Micah 2

English Standard Version

Woe to the Oppressors

2 ^(A)Woe to those who devise wickedness
    and work evil ^(B)on their beds!
When the morning dawns, they perform it,
    because it is in the power of their hand.
²They covet fields and ^(C)seize them,
    and houses, and take them away;
they oppress a man and his house,
    a man and his inheritance.
³Therefore thus says the Lord:
behold, against ^(D)this family I am devising disaster,^[a]
    from which you cannot remove your necks,
and you ^(E)shall not walk haughtily,
    ^(F)for it will be a time of disaster.
⁴In that day ^(G)they shall take up a taunt song against you
    and moan bitterly,
and say, “We are utterly ruined;
    ^(H)he changes the portion of my people;
^(I)how he removes it from me!
    ^(J)To an apostate he allots our fields.”
⁵Therefore you will have none ^(K)to cast the line by lot
    in the assembly of the Lord.

⁶^(L)“Do not preach”—thus they preach—
    ^(M)“one should not preach of such things;
    ^(N)disgrace will not overtake us.”
⁷Should this be said, O house of Jacob?
    ^(O)Has the Lord grown impatient?^[b]
    Are these his deeds?
Do not my words do good
    to him who walks uprightly?
⁸But lately ^(P)my people have risen up as an enemy;
you strip the rich robe from those who pass by trustingly
    with no thought of war.^[c]
⁹The women of my people you drive out
    from their delightful houses;
from their young children you take away
    my splendor forever.
¹⁰^(Q)Arise and go,
    for this is no ^(R)place to rest,
because of ^(S)uncleanness that destroys
    with a grievous destruction.
¹¹If a man should go about and ^(T)utter wind and lies,
    saying, “I will preach to you ^(U)of wine and strong drink,”
    he would be the preacher for this people!
¹²I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob;
    ^(V)I will gather ^(W)the remnant of Israel;
I will set them together
    like sheep in a fold,
^(X)like a flock in its pasture,
    a noisy multitude of men.
¹³^(Y)He who opens the breach goes up before them;
    they break through and pass the gate,
    ^(Z)going out by it.
Their king passes on before them,
    ^(AA)the Lord at their head.

Footnotes

Micah 2:3 The same Hebrew word can mean evil or disaster, depending on the context
Micah 2:7 Hebrew Has the spirit of the Lord grown short?
Micah 2:8 Or returning from war

Matthew 8:18-34

English Standard Version

The Cost of Following Jesus

¹⁸Now ^(A)when Jesus saw a crowd around him, ^(B)he gave orders to go over to the other side. ¹⁹^(C)And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” ²⁰And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” ²¹Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” ²²And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave ^(D)the dead to bury their own dead.”

Jesus Calms a Storm

²³^(E)And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. ²⁴And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but ^(F)he was asleep. ²⁵And they went and woke him, saying, ^(G)“Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” ²⁶And he said to them, “Why are you ^(H)afraid, ^(I)O you of little faith?” Then he rose and ^(J)rebuked the winds and the sea, and ^(K)there was a great calm. ²⁷And the men ^(L)marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even ^(M)winds and sea obey him?”

Jesus Heals Two Men with Demons

²⁸^(N)And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes,^[a] two ^(O)demon-possessed^[b] men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. ²⁹And behold, they ^(P)cried out, “What have you to do with us, ^(Q)O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us ^(R)before the time?” ³⁰Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them. ³¹And the demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.” ³²And he said to them, “Go.” So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters. ³³The herdsmen fled, and going into the city they told everything, especially what had happened to the ^(S)demon-possessed men. ³⁴And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, ^(T)they begged him to leave their region.

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Footnotes

Matthew 8:28 Some manuscripts Gergesenes; some Gerasenes
Matthew 8:28 Greek daimonizomai (demonized); also verse 33; elsewhere rendered oppressed by demons

Micah 3

English Standard Version

Rulers and Prophets Denounced

3 And I said:
^(A)Hear, you heads of Jacob
    and rulers of the house of Israel!
^(B)Is it not for you to know justice?—
²    you ^(C)who hate the good and love the evil,
^(D)who tear the skin from off my people^[a]
    and their flesh from off their bones,
³^(E)who eat the flesh of my people,
    and flay their skin from off them,
and break their bones in pieces
    and chop them up like meat in a pot,
    like flesh in a cauldron.

⁴^(F)Then they will cry to the Lord,
but he will not answer them;
^(G)he will hide his face from them at that time,
because they have made their deeds evil.

⁵Thus says the Lord concerning ^(H)the prophets
    who lead my people astray,
^(I)who cry “Peace”
    when they have something to eat,
but declare war against him
    who puts nothing into their mouths.
⁶Therefore ^(J)it shall be night to you, without vision,
    and darkness to you, without divination.
^(K)The sun shall go down on the prophets,
    and the day shall be black over them;
⁷^(L)the seers shall be disgraced,
    and the diviners put to shame;
^(M)they shall all cover their lips,
    for ^(N)there is no answer from God.
⁸But as for me, ^(O)I am filled with power,
    with the Spirit of the Lord,
    and with justice and might,
to declare to Jacob ^(P)his transgression
    and to Israel his sin.

⁹^(Q)Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob
    and rulers of the house of Israel,
^(R)who detest justice
    and make crooked all that is straight,
¹⁰^(S)who build Zion with blood
    and Jerusalem with iniquity.
¹¹^(T)Its heads give judgment for a bribe;
    ^(U)its priests teach for a price;
    ^(V)its prophets practice divination for money;
^(W)yet they lean on the Lord and ^(X)say,
    “Is not the Lord in the midst of us?
    ^(Y)No disaster shall come upon us.”
¹²Therefore because of you
    ^(Z)Zion shall be plowed as a field;
Jerusalem ^(AA)shall become a heap of ruins,
    and ^(AB)the mountain of the house ^(AC)a wooded height.

Footnotes

Micah 3:2 Hebrew from off them

2 Thessalonians 3

English Standard Version

Pray for Us

3 Finally, brothers,^[a] ^(A)pray for us, that ^(B)the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored,^[b] as happened among you, ²and ^(C)that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For ^(D)not all have faith. ³But ^(E)the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and ^(F)guard you against ^(G)the evil one.^[c] ⁴And ^(H)we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command. ⁵May the Lord ^(I)direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.

Warning Against Idleness

⁶Now we command you, brothers, ^(J)in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, ^(K)that you keep away from any ^(L)brother ^(M)who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. ⁷For you yourselves know ^(N)how you ought to imitate us, because ^(O)we were not idle when we were with you, ⁸nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but ^(P)with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. ⁹It was ^(Q)not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves ^(R)an example to imitate. ¹⁰For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: ^(S)If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. ¹¹For we hear that some among you ^(T)walk in idleness, not busy at work, but ^(U)busybodies. ¹²Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.^[d]

¹³As for you, brothers, ^(V)do not grow weary in doing good. ¹⁴If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and ^(W)have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. ¹⁵^(X)Do not regard him as an enemy, but ^(Y)warn him as a brother.

Benediction

¹⁶Now may ^(Z)the Lord of peace himself ^(AA)give you peace at all times in every way. ^(AB)The Lord be with you all.

¹⁷I, Paul, write ^(AC)this greeting with my own hand. This is the sign of genuineness in every letter of mine; it is the way I write. ¹⁸^(AD)The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.