Micah 2

New King James Version

Woe to Evildoers

2 Woe to those who devise iniquity,
And ^[a]work out evil on their beds!
At ^(A)morning light they practice it,
Because it is in the power of their hand.
²They ^(B)covet fields and take them by violence,
Also houses, and seize them.
So they oppress a man and his house,
A man and his inheritance.

³Therefore thus says the Lord:

“Behold, against this ^(C)family I am devising ^(D)disaster,
From which you cannot remove your necks;
Nor shall you walk haughtily,
For this is an evil time.
⁴In that day one shall take up a proverb against you,
And ^(E)lament with a bitter lamentation, saying:
‘We are utterly destroyed!
He has changed the ^[b]heritage of my people;
How He has removed it from me!
To ^[c]a turncoat He has divided our fields.’ ”

⁵Therefore you will have no ^[d]one to determine boundaries by lot
In the assembly of the Lord.

Lying Prophets

⁶“Do not prattle,” you say to those who ^[e]prophesy.
So they shall not prophesy ^[f]to you;
^[g]They shall not return insult for insult.
⁷You who are named the house of Jacob:
“Is the Spirit of the Lord restricted?
Are these His doings?
Do not My words do good
To him who walks uprightly?

⁸“Lately My people have risen up as an enemy—
You pull off the robe with the garment
From those who trust you, as they pass by,
Like men returned from war.
⁹The women of My people you cast out
From their pleasant houses;
From their children
You have taken away My glory forever.

¹⁰“Arise and depart,
For this is not your ^(F)rest;
Because it is ^(G)defiled, it shall destroy,
Yes, with utter destruction.
¹¹If a man should walk in a false spirit
And speak a lie, saying,
‘I will ^[h]prophesy to you ^[i]of wine and drink,’
Even he would be the ^(H)prattler of this people.

Israel Restored

¹²“I^(I) will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob,
I will surely gather the remnant of Israel;
I will put them together ^(J)like sheep of ^[j]the fold,
Like a flock in the midst of their pasture;
^(K)They shall make a loud noise because of so many people.
¹³The one who breaks open will come up before them;
They will break out,
Pass through the gate,
And go out by it;
^(L)Their king will pass before them,
^(M)With the Lord at their head.”

Footnotes

Micah 2:1 Plan
Micah 2:4 Lit. portion
Micah 2:4 Lit. one turning back, an apostate
Micah 2:5 Lit. one casting a surveyor’s line
Micah 2:6 Or preach, lit. drip words
Micah 2:6 Lit. to these
Micah 2:6 Vg. He shall not take shame
Micah 2:11 Or preach, lit. drip
Micah 2:11 concerning
Micah 2:12 Heb. Bozrah

Matthew 8:18-34

New King James Version

The Cost of Discipleship^(A)

¹⁸And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side. ¹⁹^(B)Then a certain scribe came 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.”

²¹^(C)Then another of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, ^(D)let me first go and bury my father.”

²²But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Wind and Wave Obey Jesus^(E)

²³Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. ²⁴^(F)And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. ²⁵Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”

²⁶But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then ^(G)He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. ²⁷So the men marveled, saying, ^[a]“Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

Two Demon-Possessed Men Healed^(H)

²⁸^(I)When He had come to the other side, to the country of the ^[b]Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way. ²⁹And suddenly they cried out, saying, “What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?”

³⁰Now a good way off from them there was a herd of many swine feeding. ³¹So the demons begged Him, saying, “If You cast us out, ^[c]permit us to go away into the herd of swine.”

³²And He said to them, “Go.” So when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine. And suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and perished in the water.

³³Then those who kept them fled; and they went away into the city and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. ³⁴And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, ^(J)they begged Him to depart from their region.

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Footnotes

Matthew 8:27 Lit. What sort of man is this
Matthew 8:28 NU Gadarenes
Matthew 8:31 NU send us into

Micah 3

New King James Version

Wicked Rulers and Prophets

3 And I said:

“Hear now, O heads of Jacob,
And you ^(A)rulers of the house of Israel:
^(B)Is it not for you to know justice?
²You who hate good and love evil;
Who strip the skin from ^[a]My people,
And the flesh from their bones;
³Who also ^(C)eat the flesh of My people,
Flay their skin from them,
Break their bones,
And chop them in pieces
Like meat for the pot,
^(D)Like flesh in the caldron.”

⁴Then ^(E)they will cry to the Lord,
But He will not hear them;
He will even hide His face from them at that time,
Because they have been evil in their deeds.

⁵Thus says the Lord ^(F)concerning the prophets
Who make my people stray;
Who chant ^[b]“Peace”
^[c]While they ^(G)chew with their teeth,
But who prepare war against him
^(H)Who puts nothing into their mouths:
⁶“Therefore^(I) you shall have night without ^[d]vision,
And you shall have darkness without divination;
The sun shall go down on the prophets,
And the day shall be dark for ^(J)them.
⁷So the seers shall be ashamed,
And the diviners abashed;
Indeed they shall all cover their lips;
^(K)For there is no answer from God.”

⁸But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord,
And of justice and might,
^(L)To declare to Jacob his transgression
And to Israel his sin.
⁹Now hear this,
You heads of the house of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel,
Who abhor justice
And ^[e]pervert all equity,
¹⁰^(M)Who build up Zion with ^(N)bloodshed
And Jerusalem with iniquity:
¹¹^(O)Her heads judge for a bribe,
^(P)Her priests teach for pay,
And her prophets divine for ^[f]money.
^(Q)Yet they lean on the Lord, and say,
“Is not the Lord among us?
No harm can come upon us.”
¹²Therefore because of you
Zion shall be ^(R)plowed like a field,
^(S)Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins,
And ^(T)the mountain of the ^[g]temple
Like the bare hills of the forest.

Footnotes

Micah 3:2 Lit. them
Micah 3:5 All is well
Micah 3:5 For those who feed them
Micah 3:6 Prophetic revelation
Micah 3:9 Lit. twist
Micah 3:11 Lit. silver
Micah 3:12 Lit. house

2 Thessalonians 3

New King James Version

Pray for Us

3 Finally, brethren, ^(A)pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you, ²and ^(B)that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men; ^(C)for not all have faith.

³But ^(D)the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and ^(E)guard you from the evil one. ⁴And ^(F)we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, both that you do and will do the things we command you.

⁵Now may ^(G)the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.

Warning Against Idleness

⁶But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, ^(H)that you withdraw ^(I)from every brother who walks ^(J)disorderly and not according to the tradition which ^[a]he received from us. ⁷For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among you; ⁸nor did we eat anyone’s bread ^[b]free of charge, but worked with ^(K)labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, ⁹not because we do not have ^(L)authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us.

¹⁰For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. ¹¹For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are ^(M)busybodies. ¹²Now those who are such we command and ^[c]exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ ^(N)that they work in quietness and eat their own bread.

¹³But as for you, brethren, ^(O)do not grow weary in doing good. ¹⁴And if anyone does not obey our word in this ^[d]epistle, note that person and ^(P)do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. ¹⁵^(Q)Yet do not count him as an enemy, ^(R)but ^[e]admonish him as a brother.