Micah 5-7

New King James Version

The Messiah Will Be Born at Bethlehem

5 Now gather yourself in troops,
O daughter of troops;
He has laid siege against us;
They will ^(A)strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.

The Coming Messiah

²“But you, ^(B)Bethlehem ^(C)Ephrathah,
Though you are little ^(D)among the ^(E)thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be ^(F)Ruler in Israel,
^(G)Whose goings forth are from of old,
From ^[a]everlasting.”

³Therefore He shall give them up,
Until the time that ^(H)she who is in labor has given birth;
Then ^(I)the remnant of His brethren
Shall return to the children of Israel.
⁴And He shall stand and ^(J)feed^[b] His flock
In the strength of the Lord,
In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God;
And they shall abide,
For now He ^(K)shall be great
To the ends of the earth;
⁵And this One ^(L)shall be peace.

Judgment on Israel’s Enemies

When the Assyrian comes into our land,
And when he treads in our palaces,
Then we will raise against him
Seven shepherds and eight princely men.
⁶They shall ^[c]waste with the sword the land of Assyria,
And the land of ^(M)Nimrod at its entrances;
Thus He shall ^(N)deliver us from the Assyrian,
When he comes into our land
And when he treads within our borders.

⁷Then ^(O)the remnant of Jacob
Shall be in the midst of many peoples,
^(P)Like dew from the Lord,
Like showers on the grass,
That ^[d]tarry for no man
Nor ^[e]wait for the sons of men.
⁸And the remnant of Jacob
Shall be among the Gentiles,
In the midst of many peoples,
Like a ^(Q)lion among the beasts of the forest,
Like a young lion among flocks of sheep,
Who, if he passes through,
Both treads down and tears in pieces,
And none can deliver.
⁹Your hand shall be lifted against your adversaries,
And all your enemies shall be ^[f]cut off.

¹⁰“And it shall be in that day,” says the Lord,
“That I will ^(R)cut^[g] off your ^(S)horses from your midst
And destroy your ^(T)chariots.
¹¹I will cut off the cities of your land
And throw down all your strongholds.
¹²I will cut off sorceries from your hand,
And you shall have no ^(U)soothsayers.
¹³^(V)Your carved images I will also cut off,
And your sacred pillars from your midst;
You shall ^(W)no more worship the work of your hands;
¹⁴I will pluck your ^[h]wooden images from your midst;
Thus I will destroy your cities.
¹⁵And I will ^(X)execute vengeance in anger and fury
On the nations that have not ^[i]heard.”

God Pleads with Israel

6 Hear now what the Lord says:

“Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
And let the hills hear your voice.
²^(Y)Hear, O you mountains, ^(Z)the Lord’s complaint,
And you strong foundations of the earth;
For ^(AA)the Lord has a complaint against His people,
And He will ^[j]contend with Israel.

³“O My people, what ^(AB)have I done to you?
And how have I ^(AC)wearied you?
Testify against Me.
⁴^(AD)For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
I redeemed you from the house of bondage;
And I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
⁵O My people, remember now
What ^(AE)Balak king of Moab counseled,
And what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
From ^[k]Acacia Grove to Gilgal,
That you may know ^(AF)the righteousness of the Lord.”

⁶With what shall I come before the Lord,
And bow myself before the High God?
Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings,
With calves a year old?
⁷^(AG)Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
Ten thousand ^(AH)rivers of oil?
^(AI)Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
^[l]The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

⁸He has ^(AJ)shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But ^(AK)to do justly,
To love ^[m]mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?

Punishment of Israel’s Injustice

⁹The Lord’s voice cries to the city—
Wisdom shall see Your name:

“Hear the rod!
Who has appointed it?
¹⁰Are there yet the treasures of wickedness
In the house of the wicked,
And the short measure that is an abomination?
¹¹Shall I count pure those with ^(AL)the wicked scales,
And with the bag of deceitful weights?
¹²For her rich men are full of ^(AM)violence,
Her inhabitants have spoken lies,
And ^(AN)their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

¹³“Therefore I will also ^(AO)make you sick by striking you,
By making you desolate because of your sins.
¹⁴^(AP)You shall eat, but not be satisfied;
^[n]Hunger shall be in your midst.
You may carry some away,^[o] but shall not save them;
And what you do rescue I will give over to the sword.

¹⁵“You shall ^(AQ)sow, but not reap;
You shall tread the olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;
And make sweet wine, but not drink wine.
¹⁶For the statutes of ^(AR)Omri are ^(AS)kept;
All the works of Ahab’s house are done;
And you walk in their counsels,
That I may make you a ^[p]desolation,
And your inhabitants a hissing.
Therefore you shall bear the ^(AT)reproach of ^[q]My people.”

Sorrow for Israel’s Sins

7 Woe is me!
For I am like those who gather summer fruits,
Like those who ^(AU)glean vintage grapes;
There is no cluster to eat
Of the first-ripe fruit which ^(AV)my soul desires.
²The ^(AW)faithful^[r] man has perished from the earth,
And there is no one upright among men.
They all lie in wait for blood;
^(AX)Every man hunts his brother with a net.

³That they may successfully do evil with both hands—
The prince asks for gifts,
The judge seeks a ^(AY)bribe,
And the great man utters his evil desire;
So they scheme together.
⁴The best of them is ^(AZ)like a brier;
The most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge;
The day of your watchman and your punishment comes;
Now shall be their perplexity.

⁵^(BA)Do not trust in a friend;
Do not put your confidence in a companion;
Guard the doors of your mouth
From her who lies in your ^(BB)bosom.
⁶For ^(BC)son dishonors father,
Daughter rises against her mother,
Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
A man’s enemies are the men of his own household.
⁷Therefore I will look to the Lord;
I will ^(BD)wait for the God of my salvation;
My God will hear me.

Israel’s Confession and Comfort

⁸^(BE)Do not rejoice over me, my enemy;
^(BF)When I fall, I will arise;
When I sit in darkness,
The Lord will be a light to me.
⁹^(BG)I will bear the indignation of the Lord,
Because I have sinned against Him,
Until He pleads my ^(BH)case
And executes justice for me.
He will bring me forth to the light;
I will see His righteousness.
¹⁰Then she who is my enemy will see,
And ^(BI)shame will cover her who said to me,
^(BJ)“Where is the Lord your God?”
My eyes will see her;
Now she will be trampled down
Like mud in the streets.

¹¹In the day when your ^(BK)walls are to be built,
In that day ^[s]the decree shall go far and wide.
¹²In that day ^(BL)they^[t] shall come to you
From Assyria and the ^[u]fortified cities,
From the ^[v]fortress to ^[w]the River,
From sea to sea,
And mountain to mountain.
¹³Yet the land shall be desolate
Because of those who dwell in it,
And ^(BM)for the fruit of their deeds.

God Will Forgive Israel

¹⁴Shepherd Your people with Your staff,
The flock of Your heritage,
Who dwell ^[x]solitarily in a ^(BN)woodland,
In the midst of Carmel;
Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead,
As in days of old.

¹⁵“As^(BO) in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
I will show ^[y]them ^(BP)wonders.”

¹⁶The nations ^(BQ)shall see and be ashamed of all their might;
^(BR)They shall put their hand over their mouth;
Their ears shall be deaf.
¹⁷They shall lick the ^(BS)dust like a serpent;
^(BT)They shall crawl from their holes like ^[z]snakes of the earth.
^(BU)They shall be afraid of the Lord our God,
And shall fear because of You.
¹⁸^(BV)Who is a God like You,
^(BW)Pardoning iniquity
And passing over the transgression of ^(BX)the remnant of His heritage?

^(BY)He does not retain His anger forever,
Because He delights in ^(BZ)mercy.^[aa]
¹⁹He will again have compassion on us,
And will subdue our iniquities.

You will cast all ^[ab]our sins
Into the depths of the sea.
²⁰^(CA)You will give truth to Jacob
And ^[ac]mercy to Abraham,
^(CB)Which You have sworn to our fathers
From days of old.

Footnotes

Micah 5:2 Lit. the days of eternity
Micah 5:4 shepherd
Micah 5:6 devastate
Micah 5:7 wait
Micah 5:7 delay
Micah 5:9 destroyed
Micah 5:10 destroy
Micah 5:14 Heb. Asherim, Canaanite deities
Micah 5:15 obeyed
Micah 6:2 bring charges against
Micah 6:5 Heb. Shittim, Num. 25:1; Josh. 2:1; 3:1
Micah 6:7 My own child
Micah 6:8 Or lovingkindness
Micah 6:14 Or Emptiness or Humiliation
Micah 6:14 Tg., Vg. You shall take hold
Micah 6:16 Or object of horror
Micah 6:16 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; LXX nations
Micah 7:2 Or loyal
Micah 7:11 Or the boundary shall be extended
Micah 7:12 Lit. he, collective of the captives
Micah 7:12 Heb. arey mazor, possibly cities of Egypt
Micah 7:12 Heb. mazor, possibly Egypt
Micah 7:12 The Euphrates
Micah 7:14 Alone
Micah 7:15 Lit. him, collective for the captives
Micah 7:17 Lit. crawlers
Micah 7:18 Or lovingkindness
Micah 7:19 Lit. their
Micah 7:20 Or lovingkindness

Revelation 7

New King James Version

The Sealed of Israel

7 After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, ^(A)holding the four winds of the earth, ^(B)that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. ²Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, ³saying, ^(C)“Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God ^(D)on their foreheads.” ⁴^(E)And I heard the number of those who were sealed. ^(F)One hundred and forty-four thousand ^(G)of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed:

⁵of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand were ^[a]sealed;
of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand were sealed;
⁶of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand were sealed;
⁷of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand were sealed;
⁸of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed.

A Multitude from the Great Tribulation

⁹After these things I looked, and behold, ^(H)a great multitude which no one could number, ^(I)of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, ^(J)clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, ¹⁰and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ^(K)“Salvation belongs to our God ^(L)who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” ¹¹^(M)All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and ^(N)worshiped God, ¹²^(O)saying:

“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom,
Thanksgiving and honor and power and might,
Be to our God forever and ever.
Amen.”

¹³Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “Who are these arrayed in ^(P)white robes, and where did they come from?”

¹⁴And I said to him, ^[b]“Sir, you know.”

So he said to me, ^(Q)“These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and ^(R)washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. ¹⁵Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will ^(S)dwell among them. ¹⁶^(T)They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; ^(U)the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; ¹⁷for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne ^(V)will shepherd them and lead them to ^[c]living fountains of waters. ^(W)And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

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Footnotes

Revelation 7:5 NU, M omit sealed in vv. 5b–8b.
Revelation 7:14 NU, M My lord
Revelation 7:17 NU, M fountains of the waters of life

Psalm 135

New King James Version

Praise to God in Creation and Redemption

135 Praise the Lord!

Praise the name of the Lord;
^(A)Praise Him, O you servants of the Lord!
²^(B)You who stand in the house of the Lord,
In ^(C)the courts of the house of our God,
³Praise the Lord, for ^(D)the Lord is good;
Sing praises to His name, ^(E)for it is pleasant.
⁴For ^(F)the Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself,
Israel for His ^[a]special treasure.

⁵For I know that ^(G)the Lord is great,
And our Lord is above all gods.
⁶^(H)Whatever the Lord pleases He does,
In heaven and in earth,
In the seas and in all deep places.
⁷^(I)He causes the ^[b]vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth;
^(J)He makes lightning for the rain;
He brings the wind out of His ^(K)treasuries.

⁸^(L)He ^[c]destroyed the firstborn of Egypt,
^[d]Both of man and beast.
⁹^(M)He sent signs and wonders into the midst of you, O Egypt,
^(N)Upon Pharaoh and all his servants.
¹⁰^(O)He defeated many nations
And slew mighty kings—
¹¹Sihon king of the Amorites,
Og king of Bashan,
And ^(P)all the kingdoms of Canaan—
¹²^(Q)And gave their land as a ^[e]heritage,
A heritage to Israel His people.

¹³^(R)Your name, O Lord, endures forever,
Your fame, O Lord, throughout all generations.
¹⁴^(S)For the Lord will judge His people,
And He will have compassion on His servants.

¹⁵^(T)The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
The work of men’s hands.
¹⁶They have mouths, but they do not speak;
Eyes they have, but they do not see;
¹⁷They have ears, but they do not hear;
Nor is there any breath in their mouths.
¹⁸Those who make them are like them;
So is everyone who trusts in them.

¹⁹^(U)Bless the Lord, O house of Israel!
Bless the Lord, O house of Aaron!
²⁰Bless the Lord, O house of Levi!
You who fear the Lord, bless the Lord!
²¹Blessed be the Lord ^(V)out of Zion,
Who dwells in Jerusalem!

Praise the Lord!

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Footnotes

Psalm 135:4 precious possession
Psalm 135:7 Water vapor
Psalm 135:8 Lit. struck down
Psalm 135:8 Lit. From man to beast
Psalm 135:12 inheritance

Proverbs 30:5-6

New King James Version

⁵^(A)Every word of God is ^[a]pure;
^(B)He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.
⁶^(C)Do not add to His words,
Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.