Micah 5-7

New King James Version

The Messiah Will Be Born at Bethlehem

5 Now gather yourself in troops,
O daughter of troops;
He has laid siege against us;
They will ^(A)strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.

The Coming Messiah

²“But you, ^(B)Bethlehem ^(C)Ephrathah,
Though you are little ^(D)among the ^(E)thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be ^(F)Ruler in Israel,
^(G)Whose goings forth are from of old,
From ^[a]everlasting.”

³Therefore He shall give them up,
Until the time that ^(H)she who is in labor has given birth;
Then ^(I)the remnant of His brethren
Shall return to the children of Israel.
⁴And He shall stand and ^(J)feed^[b] His flock
In the strength of the Lord,
In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God;
And they shall abide,
For now He ^(K)shall be great
To the ends of the earth;
⁵And this One ^(L)shall be peace.

Judgment on Israel’s Enemies

When the Assyrian comes into our land,
And when he treads in our palaces,
Then we will raise against him
Seven shepherds and eight princely men.
⁶They shall ^[c]waste with the sword the land of Assyria,
And the land of ^(M)Nimrod at its entrances;
Thus He shall ^(N)deliver us from the Assyrian,
When he comes into our land
And when he treads within our borders.

⁷Then ^(O)the remnant of Jacob
Shall be in the midst of many peoples,
^(P)Like dew from the Lord,
Like showers on the grass,
That ^[d]tarry for no man
Nor ^[e]wait for the sons of men.
⁸And the remnant of Jacob
Shall be among the Gentiles,
In the midst of many peoples,
Like a ^(Q)lion among the beasts of the forest,
Like a young lion among flocks of sheep,
Who, if he passes through,
Both treads down and tears in pieces,
And none can deliver.
⁹Your hand shall be lifted against your adversaries,
And all your enemies shall be ^[f]cut off.

¹⁰“And it shall be in that day,” says the Lord,
“That I will ^(R)cut^[g] off your ^(S)horses from your midst
And destroy your ^(T)chariots.
¹¹I will cut off the cities of your land
And throw down all your strongholds.
¹²I will cut off sorceries from your hand,
And you shall have no ^(U)soothsayers.
¹³^(V)Your carved images I will also cut off,
And your sacred pillars from your midst;
You shall ^(W)no more worship the work of your hands;
¹⁴I will pluck your ^[h]wooden images from your midst;
Thus I will destroy your cities.
¹⁵And I will ^(X)execute vengeance in anger and fury
On the nations that have not ^[i]heard.”

God Pleads with Israel

6 Hear now what the Lord says:

“Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
And let the hills hear your voice.
²^(Y)Hear, O you mountains, ^(Z)the Lord’s complaint,
And you strong foundations of the earth;
For ^(AA)the Lord has a complaint against His people,
And He will ^[j]contend with Israel.

³“O My people, what ^(AB)have I done to you?
And how have I ^(AC)wearied you?
Testify against Me.
⁴^(AD)For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
I redeemed you from the house of bondage;
And I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
⁵O My people, remember now
What ^(AE)Balak king of Moab counseled,
And what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
From ^[k]Acacia Grove to Gilgal,
That you may know ^(AF)the righteousness of the Lord.”

⁶With what shall I come before the Lord,
And bow myself before the High God?
Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings,
With calves a year old?
⁷^(AG)Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
Ten thousand ^(AH)rivers of oil?
^(AI)Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
^[l]The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

⁸He has ^(AJ)shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But ^(AK)to do justly,
To love ^[m]mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?

Punishment of Israel’s Injustice

⁹The Lord’s voice cries to the city—
Wisdom shall see Your name:

“Hear the rod!
Who has appointed it?
¹⁰Are there yet the treasures of wickedness
In the house of the wicked,
And the short measure that is an abomination?
¹¹Shall I count pure those with ^(AL)the wicked scales,
And with the bag of deceitful weights?
¹²For her rich men are full of ^(AM)violence,
Her inhabitants have spoken lies,
And ^(AN)their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

¹³“Therefore I will also ^(AO)make you sick by striking you,
By making you desolate because of your sins.
¹⁴^(AP)You shall eat, but not be satisfied;
^[n]Hunger shall be in your midst.
You may carry some away,^[o] but shall not save them;
And what you do rescue I will give over to the sword.

¹⁵“You shall ^(AQ)sow, but not reap;
You shall tread the olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;
And make sweet wine, but not drink wine.
¹⁶For the statutes of ^(AR)Omri are ^(AS)kept;
All the works of Ahab’s house are done;
And you walk in their counsels,
That I may make you a ^[p]desolation,
And your inhabitants a hissing.
Therefore you shall bear the ^(AT)reproach of ^[q]My people.”

Sorrow for Israel’s Sins

7 Woe is me!
For I am like those who gather summer fruits,
Like those who ^(AU)glean vintage grapes;
There is no cluster to eat
Of the first-ripe fruit which ^(AV)my soul desires.
²The ^(AW)faithful^[r] man has perished from the earth,
And there is no one upright among men.
They all lie in wait for blood;
^(AX)Every man hunts his brother with a net.

³That they may successfully do evil with both hands—
The prince asks for gifts,
The judge seeks a ^(AY)bribe,
And the great man utters his evil desire;
So they scheme together.
⁴The best of them is ^(AZ)like a brier;
The most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge;
The day of your watchman and your punishment comes;
Now shall be their perplexity.

⁵^(BA)Do not trust in a friend;
Do not put your confidence in a companion;
Guard the doors of your mouth
From her who lies in your ^(BB)bosom.
⁶For ^(BC)son dishonors father,
Daughter rises against her mother,
Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
A man’s enemies are the men of his own household.
⁷Therefore I will look to the Lord;
I will ^(BD)wait for the God of my salvation;
My God will hear me.

Israel’s Confession and Comfort

⁸^(BE)Do not rejoice over me, my enemy;
^(BF)When I fall, I will arise;
When I sit in darkness,
The Lord will be a light to me.
⁹^(BG)I will bear the indignation of the Lord,
Because I have sinned against Him,
Until He pleads my ^(BH)case
And executes justice for me.
He will bring me forth to the light;
I will see His righteousness.
¹⁰Then she who is my enemy will see,
And ^(BI)shame will cover her who said to me,
^(BJ)“Where is the Lord your God?”
My eyes will see her;
Now she will be trampled down
Like mud in the streets.

¹¹In the day when your ^(BK)walls are to be built,
In that day ^[s]the decree shall go far and wide.
¹²In that day ^(BL)they^[t] shall come to you
From Assyria and the ^[u]fortified cities,
From the ^[v]fortress to ^[w]the River,
From sea to sea,
And mountain to mountain.
¹³Yet the land shall be desolate
Because of those who dwell in it,
And ^(BM)for the fruit of their deeds.

God Will Forgive Israel

¹⁴Shepherd Your people with Your staff,
The flock of Your heritage,
Who dwell ^[x]solitarily in a ^(BN)woodland,
In the midst of Carmel;
Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead,
As in days of old.

¹⁵“As^(BO) in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
I will show ^[y]them ^(BP)wonders.”

¹⁶The nations ^(BQ)shall see and be ashamed of all their might;
^(BR)They shall put their hand over their mouth;
Their ears shall be deaf.
¹⁷They shall lick the ^(BS)dust like a serpent;
^(BT)They shall crawl from their holes like ^[z]snakes of the earth.
^(BU)They shall be afraid of the Lord our God,
And shall fear because of You.
¹⁸^(BV)Who is a God like You,
^(BW)Pardoning iniquity
And passing over the transgression of ^(BX)the remnant of His heritage?

^(BY)He does not retain His anger forever,
Because He delights in ^(BZ)mercy.^[aa]
¹⁹He will again have compassion on us,
And will subdue our iniquities.

You will cast all ^[ab]our sins
Into the depths of the sea.
²⁰^(CA)You will give truth to Jacob
And ^[ac]mercy to Abraham,
^(CB)Which You have sworn to our fathers
From days of old.

Footnotes

Micah 5:2 Lit. the days of eternity
Micah 5:4 shepherd
Micah 5:6 devastate
Micah 5:7 wait
Micah 5:7 delay
Micah 5:9 destroyed
Micah 5:10 destroy
Micah 5:14 Heb. Asherim, Canaanite deities
Micah 5:15 obeyed
Micah 6:2 bring charges against
Micah 6:5 Heb. Shittim, Num. 25:1; Josh. 2:1; 3:1
Micah 6:7 My own child
Micah 6:8 Or lovingkindness
Micah 6:14 Or Emptiness or Humiliation
Micah 6:14 Tg., Vg. You shall take hold
Micah 6:16 Or object of horror
Micah 6:16 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; LXX nations
Micah 7:2 Or loyal
Micah 7:11 Or the boundary shall be extended
Micah 7:12 Lit. he, collective of the captives
Micah 7:12 Heb. arey mazor, possibly cities of Egypt
Micah 7:12 Heb. mazor, possibly Egypt
Micah 7:12 The Euphrates
Micah 7:14 Alone
Micah 7:15 Lit. him, collective for the captives
Micah 7:17 Lit. crawlers
Micah 7:18 Or lovingkindness
Micah 7:19 Lit. their
Micah 7:20 Or lovingkindness

Acts 20:1-3

New King James Version

Journeys in Greece

20 After the uproar had ceased, Paul called the disciples to himself, embraced them, and ^(A)departed to go to Macedonia. ²Now when he had gone over that region and encouraged them with many words, he came to ^(B)Greece ³and stayed three months. And ^(C)when the Jews plotted against him as he was about to sail to Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.

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Romans 1

New King James Version

Greeting

1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, ^(A)called to be an apostle, ^(B)separated to the gospel of God ²^(C)which He promised before ^(D)through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, ³concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who ^[a]was ^(E)born of the seed of David according to the flesh, ⁴and ^(F)declared to be the Son of God with power according ^(G)to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. ⁵Through Him ^(H)we have received grace and apostleship for ^(I)obedience to the faith among all nations ^(J)for His name, ⁶among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;

⁷To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, ^(K)called to be saints:

^(L)Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Desire to Visit Rome

⁸First, ^(M)I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that ^(N)your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. ⁹For ^(O)God is my witness, ^(P)whom I serve ^[b]with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that ^(Q)without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers, ¹⁰making request if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you. ¹¹For I long to see you, that ^(R)I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established— ¹²that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by ^(S)the mutual faith both of you and me.

¹³Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but ^(T)was hindered until now), that I might have some ^(U)fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles. ¹⁴I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. ¹⁵So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.

The Just Live by Faith

¹⁶For ^(V)I am not ashamed of the gospel ^[c]of Christ, for ^(W)it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, ^(X)for the Jew first and also for the Greek. ¹⁷For ^(Y)in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ^(Z)“The just shall live by faith.”

God’s Wrath on Unrighteousness

¹⁸^(AA)For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and ^(AB)unrighteousness of men, who ^[d]suppress the truth in unrighteousness, ¹⁹because ^(AC)what may be known of God is ^[e]manifest ^[f]in them, for ^(AD)God has shown it to them. ²⁰For since the creation of the world ^(AE)His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and ^[g]Godhead, so that they are without excuse, ²¹because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but ^(AF)became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²²^(AG)Professing to be wise, they became fools, ²³and changed the glory of the ^(AH)incorruptible ^(AI)God into an image made like ^[h]corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

²⁴^(AJ)Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, ^(AK)to dishonor their bodies ^(AL)among themselves, ²⁵who exchanged ^(AM)the truth of God ^(AN)for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

²⁶For this reason God gave them up to ^(AO)vile passions. For even their ^[i]women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. ²⁷Likewise also the ^[j]men, leaving the natural use of the ^[k]woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.

²⁸And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things ^(AP)which are not fitting; ²⁹being filled with all unrighteousness, ^[l]sexual immorality, wickedness, ^[m]covetousness, ^[n]maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, ³⁰backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, ³¹^[o]undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, ^[p]unforgiving, unmerciful; ³²who, ^(AQ)knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things ^(AR)are deserving of death, not only do the same but also ^(AS)approve of those who practice them.