Micah 5:1-7:20 1 But now slash yourself,
daughter surrounded by soldiers!
We are besieged! With a scepter
they strike Israel’s ruler
on the side of his face.
2 As for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
seemingly insignificant
among the clans of Judah – from you a king will emerge who will rule over Israel on my behalf,
one whose origins
are in the distant past.
3 So the
Lord will hand the people of Israel
over to their enemies
until the time when the woman in labor
gives birth.
Then the rest of the king’s
countrymen will return to be reunited with the people of Israel.
4 He will assume his post
and shepherd the people
by the
Lord’s strength, by the sovereign authority of the
Lord his God.
They will live securely,
for at that time he will be honored
even in the distant regions of
the earth.
5 He will give us peace.
Should the Assyrians try to invade our land and attempt to set foot in our fortresses,
we will send
against them seven
shepherd-rulers,
make that eight commanders.
6 They will rule
the land of Assyria with the sword, the land of Nimrod
with a drawn sword.
Our king
will rescue us from the Assyrians should they attempt to invade our land and try to set foot in our territory.
7 Those survivors from
Jacob will live
in the midst of many nations.
They will be like the dew the
Lord sends, like the rain on the grass, that does not hope for men to come or wait around for humans to arrive.
8 Those survivors from Jacob will live among the nations, in the midst of many peoples. They will be like a lion among the animals of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, which attacks when it passes through; it rips its prey
and there is no one to stop it.
9 Lift your hand triumphantly against your adversaries;
may all your enemies be destroyed!
10 “In that day,” says the
Lord, “I will destroy
your horses from your midst, and smash your chariots.
11 I will destroy the cities of your land, and tear down all your fortresses.
12 I will remove the sorcery
that you practice,
and you will no longer have omen readers living among you.
13 I will remove your idols and sacred pillars from your midst; you will no longer worship what your own hands made.
14 I will uproot your images of Asherah
from your midst, and destroy your idols.
15 I will angrily seek vengeance on the nations that do not obey me.”
1 Listen to what the
Lord says: “Get up! Defend yourself
before the mountains!
Present your case before the hills!”
2 Hear the
Lord’s accusation, you mountains, you enduring foundations of the earth! For the
Lord has a case against his people; he has a dispute with Israel!
3 “My people, how have I wronged you?
How have I wearied you? Answer me!
4 In fact, I brought you up from the land of Egypt, I delivered you from that place of slavery. I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to lead you.
5 My people, recall how King Balak of Moab planned to harm you,
how Balaam son of Beor responded to him. Recall how you journeyed from Shittim to Gilgal, so you might acknowledge that the
Lord has treated you fairly.”
6 With what should I
enter the
Lord’s presence? With what
should I bow before the sovereign God?
Should I enter his presence with burnt offerings, with year-old calves?
7 Will the
Lord accept a thousand rams, or ten thousand streams of olive oil? Should I give him my firstborn child as payment for my rebellion, my offspring – my own flesh and blood – for my sin?
8 He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the
Lord really wants from you:
He wants you to
promote
justice, to be faithful,
and to live obediently before
your God.
9 Listen! The
Lord is calling
to the city! It is wise to respect your authority, O
Lord!
Listen, O nation, and those assembled in the city!
10 “I will not overlook,
O sinful house, the dishonest gain you have hoarded away,
or the smaller-than-standard measure I hate so much.
11 I do not condone the use of rigged scales, or a bag of deceptive weights.
12 The city’s rich men think nothing of resorting to violence;
her inhabitants lie,
their tongues speak deceptive words.
13 I will strike you brutally
and destroy you because of your sin.
14 You will eat, but not be satisfied. Even if you have the strength
to overtake some prey,
you will not be able to carry it away;
if you do happen to carry away something, I will deliver it over to the sword.
15 You will plant crops, but will not harvest them; you will squeeze oil from the olives,
but you will have no oil to rub on your bodies;
you will squeeze juice from the grapes, but you will have no wine to drink.
16 You implement the regulations of Omri, and all the practices of Ahab’s dynasty;
you follow their policies.
Therefore I will make you an appalling sight,
the city’s
inhabitants will be taunted derisively,
and nations will mock all of you.”
1 I am depressed!
Indeed,
it is as if the summer fruit has been gathered, and the grapes have been harvested.
There is no grape cluster to eat, no fresh figs that I crave so much.
2 Faithful men have disappeared
from the land; there are no godly men left.
They all wait in ambush so they can shed blood;
they hunt their own brother with a net.
3 They are determined to be experts at doing evil;
government officials and judges take bribes,
prominent men make demands, and they all do what is necessary to satisfy them.
4 The best of them is like a thorn; the most godly among them are more dangerous than a row of thorn bushes.
The day you try to avoid by posting watchmen – your appointed time of punishment – is on the way,
and then you will experience confusion.
5 Do not rely on a friend; do not trust a companion! Don’t even share secrets with the one who lies in your arms!
6 For a son thinks his father is a fool, a daughter challenges
her mother, and a daughter-in-law her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are his own servants.
7 But I will keep watching for the
Lord; I will wait for the God who delivers me. My God will hear my lament.
8 My enemies,
do not gloat
over me! Though I have fallen, I will get up. Though I sit in darkness, the
Lord will be my light.
9 I must endure
the
Lord’s anger, for I have sinned against him. But then
he will defend my cause,
and accomplish justice on my behalf. He will lead me out into the light; I will experience firsthand
his deliverance.
10 When my enemies see this, they will be covered with shame. They say
to me, “Where is the
Lord your God?” I will gloat over them.
Then they will be trampled down
like mud in the streets.
11 It will be a day for rebuilding your walls; in that day your boundary will be extended.
12 In that day people
will come to you
from Assyria as far as
Egypt, from Egypt as far as the Euphrates River,
from the seacoasts
and the mountains.
13 The earth will become desolate
because of what its inhabitants have done.
14 Shepherd your people with your shepherd’s rod,
the flock that belongs to you,
the one that lives alone in a thicket, in the midst of a pastureland.
Allow them to graze in Bashan and Gilead,
as they did in the old days.
15 “As in the days when you departed from the land of Egypt, I will show you
miraculous deeds.”
16 Nations will see this and be disappointed by
all their strength, they will put their hands over their mouths, and act as if they were deaf.
17 They will lick the dust like a snake, like serpents crawling on the ground.
They will come trembling from their strongholds to the
Lord our God;
they will be terrified
of you.
18 There is no other God like you!
You
forgive sin and pardon
the rebellion of those who remain among your people.
You do not remain angry forever,
but delight in showing loyal love.
19 You will once again
have mercy on us; you will conquer
our evil deeds; you will hurl our
sins into the depths of the sea.
20 You will be loyal to Jacob and extend your loyal love to Abraham,
which you promised on oath to our ancestors
in ancient times.
Context (NET) Revelation 7:1-17 1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth so no wind could blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree.
2 Then
I saw another angel ascending from the east,
who had
the seal
of the living God. He
shouted out with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given permission
to damage the earth and the sea:
3 “Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees until we have put a seal on the foreheads of the servants
of our God.”
4 Now
I heard the number of those who were marked with the seal,
one hundred and forty-four thousand, sealed from all
the tribes of the people of Israel:
5 From the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand, from the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand,
6 from the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand, from the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand, from the tribe of Manasseh, twelve thousand,
7 from the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand, from the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand, from the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand,
8 from the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand, from the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand, from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand were sealed.
9 After these things I looked, and here was
an enormous crowd that no one could count, made up of persons from every nation, tribe,
people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb dressed in long white robes, and with palm branches in their hands.
10 They were shouting out in a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God,
to the one seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
11 And all the angels stood
there in a circle around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground
before the throne and worshiped God,
12 saying, “Amen! Praise and glory, and wisdom and thanksgiving, and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”
13 Then
one of the elders asked
me, “These dressed in long white robes – who are they and where have they come from?”
14 So
I said to him, “My lord, you know the answer.”
Then
he said to me, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation. They
have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb!
15 For this reason they are before the throne of God, and they serve
him day and night in his temple, and the one seated on the throne will shelter them.
16 They will never go hungry or be thirsty again, and the sun will not beat down on them, nor any burning heat,
17 because the Lamb in the middle of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Context (NET) Psalm 135:1-21 1 Praise the
Lord! Praise the name of the
Lord! Offer praise, you servants of the
Lord,
2 who serve
in the
Lord’s temple, in the courts of the temple of our God.
3 Praise the
Lord, for the
Lord is good! Sing praises to his name, for it is pleasant!
4 Indeed,
the
Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel to be his special possession.
5 Yes,
I know the
Lord is great, and our Lord is superior to all gods.
6 He does whatever he pleases in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the ocean depths.
7 He causes the clouds to arise from the end of the earth, makes lightning bolts accompany the rain, and brings the wind out of his storehouses.
8 He struck down the firstborn of Egypt, including both men and animals.
9 He performed awesome deeds
and acts of judgment
in your midst, O Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants.
10 He defeated many nations, and killed mighty kings –
11 Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan.
12 He gave their land as an inheritance, as an inheritance to Israel his people.
13 O
Lord, your name endures,
your reputation, O
Lord, lasts.
14 For the
Lord vindicates
his people, and has compassion on his servants.
15 The nations’ idols are made of silver and gold, they are man-made.
16 They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see,
17 and ears, but cannot hear. Indeed, they cannot breathe.
18 Those who make them will end up
like them, as will everyone who trusts in them.
19 O family
of Israel, praise the
Lord! O family of Aaron, praise the
Lord!
20 O family of Levi, praise the
Lord! You loyal followers
of the
Lord, praise the
Lord!
21 The
Lord deserves praise in Zion
– he who dwells in Jerusalem.
Praise the
Lord!
Context (NET) Proverbs 30:5-6 5 Every word of God is purified;
he is like
a shield for those who take refuge in him.
6 Do not add to his words, lest he reprove you, and prove you to be a liar.
Context (NET)
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