Micah 1-3

English Standard Version

1 The word of the Lord that came to Micah ^(A)of Moresheth ^(B)in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw ^(C)concerning ^(D)Samaria and Jerusalem.

The Coming Destruction

²^(E)Hear, you peoples, all of you;^[a]
    ^(F)pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it,
and ^(G)let the Lord God be a witness against you,
    ^(H)the Lord from his holy temple.
³For behold, ^(I)the Lord is coming out of ^(J)his place,
    and will come down and ^(K)tread upon the high places of the earth.
⁴And ^(L)the mountains will melt under him,
    and the valleys will split open,
like wax before the fire,
    like waters poured down a steep place.
⁵All this is for ^(M)the transgression of Jacob
    and for the sins of the house of Israel.
^(N)What is the transgression of Jacob?
    Is it not ^(O)Samaria?
And what is ^(P)the high place of Judah?
    Is it not Jerusalem?
⁶Therefore I will make ^(Q)Samaria ^(R)a heap in the open country,
    a place for planting vineyards,
and I will pour down her stones ^(S)into the valley
    and ^(T)uncover her foundations.
⁷All ^(U)her carved images shall be beaten to pieces,
    ^(V)all her wages shall be burned with fire,
    and all her idols I will lay waste,
for from ^(W)the fee of a prostitute she gathered them,
    and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.

⁸^(X)For this I will lament and wail;
    I will go ^(Y)stripped and naked;
I will make lamentation ^(Z)like the jackals,
    and mourning ^(AA)like the ostriches.
⁹^(AB)For her wound is incurable,
    and it has come to Judah;
it has reached to the gate of my people,
    to Jerusalem.

¹⁰^(AC)Tell it not in ^(AD)Gath;
    weep not at all;
in Beth-le-aphrah
    ^(AE)roll yourselves in the dust.
¹¹Pass on your way,
    inhabitants of Shaphir,
    ^(AF)in nakedness and shame;
the inhabitants of Zaanan
    do not come out;
the lamentation of Beth-ezel
    shall take away from you its standing place.
¹²For the inhabitants of Maroth
    wait anxiously for good,
because disaster has come down ^(AG)from the Lord
    to the gate of Jerusalem.
¹³Harness the steeds to the chariots,
    inhabitants of ^(AH)Lachish;
it was the beginning of sin
    to the daughter of Zion,
for in you were found
    ^(AI)the transgressions of Israel.
¹⁴Therefore you shall give parting gifts^[b]
    to ^(AJ)Moresheth-gath;
the houses of ^(AK)Achzib shall be a deceitful thing
    to the kings of Israel.
¹⁵I will again bring ^(AL)a conqueror to you,
    inhabitants of ^(AM)Mareshah;
the glory of Israel
    shall come to ^(AN)Adullam.
¹⁶^(AO)Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair,
    for the children of your delight;
^(AP)make yourselves as bald as the eagle,
    for they shall go from you into exile.

Woe to the Oppressors

2 ^(AQ)Woe to those who devise wickedness
    and work evil ^(AR)on their beds!
When the morning dawns, they perform it,
    because it is in the power of their hand.
²They covet fields and ^(AS)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 ^(AT)this family I am devising disaster,^[c]
    from which you cannot remove your necks,
and you ^(AU)shall not walk haughtily,
    ^(AV)for it will be a time of disaster.
⁴In that day ^(AW)they shall take up a taunt song against you
    and moan bitterly,
and say, “We are utterly ruined;
    ^(AX)he changes the portion of my people;
^(AY)how he removes it from me!
    ^(AZ)To an apostate he allots our fields.”
⁵Therefore you will have none ^(BA)to cast the line by lot
    in the assembly of the Lord.

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

Rulers and Prophets Denounced

3 And I said:
^(BR)Hear, you heads of Jacob
    and rulers of the house of Israel!
^(BS)Is it not for you to know justice?—
²    you ^(BT)who hate the good and love the evil,
^(BU)who tear the skin from off my people^[f]
    and their flesh from off their bones,
³^(BV)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^(BW)Then they will cry to the Lord,
but he will not answer them;
^(BX)he will hide his face from them at that time,
because they have made their deeds evil.

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

⁹^(CH)Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob
    and rulers of the house of Israel,
^(CI)who detest justice
    and make crooked all that is straight,
¹⁰^(CJ)who build Zion with blood
    and Jerusalem with iniquity.
¹¹^(CK)Its heads give judgment for a bribe;
    ^(CL)its priests teach for a price;
    ^(CM)its prophets practice divination for money;
^(CN)yet they lean on the Lord and ^(CO)say,
    “Is not the Lord in the midst of us?
    ^(CP)No disaster shall come upon us.”
¹²Therefore because of you
    ^(CQ)Zion shall be plowed as a field;
Jerusalem ^(CR)shall become a heap of ruins,
    and ^(CS)the mountain of the house ^(CT)a wooded height.

Footnotes

Micah 1:2 Hebrew all of them
Micah 1:14 Or give dowry
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
Micah 3:2 Hebrew from off them

Luke 21:20-38

English Standard Version

Jesus Foretells Destruction of Jerusalem

²⁰“But ^(A)when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that ^(B)its desolation has come near. ²¹Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, ²²for these are ^(C)days of ^(D)vengeance, to fulfill ^(E)all that is written. ²³^(F)Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and ^(G)wrath against this people. ²⁴They will fall by the edge of the sword and ^(H)be led captive among all nations, and ^(I)Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, ^(J)until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

The Coming of the Son of Man

²⁵“And ^(K)there will be signs in sun and moon ^(L)and stars, and on the earth ^(M)distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, ²⁶people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For ^(N)the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ²⁷And then they will see ^(O)the Son of Man coming in a cloud ^(P)with power and great glory. ²⁸Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and ^(Q)raise your heads, because ^(R)your redemption is drawing near.”

The Lesson of the Fig Tree

²⁹And he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. ³⁰As soon as they come out in leaf, you see ^(S)for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. ³¹So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. ³²^(T)Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. ³³^(U)Heaven and earth will pass away, but ^(V)my words will not pass away.

Watch Yourselves

³⁴“But watch yourselves ^(W)lest ^(X)your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and ^(Y)cares of this life, and ^(Z)that day come upon you suddenly ^(AA)like a trap. ³⁵For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶But ^(AB)stay awake at all times, ^(AC)praying that you may ^(AD)have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and ^(AE)to stand before the Son of Man.”

³⁷And ^(AF)every day he was teaching in the temple, but ^(AG)at night he went out and lodged on ^(AH)the mount called Olivet. ³⁸And early in the morning ^(AI)all the people came to him in the temple to hear him.