Old/New Testament

1 This is the Word of the Lord which came to Micah of Moresheth about Samaria and Jerusalem in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Israel Is Judged

² Hear, O people, all of you. Listen, O earth and all who are in it. The Lord God will speak against you from His holy house. ³ See, the Lord is coming from His place. He will come down and walk on the high places of the earth. ⁴ The mountains will melt under Him and the valleys will break open, like a candle in front of the fire, like water poured down a hill. ⁵ All this is because Jacob would not obey and because of the sins of the people of Israel. What is Jacob’s sin? Is it not Samaria? What is the high place of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem? ⁶ So I will make Samaria a waste in the open country, making it a place to plant grape-fields. I will pour her stones down into the valley, and lay open the base of the city. ⁷ All of her false gods will be broken to pieces. Everything given in the place of worship will be burned with fire. I will destroy all her objects of worship, for she gathered them from the pay of a woman who sells the use of her body. They will return to pay a woman who sells the use of her body.

Jerusalem Will Be Taken

⁸ Because of this I must cry out in sorrow. I must go without shoes and clothing. I must cry out like the wild dogs, and cry in sorrow like the ostriches. ⁹ For her hurt cannot be cured. It has come to Judah. It has come to the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem. ¹⁰ Do not tell about it in Gath. Do not cry at all. Roll in the dust in Beth-leaphrah. ¹¹ Go on your way, people of Shaphir, without clothing and in shame. The people of Zaanan do not come out. Cries of sorrow come from Beth-ezel. Its help is taken from you. ¹² Those who live in Maroth become weak waiting for good, because trouble has come down from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem. ¹³ Tie the war-wagons to the horses, you people of Lachish. You were the beginning of sin to the people of Zion, for the sins of Israel were found in you. ¹⁴ So give gifts to Moresheth-gath. The people of Achzib will fool the kings of Israel. ¹⁵ I will bring one who will beat you in battle, O people of Mareshah. The shining-greatness of Israel will come to Adullam. ¹⁶ Cut off all your hair in sorrow for the children you love. Let no hair be on your head like the eagle, for your children will be taken away from you.

It Is Bad for Wrong-Doers

2 It is bad for those who make plans to do wrong, who lie on their beds thinking of something sinful to do! When morning comes, they do it, because it is in their power. ² They want fields that belong to someone else, and take them. They want houses, and take them. They rob a man and his house, a man and what has been given to him. ³ So the Lord says, “I am planning trouble against this family, from which you cannot save yourselves. You will no longer walk in pride, for it will be a time of much trouble. ⁴ On that day they will make fun of you and sing a bitter song of sorrow, saying, ‘We are destroyed and everything is gone! My people’s land is divided. He takes it from me! He gives our fields to those who turned against us.’” ⁵ So you will have no one among the Lord’s people to divide the land in a right way for you.

Men Who Lie

⁶ “The people say to me, ‘Do not speak about these things, because we will not be put to shame.’ ⁷ Should it be said, O people of Jacob: “Is the Spirit of the Lord angry? Would He do such things? Do not My Words do good to the one whose way is right and good? ⁸ My people have begun to hate those who are at peace with them. You pull the coat off from a brother Israelite, from those who pass by in peace like men returning from war. ⁹ You drive the women of My people away from their beautiful houses. You take My greatness away from their children forever. ¹⁰ Get up and go away, for this is no place of rest, because it is made unclean. It is destroyed with much suffering. ¹¹ If a man comes speaking lies and says, ‘I will speak to you about wine and strong drink,’ he would be the one for these people!

Israel Is Gathered Together

¹² “I will gather all of you together, Jacob. I will gather all those left of Israel. I will put them together like sheep within a fence, like a flock in its field. The land will be filled with the noise of many people. ¹³ The One Who breaks open the way will go out before them. They will break through the gate and go out. Their king will pass through before them, and the Lord will lead them.”

Sinful Leaders and Rulers

3 And I said, “Hear now, leaders of Jacob and rulers of the people of Israel! Should you not know what is fair? ² Yet you hate good and love sin. You tear off the skin from my people and the flesh from their bones. ³ You eat my people’s flesh, pull their skin off, break their bones, and cut them up like meat for the pot.” ⁴ Then they will cry to the Lord, but He will not answer them. He will hide His face from them at that time, because they have done sinful things.

⁵ This is what the Lord says about the men who speak in God’s name and lead my people the wrong way. When they have something to eat, they speak of peace. But they make holy war against him who does not feed them. ⁶ So night will come to you without a special dream. Darkness will come to you without any word about the future. The sun will go down on those who speak about special dreams, and the day will become dark over them. ⁷ Those who tell what is going to happen in the future will be ashamed. Those who learn about the future using their secret ways will be ashamed. They will all cover their mouths because there is no answer from God. ⁸ But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, with what is fair, and with strength. I am able to make known to Jacob his wrong-doing, and to Israel his sin. ⁹ Now listen to this, you leaders of Jacob and rulers of the people of Israel. You hate what is fair, and turn everything around that is right. ¹⁰ You built Zion with blood and Jerusalem with much wrong-doing. ¹¹ Her leaders take pay in secret for doing wrong. Her religious leaders teach for a price. Her men who tell what is going to happen in the future do it for money. Yet they rest upon the Lord and say, “Is not the Lord among us? No trouble will come to us.” ¹² So because of you Zion will be plowed as a field. Jerusalem will be laid waste. And the mountain of the Lord’s house will be covered with trees.

The House of God

11 I was given a stick that is used to see how big things are. Someone said, “Go up to the house of God and find out how big it is. Find out about the altar also. See how many people are worshiping. ² Do not find out about the porch of the house of God. It has been given over to the nations who do not know God. They will walk over all the Holy City to wreck it for forty-two months. ³ I will give power to my two men who tell what they know. They will speak for God for 1,260 days (forty-two months). They will be dressed in clothes made from the hair of animals.”

The Two Men Who Tell What They Know

⁴ These two men who tell what they know are the two olive trees and the two lights that stand before the Lord of the earth. ⁵ If anyone hates them and tries to hurt them, fire comes out of the mouths of these two men. The fire kills those who try to hurt them. ⁶ They have power to shut up the sky. During the time they speak for God, there will be no rain. They have power to change all waters into blood. They can send every kind of trouble to the earth whenever they want to.

The Death of the Two Men Who Speak for God

⁷ When they have finished speaking for God, the wild animal will make war with them. It will come up out of the hole without a bottom. This wild animal will have power over them and kill them. ⁸ Their dead bodies will lie in the street of Jerusalem. It is where their Lord was nailed to a cross. The city is sometimes called Sodom and Egypt. ⁹ For three-and-one-half days those from every people and from every family and from every language and from every nation will look at their dead bodies. People will not allow the dead bodies of these two men to be put in a grave. ¹⁰ Those who are living on the earth will be happy because of the death of these two men. They will do things to show they are happy. They will send gifts to each other. They will do this because these two men brought much trouble and suffering to the people of the earth.

The Two Men Come to Life Again

¹¹ After three-and-one-half days, life from God came into them again. They stood on their feet. Those who saw them were very much afraid.

¹² Then the two men who told what they knew heard a loud voice from heaven. It said, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud. All those who hated them watched them go. ¹³ At the same time the earth shook. One-tenth part of the buildings of the city fell down. Seven thousand people were killed. The rest of the people were afraid and gave honor to the God of heaven.

¹⁴ The second time of trouble is past. But look, the third time of trouble is coming soon.

The Seventh Horn—Worship in Heaven

¹⁵ The seventh angel blew his horn. There were loud voices in heaven saying, “The nations of the world have become the holy nation of our Lord and of His Christ. He will be the Leader forever.” ¹⁶ Then the twenty-four leaders who sat on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God. ¹⁷ They said, “All-powerful Lord God, the One Who is and Who was and Who is to come, we thank You because You are using Your great power and have become Leader. ¹⁸ The people who do not know God have become angry with You. Now it is time for You to be angry with them. It is time for the dead to stand before You and to be judged. It is time for the servants You own who are the early preachers and those who belong to You to get the reward that is coming to them. It is time for the important people and those not important who honor Your name to get the pay that is coming to them. It is time to destroy those who have made every kind of trouble on the earth.”

¹⁹ God’s house in heaven was opened. The special box which held the Old Way of Worship was seen in the house of God. There was lightning and thunder and noise. The earth shook and large hail stones fell.