MICAH 1:1-4:13
REVELATION 6:1-17
PSALM 134:1-3
PROVERBS 30:1-4
MICAH 1:1-4:13
The LORD gave these messages to Micah of Moresheth during the years when Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah. The messages concerned both Samaria and Jerusalem, and they came to Micah in the form of visions. 2 Attention! Let all the people of the world listen! The Sovereign LORD has made accusations against you; the Lord speaks from his holy Temple. 3 Look! The LORD is coming! He leaves his throne in heaven and comes to earth, walking on the high places. 4 They melt beneath his feet and flow into the valleys like wax in a fire, like water pouring down a hill. 5 And why is this happening? Because of the sins and rebellion of Israel and Judah. Who is to blame for Israel's rebellion? Samaria, its capital city! Where is the center of idolatry in Judah? In Jerusalem, its capital! 6 " So I, the LORD, will make the city of Samaria a heap of rubble. Her streets will be plowed up for planting vineyards. I will roll the stones of her walls down into the valley below, exposing all her foundations. 7 All her carved images will be smashed to pieces. All her sacred treasures will be burned up. These things were bought with the money earned by her prostitution, and they will now be carried away to pay prostitutes elsewhere." 8 Because of all this, I will mourn and lament. I will walk around naked and barefoot in sorrow and shame. I will howl like a jackal and wail like an ostrich. 9 For my people's wound is far too deep to heal. It has reached into Judah, even to the gates of Jerusalem.10 Don't tell our enemies in the city of Gath; don't weep at all. You people in Beth-leaphrah, roll in the dust to show your anguish and despair. 11 You people of Shaphir, go as captives into exile--naked and ashamed. The people of Zaanan dare not come outside their walls. The people of Beth-ezel mourn because the very foundations of their city have been swept away. 12 The people of Maroth anxiously wait for relief, but only bitterness awaits them as the LORD's judgment reaches even to the gates of Jerusalem. 13 Quick! Use your swiftest chariots and flee, you people of Lachish. You were the first city in Judah to follow Israel in the sin of idol worship, and so you led Jerusalem into sin. 14 Send a farewell gift to Moresheth-gath; there is no hope of saving it. The town of Aczib has deceived the kings of Israel, for it promised help it could not give. 15 You people of Mareshah, I will bring a conqueror to capture your town. And the leaders of Israel will go to Adullam. 16 Weep, you people of Judah! Shave your heads in sorrow, for the children you love will be snatched away, and you will never see them again. Make yourselves as bald as an eagle, for your little ones will be exiled to distant lands. 2:1 HOW terrible it will be for you who lie awake at night, thinking up evil plans. You rise at dawn and hurry to carry out any of the wicked schemes you have power to accomplish. 2 When you want a certain piece of land, you find a way to seize it. When you want someone's house, you take it by fraud and violence. No one's family or inheritance is safe with you around! 3 But this is what the LORD says: " I will reward your evil with evil; you won't be able to escape! After I am through with you, none of you will ever again walk proudly in the streets." 4 In that day your enemies will make fun of you by singing this song of despair about your experience: " We are finished,
completely ruined!
God has confiscated our land,
taking it from us.
He has given our fields
to those who betrayed us."
5 Others will set your boundaries then, and the LORD's people will have no say in how the land is divided. 6 " Don't say such things," the people say. " Don't prophesy like that. Such disasters will never come our way!" 7 Should you talk that way, O family of Israel? Will the LORD have patience with such behavior? If you would do what is right, you would find my words to be good. 8 Yet to this very hour my people rise against me! You steal the shirts right off the backs of those who trusted you, making them as ragged as men who have just come home from battle. 9 You have evicted women from their homes and stripped their children of all their God-given rights. 10 Up! Begone! This is no longer your land and home, for you have filled it with sin and ruined it completely. 11 Suppose a prophet full of lies were to say to you, " I'll preach to you the joys of wine and drink!" That's just the kind of prophet you would like!12 " Someday, O Israel, I will gather the few of you who are left. I will bring you together again like sheep in a fold, like a flock in its pasture. Yes, your land will again be filled with noisy crowds! 13 Your leader will break out and lead you out of exile. He will bring you through the gates of your cities of captivity, back to your own land. Your king will lead you; the LORD himself will guide you." 3:1 LISTEN, you leaders of Israel! You are supposed to know right from wrong, 2 but you are the very ones who hate good and love evil. You skin my people alive and tear the flesh off their bones. 3 You eat my people's flesh, cut away their skin, and break their bones. You chop them up like meat for the cooking pot. 4 Then you beg the LORD for help in times of trouble! Do you really expect him to listen? After all the evil you have done, he won't even look at you! 5 This is what the LORD says to you false prophets: " You are leading my people astray! You promise peace for those who give you food, but you declare war on anyone who refuses to pay you. 6 Now the night will close around you, cutting off all your visions. Darkness will cover you, making it impossible for you to predict the future. The sun will set for you prophets, and your day will come to an end. 7 Then you seers will cover your faces in shame, and you diviners will be disgraced. And you will admit that your messages were not from God."8 But as for me, I am filled with power and the Spirit of the LORD. I am filled with justice and might, fearlessly pointing out Israel's sin and rebellion. 9 Listen to me, you leaders of Israel! You hate justice and twist all that is right. 10 You are building Jerusalem on a foundation of murder and corruption. 11 You rulers govern for the bribes you can get; you priests teach God's laws only for a price; you prophets won't prophesy unless you are paid. Yet all of you claim you are depending on the LORD. " No harm can come to us," you say, " for the LORD is here among us." 12 So because of you, Mount Zion will be plowed like an open field; Jerusalem will be reduced to rubble! A great forest will grow on the hilltop, where the Temple now stands.4:1 IN the last days, the Temple of the LORD in Jerusalem will become the most important place on earth. People from all over the world will go there to worship. 2 Many nations will come and say, " Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the Temple of the God of Israel. There he will teach us his ways, so that we may obey him." For in those days the LORD's teaching and his word will go out from Jerusalem. 3 The LORD will settle international disputes. All the nations will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. All wars will stop, and military training will come to an end. 4 Everyone will live quietly in their own homes in peace and prosperity, for there will be nothing to fear. The LORD Almighty has promised this! 5 Even though the nations around us worship idols, we will follow the LORD our God forever and ever. 6 " In that coming day," says the LORD, " I will gather together my people who are lame, who have been exiles, filled with grief. 7 They are weak and far from home, but I will make them strong again, a mighty nation. Then I, the LORD, will rule from Jerusalem as their king forever."8 As for you, O Jerusalem, the citadel of God's people, your royal might and power will come back to you again. The kingship will be restored to my precious Jerusalem. 9 But why are you now screaming in terror? Have you no king to lead you? He is dead! Have you no wise people to counsel you? All are gone! Pain has gripped you like it does a woman in labor. 10 Writhe and groan in terrible pain, you people of Jerusalem, for you must leave this city to live in the open fields. You will soon be sent into exile in distant Babylon. But the LORD will rescue you there; he will redeem you from the grip of your enemies. 11 True, many nations have gathered together against you, calling for your blood, eager to gloat over your destruction. 12 But they do not know the LORD's thoughts or understand his plan. These nations don't know that he is gathering them together to be beaten and trampled like bundles of grain on a threshing floor. 13 " Rise up and destroy the nations, O Jerusalem!" says the LORD. " For I will give you iron horns and bronze hooves, so you can trample many nations to pieces. Then you will give all the wealth they acquired as offerings to me, the Lord of all the earth."
REVELATION 6:1-17
As I [John] watched, the Lamb broke the first of the seven seals on the scroll. Then one of the four living beings called out with a voice that sounded like thunder, " Come!" 2 I looked up and saw a white horse. Its rider carried a bow, and a crown was placed on his head. He rode out to win many battles and gain the victory. 3 When the Lamb broke the second seal, I heard the second living being say, " Come!" 4 And another horse appeared, a red one. Its rider was given a mighty sword and the authority to remove peace from the earth. And there was war and slaughter everywhere.5 When the Lamb broke the third seal, I heard the third living being say, " Come!" And I looked up and saw a black horse, and its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And a voice from among the four living beings said, " A loaf of wheat bread or three loaves of barley for a day's pay. And don't waste the olive oil and wine." 7 And when the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the fourth living being say, " Come!" 8 And I looked up and saw a horse whose color was pale green like a corpse. And Death was the name of its rider, who was followed around by the Grave. They were given authority over one-fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword and famine and disease and wild animals.9 And when the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of all who had been martyred for the word of God and for being faithful in their witness. 10 They called loudly to the Lord and said, " O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long will it be before you judge the people who belong to this world for what they have done to us? When will you avenge our blood against these people?" 11 Then a white robe was given to each of them. And they were told to rest a little longer until the full number of their brothers and sisters*--their fellow servants of Jesus--had been martyred. 12 I watched as the Lamb broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became as dark as black cloth, and the moon became as red as blood. 13 Then the stars of the sky fell to the earth like green figs falling from trees shaken by mighty winds. 14 And the sky was rolled up like a scroll and taken away. And all of the mountains and all of the islands disappeared. 15 Then the kings of the earth, the rulers, the generals, the wealthy people, the people with great power, and every slave and every free person--all hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 And they cried to the mountains and the rocks, " Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. 17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who will be able to survive?"
PSALM 134:1-3
A song for the ascent to Jerusalem.
1 Oh, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD,
you who serve as night watchmen in the house of the LORD.
2 Lift your hands in holiness,
and bless the LORD.
3 May the LORD, who made heaven and earth,
bless you from Jerusalem.
PROVERBS 30:1-4
The message of Agur son of Jakeh. An oracle. I am weary, O God; I am weary and worn out, O God. I am too ignorant to be human, and I lack common sense. I have not mastered human wisdom, nor do I know the Holy One. Who but God goes up to heaven and comes back down? Who holds the wind in his fists? Who wraps up the oceans in his cloak? Who has created the whole wide world? What is his name--and his son's name? Tell me if you know!
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