitations, which they pretend forfeited, as Paradise by Adam, who was therefore in this very word east out, Gen 3:24, or as Hagar out of Abraham’s family, Gen 21:14.

Pleasant houses; either pleasant for situation, such seats were to these as dangerous as Naboth’s vineyard was to him, or else pleasant to them because they were their own, where they enjoyed their husbands and children, and wished no more preferment, content with their beloved habitation, and domestic conveniencies,

From their children have ye taken away; you have by your violence and oppression ruined their posterity, turned their children out of houses and estates, which were secured by the law of God from any legal alienation and sale beyond the jubilee; you have confiscated them for ever.

My glory; which was the glory of my bounty to them, in use of which they did give glory to me, and by continuance of which they might have lived above contempt.

For ever; either continually you have done this, or what you have done you intend to stand for ever.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The women of my people. The prophet refers to the widows, who ought to have been protected and cared for. (comp. Isa_10:2) The LXX, with which the Arabic agrees, renders, hgoumenoi laou mou , "the leaders of my people." Have ye cast out. The word expresses a violent expulsion, as Gen_3:24. Their pleasant houses; literally, the house of their delights. (Mic_1:16) The house which was very dear to them, the scene of all their joys. My glory. All the privileges which they enjoyed as God"s people and his peculiar care are called "the ornament" of the Lord. (comp. Eze_16:14) The "glory" is by some commentators, but not so appositely, referred to vesture exclusively. These fatherless children had been ruthlessly stripped of their blessings either by being forced to grow up in want and ignorance, or by being sold into slavery and carried away from their old religious associations. Forever. The oppressors never repented or tried to make restitution; and so they incurred the special woe of those who injure the poor, the fatherless, and the widow (Pusey). The Septuagint has no connection with the present Hebrew text of this verse, reading, Eggisate oresin aiwnioiv , "Draw ye near to the everlasting hills," and previously introducing a gloss, Dia ta ponhra epithdeumata autwn exwsyhsan , "They were rejected because of their evil practices." Jerome explains the Greek mystically, despairing of the literal interpretation in its present connection.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The women - The widows. Of my people - Of Israelites, not strangers, that were by peculiar provision from God's law, to be tenderly dealt with, Exod. xxii, 22. Cast out - You have turned out of their old habitations. From their children - You have turned their children out of their houses, and estates, which were secured by the law of God from any sale beyond the jubilee; yet you have confiscated them forever. My glory - Which was the glory of my bounty to them.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

General Information:

Yahweh continues speaking to the wicked rich people in Israel.

you take my blessing from their young children forever

This refers, in general, to blessings God has given to his people. It might refer to 1) being landowners in Israel, 2) a promising future or 3) to the children's fathers, farmers who worked hard to establish the nation.

my blessing

Micah speaks as if he were Yahweh.

it is destroyed with complete destruction

This can be translated in active form. AT: "I will completely destroy it" (See: Active or Passive)

comes to you ... will prophesy to you

Micah is speaking to the people of Judah, so both instances of "you" are plural. (See: Forms of You)

he would be considered

This can be translated in active form. AT: "the people would consider him" or "you would consider him" (See: Forms of You)

translationWords

cast out

people of God

bless

eternity

clean

spirit

prophet

wine

strong drink

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

The wives of My people you drive away from the house of her delights—For you slay their husbands, and they sit as widows. Alternatively: since you take their husband’s money, and they (the husbands) sit and grieve and do not bring joy to their wives.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.