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5 (4:14)[a] But now slash yourself,[b] daughter surrounded by soldiers![c]
We are besieged!
With a scepter[d] they strike Israel’s ruler[e]
on the side of his face.
A King Will Come and a Remnant Will Prosper
2 (5:1) As for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,[f]
seemingly insignificant[g] among the clans of Judah—
from you a king will emerge who will rule over Israel on my behalf,[h]
one whose origins[i] are in the distant past.[j]
3 So the Lord[k] will hand the people of Israel[l] over to their enemies[m]
until the time when the woman in labor[n] gives birth.[o]
Then the rest of the king’s[p] countrymen will return
to be reunited with the people of Israel.[q]
4 He will assume his post[r] and shepherd the people[s] by the Lord’s strength,
by the sovereign authority of the Lord his God.[t]
They will live securely,[u] for at that time he will be honored[v]
even in the distant regions of[w] the earth.
5 He will give us peace.[x]
Should the Assyrians try to invade our land
and attempt to set foot in our fortresses,[y]
we will send[z] against them seven[aa] shepherd-rulers,[ab]
make that eight commanders.[ac]
6 They will rule[ad] the land of Assyria with the sword,
the land of Nimrod[ae] with a drawn sword.[af]
Our king[ag] will rescue us from the Assyrians
should they attempt to invade our land
and try to set foot in our territory.
7 Those survivors from[ah] Jacob will live[ai]
in the midst of many nations.[aj]
They will be like the dew the Lord sends,
like the rain on the grass,
that does not hope for men to come
or wait around for humans to arrive.[ak]
8 Those survivors from Jacob will live among the nations,
in the midst of many peoples.
They will be like a lion among the animals of the forest,
like a young lion among the flocks of sheep,
which attacks when it passes through.
It rips its prey[al] and there is no one to stop it.[am]
9 Lift your hand triumphantly against your adversaries;[an]
may all your enemies be destroyed![ao]
The Lord Will Purify His People
10 “In that day,” says the Lord,
“I will destroy[ap] your horses from your midst
and smash your chariots.
11 I will destroy the cities of your land
and tear down all your fortresses.
12 I will remove the sorcery[aq] that you practice,[ar]
and you will no longer have omen readers living among you.[as]
13 I will remove your idols and sacred pillars from your midst;
you will no longer worship what your own hands made.
14 I will uproot your images of Asherah[at] from your midst
and destroy your idols.[au]
15 With furious anger I will carry out vengeance
on the nations that do not obey me.”
The Lord Demands Justice, not Ritual
6 Listen to what the Lord says:
“Get up! Defend yourself[av] before the mountains.[aw]
Present your case before the hills.”[ax]
2 Hear the Lord’s accusation, you mountains,
you enduring foundations of the earth.
For the Lord has a case against his people;
he has a dispute with Israel![ay]
3 “My people, how have I wronged you?[az]
How have I wearied you? Answer me!
4 In fact, I brought you up from the land of Egypt;
I delivered you from that place of slavery.
I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to lead you.[ba]
5 My people, recall how King Balak of Moab planned to harm you,[bb]
how Balaam son of Beor responded to him.
Recall how you journeyed from Shittim to Gilgal,
so you might acknowledge that the Lord has treated you fairly.”[bc]
6 With what should I[bd] enter the Lord’s presence?
With what[be] should I bow before the sovereign God?[bf]
Should I enter his presence with burnt offerings,
with year-old calves?
7 Will the Lord accept a thousand rams
or ten thousand streams of olive oil?
Should I give him my firstborn child as payment for my rebellion,
my offspring—my own flesh and blood—for my sin?[bg]
8 He has told you,[bh] O man, what is good,
and what the Lord really wants from you:[bi]
He wants you to[bj] carry out justice,[bk] to love faithfulness,[bl]
and to live obediently before[bm] your God.
9 Listen! The Lord is calling[bn] to the city!
It is wise to respect your authority, O Lord.[bo]
Listen, O nation, and those assembled in the city![bp]
10 “I will not overlook,[bq] O sinful house, the dishonest gain you have hoarded away[br]
or the smaller-than-standard measure I hate so much.[bs]
11 I do not condone the use of rigged scales,
or a bag of deceptive weights.[bt]
12 The city’s wealthy people readily resort to violence;[bu]
her inhabitants tell lies;
their tongues speak deceptive words.[bv]
13 I will strike you brutally[bw]
and destroy you because of your sin.
14 You will eat, but not be satisfied.
Even if you have the strength[bx] to overtake some prey,[by]
you will not be able to carry it away;[bz]
if you do happen to carry away something,
I will deliver it over to the sword.
15 You will plant crops, but will not harvest them;
you will squeeze oil from the olives,[ca] but you will have no oil to rub on your bodies;[cb]
you will squeeze juice from the grapes, but you will have no wine to drink.[cc]
16 You follow Omri’s edicts[cd]
and all the practices of Ahab’s dynasty;[ce]
you follow their policies.[cf]
Therefore I will make you an appalling sight;[cg]
the city’s[ch] inhabitants will be taunted derisively,[ci]
and nations will mock all of you.”[cj]
Micah Laments Judah’s Sin
7 Woe is me!
For I am like those gathering fruit
and those harvesting grapes,
when there is no grape cluster to eat
and no fresh figs that my stomach[ck] craves.
2 Faithful men have disappeared[cl] from the land;
there are no godly men left.[cm]
They all wait in ambush to shed blood;[cn]
they hunt their own brother with a net.
3 They are experts at doing evil;[co]
government officials and judges take bribes,[cp]
prominent men announce what they wish,
and then they plan it out.[cq]
4 The best of them is like a thorn;
their godly are like a thorn bush.[cr]
Woe[cs] to your watchmen;
your appointed punishment is on the way.[ct]
The time of their confusion is now.[cu]
5 Do not rely on a friend;
do not trust a companion!
Even with the one who lies in your arms,
do not share secrets![cv]
6 For a son thinks his father is a fool,
a daughter challenges[cw] her mother,
and a daughter-in-law her mother-in-law;
a man’s enemies are his own family.[cx]
7 But I will keep watching for the Lord;
I will wait for the God who delivers me.
My God will listen to me.
Jerusalem Will Be Vindicated
8 My enemies,[cy] do not gloat[cz] over me!
Though I have fallen, I will get up.
Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.[da]
9 I must endure[db] the Lord’s fury,
for I have sinned against him.
But then[dc] he will defend my cause[dd]
and accomplish justice on my behalf.
He will lead me out into the light;
I will witness his deliverance.[de]
10 When my enemies see this, they will be covered with shame.
They say[df] to me, “Where is the Lord your God?”
I will gloat over them;[dg]
then they will be trampled down[dh]
like mud in the streets.
11 It will be a day for rebuilding your walls;
in that day your boundary will be extended.[di]
A Closing Prayer
12 In that day people[dj] will come to you[dk]
from Assyria as far as[dl] Egypt,
from Egypt as far as the Euphrates River,[dm]
from the seacoasts[dn] and the mountains.[do]
13 The earth will become desolate
because of what its inhabitants have done.[dp]
14 Shepherd your people with your rod,[dq]
the flock that belongs to you,[dr]
the one that lives alone in a thicket,
in the midst of a pastureland.[ds]
Allow them to graze in Bashan and Gilead,[dt]
as they did in the old days.[du]
15 “As in the days when you departed from the land of Egypt,
I will show you[dv] miraculous deeds.”[dw]
16 Nations will see this and be disappointed by[dx] all their strength;
they will put their hands over their mouths
and act as if they were deaf.[dy]
17 They will lick the dust like a snake,
like serpents crawling on the ground.[dz]
They will come trembling from their strongholds
to the Lord our God;[ea]
they will be terrified[eb] of you.[ec]
18 Who is a God like you?[ed]
Who[ee] forgives sin
and pardons[ef] the rebellion
of those who remain among his people?[eg]
Who does not stay angry forever,
but delights in showing loyal love?
19 Who[eh] will once again[ei] have mercy on us?
Who will conquer[ej] our evil deeds?
Who will hurl[ek] all our[el] sins into the depths of the sea?[em]
20 You will be loyal to Jacob
and extend your loyal love to Abraham,[en]
which you promised on oath to our ancestors[eo] in ancient times.[ep]
The Sealing of the 144,000
7 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth so no wind could blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. 2 Then[a] I saw another angel ascending from the east,[b] who had[c] the seal[d] of the living God. He[e] shouted out with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given permission[f] to damage the earth and the sea:[g] 3 “Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees until we have put a seal on the foreheads of the servants[h] of our God.” 4 Now[i] I heard the number of those who were marked with the seal,[j] 144,000, sealed from all[k] the tribes of the people of Israel:[l]
5 From the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand were sealed,
from the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand,
6 from the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Manasseh, twelve thousand,
7 from the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand,
8 from the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand were sealed.
9 After these things I looked, and here was[m] an enormous crowd that no one could count, made up of persons from every nation, tribe,[n] people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb dressed in long white robes, and with palm branches in their hands. 10 They were shouting out in a loud voice,
“Salvation belongs to our God,[o] who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
11 And all the angels stood[p] there in a circle around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground[q] before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying,
“Amen! Praise and glory,
and wisdom and thanksgiving,
and honor and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”
13 Then[r] one of the elders asked[s] me, “These dressed in long white robes—who are they and where have they come from?” 14 So[t] I said to him, “My lord, you know the answer.”[u] Then[v] he said to me, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation. They[w] have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb! 15 For this reason they are before the throne of God, and they serve[x] him day and night in his temple, and the one seated on the throne will shelter them.[y] 16 They will never go hungry or be thirsty again, and the sun will not beat down on them, nor any burning heat,[z] 17 because the Lamb in the middle of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”[aa]
Psalm 135[a]
135 Praise the Lord.
Praise the name of the Lord.
Offer praise, you servants of the Lord,
2 who serve[b] in the Lord’s temple,
in the courts of the temple of our God.
3 Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good.
Sing praises to his name, for it is pleasant.[c]
4 Indeed,[d] the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself,
Israel to be his special possession.[e]
5 Yes,[f] I know the Lord is great,
and our Lord is superior to all gods.
6 He does whatever he pleases
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and all the ocean depths.
7 He causes the clouds to arise from the end of the earth,
makes lightning bolts accompany the rain,
and brings the wind out of his storehouses.
8 He struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
including both men and animals.
9 He performed awesome deeds[g] and acts of judgment[h]
in your midst, O Egypt,
against Pharaoh and all his servants.
10 He defeated many nations,
and killed mighty kings—
11 Sihon, king of the Amorites,
and Og, king of Bashan,
and all the kingdoms of Canaan.
12 He gave their land as an inheritance,
as an inheritance to Israel his people.
13 O Lord, your name endures,[i]
your reputation, O Lord, lasts.[j]
14 For the Lord vindicates[k] his people,
and has compassion on his servants.[l]
15 The nations’ idols are made of silver and gold;
they are man-made.[m]
16 They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but cannot see,
17 and ears, but cannot hear.
Indeed, they cannot breathe.[n]
18 Those who make them will end up[o] like them,
as will everyone who trusts in them.
19 O family[p] of Israel, praise the Lord.
O family of Aaron, praise the Lord.
20 O family of Levi, praise the Lord.
You loyal followers[q] of the Lord, praise the Lord.
21 The Lord deserves praise in Zion[r]—
he who dwells in Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord.
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