Old/New Testament
1 A message from the Lord came to Micah. He was from the town of Moresheth. The message came while Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah were kings of Judah. This is the vision Micah saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Here is what he said.
2 Listen to me, all you nations!
Earth and everyone who lives in it, pay attention!
The Lord and King will be a witness against you.
The Lord will speak from his holy temple in heaven.
The Lord Will Judge Samaria and Jerusalem
3 The Lord is about to come down
from his home in heaven.
He rules over even the highest places on earth.
4 The mountains will melt under him
like wax near a fire.
The valleys will be broken apart
by water rushing down a slope.
5 All this will happen because
Jacob’s people have done what is wrong.
The people of Israel
have committed many sins.
Who is to blame
for the wrong things Jacob has done?
Samaria!
Who is to blame for the high places
where Judah’s people worship other gods?
Jerusalem!
6 So the Lord says,
“I will turn Samaria into a pile of trash.
It will become a place for planting vineyards.
I will dump its stones down into the valley.
And I will destroy it
down to its very foundations.
7 All the statues of Samaria’s gods
will be broken to pieces.
All the gifts its people gave to temple prostitutes
will be burned with fire.
I will destroy all the statues of its gods.
Samaria collected gifts that were paid to temple prostitutes.
So the Assyrians will use the gifts
to pay their own temple prostitutes.”
Micah Weeps Over His People
8 I will weep and mourn because Samaria will be destroyed.
I’ll walk around barefoot and naked.
I’ll bark like a wild dog.
I’ll hoot like an owl.
9 Samaria’s plague can’t be healed.
The plague has spread to Judah.
It has spread right up to the gate of my people.
It has spread to Jerusalem itself.
10 Don’t tell the people of Gath about it.
Don’t let them see you weep.
People in Beth Ophrah, roll in the dust.
11 You who live in the town of Shaphir,
leave naked and in shame.
Those who live in Zaanan
won’t come out to help you.
The people in Beth Ezel will mourn.
They won’t be able to help keep you safe any longer.
12 Those who live in Maroth will groan with pain
as they wait for help.
That’s because the Lord will bring trouble on them.
It will reach the very gate of Jerusalem.
13 You who live in Lachish,
get your fast horses ready to pull their chariots.
You trust in military power.
Lachish was where sin began
for the people of Zion.
The wrong things Israel did
were also done by you.
14 People of Judah, you might as well say goodbye
to Moresheth near Gath.
The town of Akzib won’t give any help
to the kings of Israel.
15 An enemy will attack
you who live in Mareshah.
Israel’s nobles will have to run away
and hide in the cave of Adullam.
16 The children you enjoy so much
will be taken away as prisoners.
So shave your heads and mourn.
Make them as bare as the head of a vulture.
People’s Plans and God’s Plans
2 How terrible it will be for those
who plan to harm others!
How terrible for those who make evil plans
before they even get out of bed!
As soon as daylight comes,
they carry out their plans.
That’s because they have the power to do it.
2 If they want fields or houses,
they take them.
They cheat people out of their homes.
They rob them of their property.
3 So the Lord says to them,
“I am planning to send trouble on you.
You will not be able to save yourselves from it.
You will not live so proudly anymore.
It will be a time of trouble.
4 At that time people will make fun of you.
They will tease you by singing a song of sadness.
They will pretend to be you and say,
‘We are totally destroyed.
Our enemies have divided up our land.
The Lord has taken it away from us!
He has given our fields to those
who turned against us.’ ”
5 So you won’t even have anyone left
in the Lord’s community
who can divide up the land for you.
Some Prophets Aren’t Really Prophets at All
6 “Don’t prophesy,” the people’s prophets say.
“Don’t prophesy about bad things.
Nothing shameful is going to happen to us.”
7 People of Jacob, should anyone say,
“The Lord is patient,
so he wouldn’t do things like that”?
The Lord replies, “What I promise brings good things
to those who lead honest lives.
8 But lately my people have attacked one another
as if they were enemies.
You strip off the rich robes
from those who happen to pass by.
They thought they were as safe as men
returning from a battle they had won.
9 You drive the women among my people
out of their pleasant homes.
You take away my blessing
from their children forever.
10 Get up! Leave this land!
It is no longer your resting place.
You have made it ‘unclean.’
You have completely destroyed it.
11 Suppose a prophet goes around telling lies.
And he prophesies that you will have
plenty of wine and beer.
Then that kind of prophet would be
just right for this nation!
The Lord Promises to Save His People
12 “People of Jacob, I will gather all of you.
I will bring together
you who are still left alive in Israel.
I will gather you together like sheep in a pen.
You will be like a flock in its grasslands.
Your country will be filled with people.
13 I will open the way for you to return.
I will march in front of you.
You will break through the city gates and go free.
I am your King. I will pass through the gates
in front of you.
I, the Lord, will lead the way.”
The Lord Warns Israel’s Leaders and Prophets
3 Then I said,
“Listen, you leaders of Jacob’s people!
Pay attention, you rulers of Israel!
You should want to judge others fairly.
2 But you hate what is good.
And you love what is evil.
You are like someone
who tears the skin off my people.
You pull the meat off their bones.
3 You eat my people’s bodies.
You strip off their skin.
You break their bones in pieces.
You chop them up like meat.
You put them in a cooking pot.”
4 The time will come when Israel
will cry out to the Lord.
But he won’t answer them.
In fact, he’ll turn his face away from them.
They have done what is evil.
5 The Lord says,
“The prophets are those
who lead my people astray.
If my people feed them,
the prophets promise them peace.
If my people do not feed them,
the prophets prepare to go to war against them.
6 So night will come on the prophets.
But they will not have any visions.
Darkness will cover them.
But they will not be able
to figure out what is going to happen.
The sun will set on the prophets.
The day will become dark for them.
7 Those who see visions will be put to shame.
Those who try to figure out what is going to happen
will be dishonored.
All of them will cover their faces.
I will not answer them.”
8 The Spirit of the Lord
has filled me with power.
He helps me do what is fair.
He makes me brave.
Now I’m prepared to tell Jacob’s people
what they’ve done wrong.
I’m ready to tell Israel they’ve sinned.
9 Listen to me, you leaders of Jacob’s people!
Pay attention, you rulers of Israel!
You hate to do what is fair.
You twist everything that is right.
10 You build up Zion by spilling the blood of others.
You build Jerusalem by doing what is evil.
11 Your judges take money from people
who want special favors.
Your priests teach only if they get paid for it.
Your prophets won’t tell fortunes
unless they receive money.
But you still look for the Lord’s help.
You say, “The Lord is with us.
No trouble will come on us.”
12 So because of what you have done,
Zion will be plowed up like a field.
Jerusalem will be turned into a pile of trash.
The temple hill will be covered with bushes and weeds.
The Two Witnesses
11 I was given a long stick that looked like a measuring rod. I was told, “Go and measure the temple of God. And measure the altar where the people are worshiping. 2 But do not measure the outer courtyard. That’s because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will take over the holy city for 42 months. 3 I will appoint my two witnesses. And they will prophesy for 1,260 days. They will be dressed in the rough clothes people wear when they’re sad.” 4 The witnesses are “the two olive trees” and the two lampstands. And “they stand in front of the Lord of the earth.” (Zechariah 4:3,11,14) 5 If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and eats up their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. 6 These witnesses have power to close up the sky. Then it will not rain while they are prophesying. They also have power to turn the waters into blood. And they can strike the earth with every kind of plague. They can do this as often as they want to.
7 When they have finished speaking, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them. He will overpower them and kill them. 8 Their bodies will lie in the main street of the great city. It is also the city where their Lord was nailed to a cross. The city is sometimes compared to Sodom or Egypt. 9 For three and a half days, people will stare at their bodies. These people will be from every tribe and nation, no matter what language they speak. They will refuse to bury them. 10 Those who live on the earth will be happy about this. That’s because those two prophets had made them suffer. The people will celebrate by sending one another gifts.
11 But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered the witnesses. They both stood up. Terror struck those who saw them. 12 Then the two witnesses heard a loud voice from heaven. It said to them, “Come up here.” They went up to heaven in a cloud. Their enemies watched it happen.
13 At that same time there was a powerful earthquake. A tenth of the city crumbled and fell. In the earthquake, 7,000 people were killed. Those who lived through it were terrified. They gave glory to the God of heaven.
14 The second terrible judgment has passed. The third is coming soon.
The Seventh Trumpet
15 The seventh angel blew his trumpet. There were loud voices in heaven. They said,
“The kingdom of the world has become
the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah.
He will rule for ever and ever.”
16 The 24 elders were sitting on their thrones in front of God. They fell on their faces and worshiped God. 17 They said,
“Lord God who rules over all, we give thanks to you.
You are the God who is and who was.
We give you thanks.
That’s because you have begun to rule with your great power.
18 The nations were angry,
and the time for your anger has come.
The time has come to judge the dead.
It is time to reward your servants the prophets
and your people who honor you.
There is a reward for all your people,
both great and small.
It is time to destroy those who destroy the earth.”
19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened. Inside it the wooden chest called the ark of his covenant could be seen. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings and thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm.
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