Micah 3-4

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.

The Mountain of the Lord

4 It shall come to pass ^(AD)in the latter days
    that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
    and it shall be lifted up above the hills;
and peoples shall flow to it,
²    and many nations shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
    and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,^[b]
    and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
³He shall judge between many peoples,
    and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away;
and they shall ^(AE)beat their swords into plowshares,
    and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
    neither shall they learn war anymore;
⁴^(AF)but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree,
    ^(AG)and no one shall make them afraid,
    ^(AH)for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
⁵For ^(AI)all the peoples walk
    each in the name of its god,
but ^(AJ)we will walk in the name of the Lord our God
    forever and ever.

The Lord Shall Rescue Zion

⁶^(AK)In that day, declares the Lord,
    ^(AL)I will assemble the ^(AM)lame
and gather those who have been driven away
    and those whom I have afflicted;
⁷and the lame I will make ^(AN)the remnant,
    and those who were cast off, a strong nation;
and ^(AO)the Lord will reign over them ^(AP)in Mount Zion
    from this time forth and forevermore.

⁸And you, O tower of the flock,
    hill of the daughter of Zion,
to you shall it come,
    the former dominion shall come,
    kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem.

⁹Now why do you cry aloud?
    ^(AQ)Is there no king in you?
^(AR)Has your counselor perished,
    that ^(AS)pain seized you like a woman in labor?
¹⁰^(AT)Writhe and groan,^[c] O daughter of Zion,
    like a woman in labor,
for ^(AU)now you shall go out from the city
    and dwell in the open country;
    you ^(AV)shall go to Babylon.
There you shall be rescued;
    ^(AW)there the Lord will redeem you
    from the hand of your enemies.

¹¹Now ^(AX)many nations
    are assembled against you,
saying, “Let her be defiled,
    and ^(AY)let our eyes gaze upon Zion.”
¹²But ^(AZ)they do not know
    the thoughts of the Lord;
they do not understand his plan,
    that ^(BA)he has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor.
¹³Arise and thresh,
    O daughter of Zion,
for I will make your horn iron,
    and I will make your hoofs bronze;
you shall beat in pieces many peoples;
    and ^(BB)shall devote^[d] ^(BC)their gain to the Lord,
    their wealth to ^(BD)the Lord of the whole earth.

Footnotes

Micah 3:2 Hebrew from off them
Micah 4:2 Or teaching
Micah 4:10 Or push
Micah 4:13 Hebrew devote to destruction

Revelation 13

English Standard Version

The First Beast

13 And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, ^(A)with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and ^(B)blasphemous names on its heads. ²And the beast that I saw was ^(C)like a leopard; its feet were like ^(D)a bear's, and its mouth was like ^(E)a lion's mouth. And to it ^(F)the dragon gave his power and ^(G)his throne and great authority. ³One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and ^(H)the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. ⁴And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, ^(I)“Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”

⁵And the beast was given ^(J)a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for ^(K)forty-two months. ⁶It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling,^[a] that is, those who dwell in heaven. ⁷Also it was allowed ^(L)to make war on the saints and to conquer them.^[b] And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, ⁸and all ^(M)who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in ^(N)the book of life of ^(O)the Lamb ^(P)who was slain. ⁹^(Q)If anyone has an ear, let him hear:

¹⁰^(R)If anyone is to be taken captive,
to captivity he goes;
^(S)if anyone is to be slain with the sword,
with the sword must he be slain.

^(T)Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

The Second Beast

¹¹Then ^(U)I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. ¹²It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence,^[c] and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, ^(V)whose mortal wound was healed. ¹³^(W)It performs great signs, even ^(X)making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, ¹⁴and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of^[d] the beast ^(Y)it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast ^(Z)that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. ¹⁵And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not ^(AA)worship the image of the beast ^(AB)to be slain. ¹⁶Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave,^[e] ^(AC)to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, ¹⁷so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, ^(AD)the name of the beast or ^(AE)the number of its name. ¹⁸^(AF)This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number ^(AG)of a man, and his number is 666.^[f]

Footnotes

Revelation 13:6 Or tabernacle
Revelation 13:7 Some manuscripts omit this sentence
Revelation 13:12 Or on its behalf
Revelation 13:14 Or on behalf of
Revelation 13:16 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface
Revelation 13:18 Some manuscripts 616