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1 This is the word of the Lord that came to Micah from Moresheth, in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. He saw this vision concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
2 Listen, all you peoples!
Pay close attention, earth and all of you who fill it!
The Lord God will testify against you.
The Lord will testify from his holy temple.
The Lord’s Judgment Is Coming on Samaria and Jerusalem
3 Look! The Lord is coming out from his place.
He will come down and will trample the high places of the land.
4 The mountains will melt beneath him,
and the valleys will flow away like wax near a fire,
like water spilling down a mountainside.
5 All this will happen because of the rebellion of Jacob,
because of the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the rebellion of Jacob? Is it not Samaria?
What is the high place of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?
6 That is why I have sentenced Samaria to become
a heap of ruins in the open countryside,
a place where someone might plant a vineyard.
I have hurled down its stones into the valley.[a]
I will expose its foundation.
7 All her carved idols will be crushed,
and all her wages will be burned with fire.
I will sentence all her useless images to destruction.
Because she collected a prostitute’s wages to obtain them,
they will become a prostitute’s wages again.
Micah’s Mourning
8 Because of this I must lament and grieve.
I must walk barefoot and naked.
I must howl like a jackal
and make a mourning shriek like an ostrich,[b]
9 because her plague is incurable.
It has even spread to Judah.
It has arrived at the gate of my people.
It has come all the way up to Jerusalem.
10 Do not announce it in Gath.
Do not weep at all.
In Beth Ophrah roll around in the dust.[c]
11 Pass by, inhabitants of Shaphir, naked and ashamed.
The inhabitants of Za’anan[d] must not go out.
Beth Ezel mourns. It takes away its support from you.[e]
12 The inhabitants of Maroth anxiously wait for good,
because disaster has come down from the Lord to the gates of Jerusalem.
13 Hitch fast horses to the chariot, you inhabitants of Lachish.
You were the beginning of sin for the Daughter of Zion,
because the rebellious deeds of Israel were found also in you.
14 Therefore you will give farewell gifts to Moresheth Gath.
The houses of Akzib will be undependable to the kings of Israel.
15 I will once again bring a conqueror to you, you inhabitants of Mareshah.
The glory of Israel will come to Adullam.[f]
16 Shave your heads and cut off your hair
to mourn for the children that delight you.
Make yourself bald as a buzzard,
because your children will be taken away from you into exile.
Woe to Those Who Plan Wickedness
2 Woe to those who plan wickedness,
who make preparations for evil while lying on their beds.
By the morning light they carry it out,
because it is in the power of their hands to do so.
2 They covet fields and seize them.
They covet houses and take them away.
They deprive a person of his house,
and a man of his inheritance.
3 Therefore this is what the Lord says:
Look, I am making plans against this family of clans,
plans for a disaster from which you cannot save your necks.
You will not be able to hold your heads high,
because it will be an evil time.
4 On that day a saying will arise about you.
People will moan this sad song:
“We have been completely devastated.
My people’s portion in the land is divided up.
He takes it from me and assigns our fields to traitors.”[g]
5 Because of this, there will be no one to measure off an allotted inheritance for you in the assembly of the Lord.
Lying Prophets
6 “Stop preaching,” they preach.[h] “Do not preach about these things,”
but these charges will not be turned away.[i]
7 Should the house of Jacob say,
“Is the Spirit of the Lord impatient?
Would he really do these things?”
Will my words fail to accomplish good things for people who walk uprightly?
8 But lately my people have stood up like an enemy.
You strip off the splendid robe from those who pass by
as they return safely from battle.[j]
9 You drive the women among my people out of their comfortable houses.
You take away my splendor from their children forever.
10 Get up and leave,
for this will not be a place to rest,
because the impurity that destroys it will bring painful destruction.
11 If a man full of bluster and lies comes and says,
“I will preach for you about wine and beer,”
he would be just the preacher for these people.
A Promise for the Remnant
12 I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob.
I will surely gather together the surviving remnant of Israel.
I will establish them like a flock in its fold,
like a herd in its pasture,
like a happy crowd of noisy people.[k]
13 The one who breaks through the siege line[l] will go up ahead of them.
They too will break out and pass through the gate,
and their king will cross over in front of them,
with the Lord as their head.
A Rebuke for the Rulers
3 I said:
Listen, you rulers of Jacob,
you leaders of the house of Israel.
Shouldn’t you recognize justice?
2 But you hate good and love evil.
You tear off the skin and the flesh from the bones.
3 You eat the flesh of my people
and peel off their skin.
You smash their bones.
You chop them up like pieces for the cooking pot,
like meat for the cauldron.
4 Then they will cry out to the Lord for help,
but he will not answer them.
He will hide his face from them at that time,
because their deeds were evil.
A Rebuke for Bad Leaders
5 This is what the Lord says concerning the prophets who mislead my people:
Give them something to chew with their teeth, and they declare peace,
but they declare a holy war against anyone who doesn’t put something into their mouths.
6 Therefore, a night without prophetic vision will come upon you.
Darkness will come upon you, without any omens from God.
The sun will set for the prophets,
and daytime will become dark for them.
7 The seers will be ashamed,
and the fortune tellers will hide in disgrace.
They will all cover their mouths,[m]
because there will be no answer from God.
8 I, on the other hand, I am full of power from the Spirit of the Lord,
full of judgment and strength,
to declare Jacob’s sinful rebellion to him
and Israel’s sin to him.
9 Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob.
Listen attentively, leaders of the house of Israel,
you who have contempt for justice and pervert everything that is right,
10 you who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with injustice.
11 Her leaders render verdicts for a bribe,
and her priests issue rulings for a payoff.
Her prophets foretell the future for silver,
yet they lean on the Lord and say,
“The Lord is in our midst, isn’t he? Disaster will not come upon us.”
12 Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field.
Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,
and the Temple Mount will become a wooded hill.
A Future Kingdom of Peace
4 In the last days, the mountain of the House of the Lord
will be established as the highest among the mountains.[n]
It will be raised above the hills,
and peoples will stream to it like a river.
2 Many nations will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways so that we may walk in his paths.”
The law[o] will go out from Zion
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
3 He will render judgment between many peoples.
He will settle disputes between mighty nations from far away.
They will pound their swords into plowshares
and their spears into blades for trimming vines.
Nation will not raise the sword against nation,
and they will not learn how to wage war any longer.
4 Each man will sit under his own vine
and under his own fig tree.
There will be no one to make them afraid,
for the mouth of the Lord of Armies has spoken.
5 For all the other peoples walk in the names of their gods,
but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.
Gathering the Scattered People
6 On that day, says the Lord,
I will bring in the lame
and gather the scattered,
even those I have afflicted.
7 I will establish the lame as survivors
and the scattered as a powerful nation.
The Lord will rule over them on Mount Zion
from that time on and forever.
8 But for you, watchtower of the flock,
for you, stronghold of the Daughter of Zion,
for you, the power to rule, which you had before, will come again.
The kingship will return to the Daughter of Jerusalem.
9 But now, why are you shouting so loudly?
Is it because you have no king among you?
Has the one who guided you perished,
so that pain now has gripped you like a woman giving birth?
10 Writhe and scream, Daughter of Zion,
like a woman giving birth, since now you must leave the city,
and you will seek shelter in the fields.
You will go to Babylon.
There you will be rescued.
There the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.
11 But now many nations have banded together against you.
They say, “Let her be degraded! Let our eyes gloat over Zion!”
12 But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord,
and they do not understand his plans,
namely, that he will gather them together like bundles of grain on the threshing floor.
13 Rise up and thresh, Daughter of Zion,
for I will turn your horns into iron,
and I will make your hoofs bronze,
and you will crush many peoples.
You will dedicate what they have gained to the Lord,
and their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.
The Vision of the Seven Seals: The First Four Seals
6 And I watched when the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. And I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come.”[a]
2 And I looked, and there was a white horse, and its rider held a bow. A crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.
3 When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come.”[b] 4 And another horse, a fiery red one, went out. Its rider was given power to take peace away from the earth so that people would slaughter one another. And a great sword was given to him.
5 When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come.”[c] And I looked, and there was a black horse. Its rider had a scale in his hand. 6 And I heard something like a voice from among the four living creatures say, “A quart[d] of wheat for a denarius,[e] and three quarts[f] of barley for a denarius. And do not dilute[g] the oil and the wine.”
7 When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come.”[h] 8 And I looked, and there was a pale green horse. And its rider was named Death, and the Grave[i] followed closely behind him. They were given power over a quarter of the earth, to kill people with the sword, with famine, with death, and by the wild animals of the earth.
The Fifth Seal: The Souls Under the Altar
9 When the Lamb opened the fifth seal, under the incense altar I saw the souls of those who had been slaughtered because of the word of God and because of the testimony they had maintained. 10 And they called out with a loud voice, saying, “O Lord, holy and true, how long until you judge and exact justice for our blood from those who live on the earth?” 11 A white robe was given to each one of them. And they were told to rest a little longer until their number would be complete, when their fellow servants and their brothers[j] would be put to death as they were.
The Sixth Seal: The Last Judgment
12 And I watched when the Lamb opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun became as black as sackcloth made of hair. The entire moon became like blood. 13 The stars of the sky fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when it is shaken by a strong wind. 14 The sky was removed like a scroll being rolled up. Every mountain and island was moved from its place.
15 The kings of the earth, the nobles, the military leaders, the rich, the powerful, and everyone—slave or free—hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 And they kept saying to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 for the great day of their[k] wrath has come. Who is able to stand?”
Psalm 134
The Pilgrims’ Blessing
Heading
A song of the ascents.
The People
1 Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord,
who stand in the house of the Lord at night.
2 Lift up your hands toward the sanctuary
and bless the Lord.
The Priests
3 May the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.
The Oracle of Agur
30 The words of Agur son of Jakeh. An oracle.[a]
This man declares:
I am weary, God. I am weary, God, and worn out,[b]
2 because I am too unreasoning to be a man.
I do not even possess human understanding.
3 I have not learned wisdom.
I do not have knowledge of the Holy One.
4 Who has gone up to heaven and come down?
Who has gathered the wind in the palms of his hands?
Who has wrapped the water in a garment?
Who has set up all the ends of the earth?
What is his name and the name of his son?
Tell me if you know!
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.