Micah 2

New American Standard Bible

Woe to Oppressors

2 Woe to those who ^(A)devise wrongdoing,
Who practice evil on their beds!
^[a]^(B)When morning comes, they do it,
Because it is in the ^(C)power of their hands.
²They ^(D)covet fields, so they ^(E)seize them;
And houses, so they take them.
They ^[b]^(F)exploit a man and his house,
A person and his inheritance.

³Therefore this is what the Lord says:

“Behold, I am ^(G)planning against this ^(H)family a catastrophe
From which you ^(I)cannot remove your necks;
And you will not walk ^(J)haughtily,
For it will be an ^(K)evil time.
⁴On that day they will ^(L)take up against you a ^[c]song of mocking
And ^[d]^(M)utter a song of mourning and say,
‘We are completely ^(N)destroyed!
He exchanges the share of my people;
How He removes it from me!
To the apostate He ^(O)apportions our fields.’
⁵Therefore you will have no one ^[e]^(P)applying a measuring line
For you by lot in the assembly of the Lord.

⁶‘^(Q)Do not prophesy,’ so they prophesy.
But if ^[f]they do ^(R)not prophesy about these things,
^(S)Insults will not be turned back.
⁷Is it being said, house of Jacob:
‘Is the Spirit of the Lord ^(T)impatient?
Are these His works?’
Do My words not ^(U)do good
For the one ^(V)walking rightly?
⁸^[g]Recently My people have arisen as an ^(W)enemy—
You ^(X)strip the robe off the garment
From ^(Y)unsuspecting passers-by,
From those returned from war.
⁹You ^(Z)evict the women of My people,
Each one from her pleasant house.
From her children you take My ^(AA)splendor forever.
¹⁰Arise and go,
For this is no place ^(AB)of rest
Because of the ^(AC)uncleanness that brings on destruction,
A painful destruction.
¹¹If someone walking after wind and ^(AD)falsehood
Had lied and said,
‘I will prophesy to you about ^(AE)wine and liquor,’
He would become a prophet to ^(AF)this people.

¹²“I will certainly ^(AG)assemble all of you, Jacob,
I will certainly gather the ^(AH)remnant of Israel.
I will put them together like sheep in the fold;
Like a flock in the midst of its pasture
They will be noisy with people.
¹³The one who breaks through goes up before them;
They break through, pass through the gate, and go out by it.
So their king passes on before them,
And the Lord at their head.”

Footnotes

Micah 2:1 Lit In the light of the morning
Micah 2:2 Or oppress
Micah 2:4 Or proverb
Micah 2:4 Lit lament
Micah 2:5 Lit casting
Micah 2:6 I.e., God’s prophets
Micah 2:8 Lit And yesterday

Matthew 8:18-34

New American Standard Bible

Discipleship Tested

¹⁸Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, ^(A)He gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea. ¹⁹^(B)Then a scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” ²⁰And Jesus *said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the sky have nests, but ^(C)the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” ²¹And another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father.” ²²But Jesus *said to him, “^(D)Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Jesus Calms the Storm

²³^(E)When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. ²⁴And behold, a ^[a]violent storm developed on the sea, so that the boat was being covered by the waves; but Jesus Himself was asleep. ²⁵And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “^(F)Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” ²⁶He *said to them, “Why are you ^[b]afraid, ^(G)you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and ^[c]it became perfectly calm. ²⁷The men were amazed, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

Jesus Sends Demons into Pigs

²⁸^(H)And when He came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two ^(I)demon-possessed men confronted Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way. ²⁹And they cried out, saying, “^[d]^(J)What business do You have with us, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before ^[e]the time?” ³⁰Now there was a herd of many pigs feeding at a distance from them. ³¹And the demons begged Him, saying, “If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” ³²And He said to them, “Go!” And they came out and went into the pigs; and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and ^[f]drowned in the waters. ³³And the herdsmen ran away, and went to the city and reported everything, ^[g]including what had happened to the ^(K)demon-possessed men. ³⁴And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, ^(L)they pleaded with Him to leave their region.

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Footnotes

Matthew 8:24 Lit great
Matthew 8:26 Or cowardly
Matthew 8:26 Lit a great calm occurred
Matthew 8:29 Lit What to us and to you (an ancient idiom)
Matthew 8:29 I.e., the appointed time of judgment
Matthew 8:32 Lit died
Matthew 8:33 Lit and the things of

Micah 3

New American Standard Bible

Rulers Denounced

3 And I said,

“^(A)Hear now, you ^[a]leaders of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel:
Is it not for you to ^(B)know justice?
²You who hate good and love evil,
Who ^(C)tear off their skin from them
And their flesh from their bones,
³Who ^(D)eat the flesh of my people,
Strip off their skin from them,
Smash their bones,
And ^(E)chop them up as for the pot,
And as meat in a cauldron!”
⁴Then they will ^(F)cry out to the Lord,
But He will not answer them.
Instead, He will ^(G)hide His face from them at that time
Because they have ^(H)practiced evil deeds.

⁵This is what the Lord says concerning the prophets who ^(I)lead my people astray:

When they have something to bite with their teeth,
They ^(J)cry out, “Peace!”
But against him who puts nothing in their mouths
They declare holy war.
⁶Therefore it will be ^(K)night for you—without vision,
And darkness for you—without divination.
The ^(L)sun will go down on the prophets,
And the day will become dark over them.
⁷The seers will be ^(M)put to shame,
And the ^(N)diviners will be ashamed.
Indeed, they will all ^(O)cover their ^[b]lips
Because there is ^(P)no answer from God.
⁸On the other hand, ^(Q)I am filled with power—
With the Spirit of the Lord—
And with justice and courage
To ^(R)make known to Jacob his rebellious act,
And to Israel his sin.
⁹Now hear this, you ^(S)heads of the house of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel,
Who ^(T)despise justice
And twist everything that is straight,
¹⁰Who ^(U)build Zion with bloodshed,
And Jerusalem with malice.
¹¹Her leaders pronounce ^(V)judgment for a bribe,
Her ^(W)priests teach for pay,
And her prophets divine for money.
Yet they lean on the Lord, saying,
“^(X)Is the Lord not in our midst?
Catastrophe will not come upon us.”
¹²Therefore on account of you,
^(Y)Zion will be plowed like a field,
^(Z)Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,
And the ^(AA)mountain of the ^[c]temple will become high places of a forest.

Footnotes

Micah 3:1 Lit heads
Micah 3:7 Lit mustache
Micah 3:12 Lit house

2 Thessalonians 3

New American Standard Bible

Request for Prayer

3 ^(A)Finally, brothers and sisters, ^(B)pray for us that ^(C)the word of the Lord will ^[a]spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it was also with you; ²and that we will be ^(D)rescued from troublesome and evil people; for not all have the faith. ³But ^(E)the Lord is faithful, ^[b]and He will strengthen and protect you ^[c]from ^(F)the evil one. ⁴We have ^(G)confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you ^(H)are doing, and will do, what we command. ⁵May the Lord ^(I)direct your hearts to the love of God and to the perseverance of Christ.

⁶Now we command you, brothers and sisters, ^(J)in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you ^[d]^(K)keep away from every brother or sister who ^[e]leads a ^[f]^(L)disorderly life and not one in accordance with ^(M)the tradition which ^[g]you received from us. ⁷For you yourselves know how you ought to ^[h]^(N)follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined way among you, ⁸nor did we ^(O)eat ^[i]anyone’s bread ^[j]without paying for it, but with ^(P)labor and hardship we kept ^(Q)working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you; ⁹not because we do not have ^(R)the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves ^(S)as a role model for you, so that you would ^[k]follow our example. ¹⁰For even ^(T)when we were with you, we used to give you this order: ^(U)if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either. ¹¹For we hear that some among you are ^(V)leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like ^(W)busybodies. ¹²Now we command and ^(X)exhort such persons in the Lord Jesus Christ to ^(Y)work ^[l]peacefully and eat their own bread. ¹³But as for you, ^(Z)brothers and sisters, ^(AA)do not grow weary of doing good.

¹⁴If anyone does not obey our ^[m]instruction ^[n]^(AB)in this letter, take special note of that person so as ^(AC)not to associate with him, so that he will be ^(AD)put to shame. ¹⁵And yet ^(AE)do not regard that person as an enemy, but ^[o]^(AF)admonish that one as a ^(AG)brother or sister.

¹⁶Now ^(AH)may the Lord of peace ^(AI)Himself continually grant you peace in every ^[p]circumstance. ^(AJ)The Lord be with you all!

¹⁷^[q]I, Paul, write this greeting ^(AK)with my own hand, and this is a distinguishing mark in every letter; this is the way I write. ¹⁸^(AL)The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.