Micah 2:4

A parable. Hebrew mashal, here probably in the sense of “a taunting song.” “In that day,” the evil time mentioned in the preceding verse, the enemy shall employ the words Israel used to lament her calamity as a taunt against her (see Habakkuk 2:6). Mockingly representing themselves as the afflicted Jews, the enemy bewail the fact that Israel, once prosperous, is now “utterly spoiled,” reduced to ruin and desolation; and that their inheritance, “the portion of my people,” is now “changed” and “removed.” In other words, the land of Canaan that God promised to the descendants of Abraham (see Genesis 13:14, 15) would be transferred to their enemies. No mockery hurts and stings more than the repetition in jest by another of words used to bemoan oneself.

Turning away. Hebrew shobeb, “a backturning,” or “an apostate.” The latter meaning makes the clause read, “to an apostate he divides our fields.” By a change in the Hebrew text the RSV reads, “Among our captors he divides our fields.”