Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, against this family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks; neither shall ye go haughtily: for this time is evil.

Behold, against this family - against the nation, and especially against those reprobated in Micah 2:1.

Do I devise an evil - a happy antithesis between God's dealings and the Jews' dealings (Micah 2:1). Ye "devise evil" against your fellow-countrymen, "I devise evil against" you. Ye devise it wrongfully, by righteous retribution in kind.

From which ye shall not remove your necks - as ye have done from the law. The yoke which I shall impose shall be one which ye cannot shake off. They who will not bend to God's "easy yoke" (Matthew 11:29), shall feel His iron yoke.

Neither shall ye go haughtily - (cf. note, Jeremiah 6:28, "walking with slanders") - i:e., walking for the purpose of slandering. The accusative, with the Hebrew verb 'to walk,' implies not the manner, but the end. [ Haalak (H3212) rowmaah (H7317), 'to go' or emerge to elevation, not to go with uplifted neck] (Maurer). Ye shall not be able to raise your heads on high, because the yoke shall press down your "necks."

For this time is evil - rather, 'for that time shall be an evil time'-namely, the time of the carrying away into captivity (cf. Amos 5:13, from whom Micah derives the phrase, joining on his own inspired prophecies to those of his predecessor; Ephesians 5:16, " Redeeming the time, because the days are evil").

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