John Trapp on Micah 2:3

Ver. 3. Behold againſt this family do I deviſe an evill]Turk. hiſt fol. 363 They had deviſed iniquity ver. 1. and now he deviſeth their miſery. God uſually retaliates, and proportions provocation to provocation Deut. 32.21. frowardneſſe to frowardneſſe Pſal. 18.26. contrariety to contrariety Lev. 26.18, 21. and device to device, as here. He loves to pay ſinners home in their own coyne; and to make them know by ſad experience and ſee, that it is an evill thing and bitter to forſake the Lord and his feare Jer. 2.19. Woe be to that man againſt whom the Almighty ſets himſelf to deviſe an evill: ſuch an one ſhall find, that thought is not free (as that peſtilent, proverb would make it) either from the notice of Gods holy eye, the cenſure of his mouth, or the ſtroak of his hand. See Ier. 4.14. and 6.39. Rev. 2.23. Deut. 29.19. And this, Nature it ſelf had ſome notion of, as appeareth by his cenſure who judged that Antiochus did therefore die loathſomely, becauſe he had but an intent to burn Diana's temple.Polybius. In declam. Fecit quiſque quantum voluit, ſaith Seneca: and [illegible: 1 letter]nceſta eſt, & ſine ſtupro, quae ſtuprum cupit ſaith the ſame Authour. Vaine thoughts are very ſins, and expoſe men to puniſhment: theſe ſhall either excuſe or accuſe at the laſt day Rom. 2.15. Meane-while, God is deviſing what to do to them: he is preparing his bow and making ready his arrowes upon the ſtring, even a Tophet of the moſt tormenting temper will ſhortly ſwallow them up, without true and timely Repentance.

From which ye ſhall not remove your necks] It ſhall ſo halter and hamper you, that like fiſhes taken in an evill net, and as birds caught in a ſnare, ſo ſhall ye be ſnared in an evill time, when it falleth ſuddenly upon you Eccleſ. 9.12. ye ſhall never be able either to avoide it,Sic laqueos fera dum jactat, aſtringit Sen. or to abide it. But as the bird in a gin, the fiſh on the hook, the more it ſtrives, the more it ſticks: and as the bullock under the yoke, the more he wriggles, the more he galles: ſo ſhall it be here. Your faire necks, that would not beare the eaſy yoke of Gods obedience, ſhall be ridden on by the enemy and bound to your two furrowes Hoſ. 10.10, 11. yea a yoke of iron ſhall be put upon thee, untill thou be deſtroyed Deut. 28.48.

neither ſhall ye go haughtily] Heb. Romah; and hence haply Roma had its name, from its height and haughtineſſe: according to that of the Poet —atque altae moenia Romae.Virg. 1. Aeneid. The meaning here is, God would deject and darken them, ſo as that they ſhall utterly loſe their former renown and ſplendour. He will thruſt them down, as it were with a thump on the back, and there hold them. See Ezech. 21.26, 27. the ſcene ſhall be changed, and the haughty abaſed.

for this time is evill] Both ſinfully and penally evill The Apoſtle ſemeth to allude to this text, when he ſaith, [non-Latin text not transcribed] i.e. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. R[illegible: 1 letter]deeme the time, becauſe the dayes are evill: and Sufficient to the day is the evill thereof, that is, the miſery of it, ſaith Chriſt Mat. 6.34. And againe, Thoſe very dayes ſhall be affliction (ſo the Greek text hath it) Mark 13.19. as if the time were turned into affliction: becauſe of that evill, that onely evill without mixture of mercy Ezech. 7.5. here foretold,Ideo minatur Deus ut non puniat. and therefore foretold, that it might have been prevented.