Micah 1-4; Psalms 130 - Prayer Tents

Micah 1

1The Lord gave this message to Micah of Moresheth during the years when Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah. The visions he saw concerned both Samaria and Jerusalem.H1697H3068H4318H4183H3117H3147H271H3169H4428H3063H2372H8111H3389

Grief over Samaria and Jerusalem

2Attention! Let all the people of the world listen! Let the earth and everything in it hear. The Sovereign Lord is making accusations against you; the Lord speaks from his holy Temple.H8085H5971H7181H776H4393H136H3069H5707H136H6944H19643Look! The Lord is coming! He leaves his throne in heaven and tramples the heights of the earth.H3068H3318H4725H3381H1869H1116H7764The mountains melt beneath his feet and flow into the valleys like wax in a fire, like water pouring down a hill.H2022H4549H6010H1234H1749H6440H784H4325H5064H41745And why is this happening? Because of the rebellion of Israel—yes, the sins of the whole nation. Who is to blame for Israel’s rebellion? Samaria, its capital city! Where is the center of idolatry in Judah? In Jerusalem, its capital!H6588H3290H2403H1004H3478H6588H3290H8111H1116H3063H33896“So I, the Lord, will make the city of Samaria a heap of ruins. Her streets will be plowed up for planting vineyards. I will roll the stones of her walls into the valley below, exposing her foundations.H7760H8111H5856H7704H4302H3754H5064H68H1516H1540H32477All her carved images will be smashed. All her sacred treasures will be burned. These things were bought with the money earned by her prostitution, and they will now be carried away to pay prostitutes elsewhere.”H6456H3807H868H8313H784H6091H7760H8077H6908H868H2181H7725H868H21818Therefore, I will mourn and lament. I will walk around barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and moan like an owl.H5594H3213H3212H7758H7758H6174H6213H4553H8577H60H1323H32849For my people’s wound is too deep to heal. It has reached into Judah, even to the gates of Jerusalem.H4347H605H935H3063H5060H8179H5971H338910Don’t tell our enemies in Gath; don’t weep at all. You people in Beth-leaphrah, roll in the dust to show your despair.H5046H1661H1058H1058H1036H6428H6428H608311You people in Shaphir, go as captives into exile—naked and ashamed. The people of Zaanan dare not come outside their walls. The people of Beth-ezel mourn, for their house has no support.H5674H3427H8208H1322H6181H3427H6630H3318H4553H1018H3947H597912The people of Maroth anxiously wait for relief, but only bitterness awaits them as the Lord’s judgment reaches even to the gates of Jerusalem.H3427H4796H2342H2896H7451H3381H3068H8179H338913Harness your chariot horses and flee, you people of Lachish. You were the first city in Judah to follow Israel in her rebellion, and you led Jerusalem into sin.H3427H3923H7573H4818H7409H7225H2403H1323H6726H6588H3478H467214Send farewell gifts to Moresheth-gath; there is no hope of saving it. The town of Aczib has deceived the kings of Israel.H5414H7964H4182H1004H392H391H4428H347815O people of Mareshah, I will bring a conqueror to capture your town. And the leaders of Israel will go to Adullam.H935H3423H3427H4762H935H5725H3519H347816Oh, people of Judah, shave your heads in sorrow, for the children you love will be snatched away. Make yourselves as bald as a vulture, for your little ones will be exiled to distant lands.H7139H1494H8588H1121H7337H7144H5404H1540

Micah 2

Judgment against Wealthy Oppressors

2What sorrow awaits you who lie awake at night, thinking up evil plans. You rise at dawn and hurry to carry them out, simply because you have the power to do so.H1945H2803H205H6466H7451H4904H1242H216H6213H3426H410H30272When you want a piece of land, you find a way to seize it. When you want someone’s house, you take it by fraud and violence. You cheat a man of his property, stealing his family’s inheritance.H2530H7704H1497H1004H5375H6231H1397H1004H376H51593But this is what the Lord says. “I will reward your evil with evil; you won’t be able to pull your neck out of the noose. You will no longer walk around proudly, for it will be a terrible time.”H559H3068H4940H2803H7451H4185H6677H3212H7317H6256H74514In that day your enemies will make fun of you by singing this song of despair about you. “We are finished, completely ruined! God has confiscated our land, taking it from us. He has given our fields to those who betrayed us.”H3117H5375H4912H5091H5093H5092H559H7703H7703H4171H2506H5971H4185H7725H2505H77045Others will set your boundaries then, and the Lord’s people will have no say in how the land is divided.H7993H2256H1486H6951H3068

True and False Prophets

6“Don’t say such things,” the people respond. “Don’t prophesy like that. Such disasters will never come our way!”H5197H5197H5197H5253H36397Should you talk that way, O family of Israel? Will the Lord’s Spirit have patience with such behavior? If you would do what is right, you would find my words comforting.H559H1004H3290H7307H3068H7114H4611H1697H3190H1980H34778Yet to this very hour my people rise against me like an enemy! You steal the shirts right off the backs of those who trusted you, making them as ragged as men returning from battle.H865H5971H6965H341H6584H145H4136H8008H5674H983H7725H44219You have evicted women from their pleasant homes and forever stripped their children of all that God would give them.H802H5971H1644H8588H1004H5768H3947H1926H576910Up! Begone! This is no longer your land and home, for you have filled it with sin and ruined it completely.H6965H3212H4496H2930H2254H4834H225611Suppose a prophet full of lies would say to you, “I’ll preach to you the joys of wine and alcohol!” That’s just the kind of prophet you would like!H3863H376H1980H7307H8267H3576H5197H3196H7941H5197H5971

Hope for Restoration

12“Someday, O Israel, I will gather you; I will gather the remnant who are left. I will bring you together again like sheep in a pen, like a flock in its pasture. Yes, your land will again be filled with noisy crowds!H622H622H3290H6908H6908H7611H3478H7760H3162H6629H1223H1224H5739H8432H1699H1949H12013Your leader will break out and lead you out of exile, out through the gates of the enemy cities, back to your own land. Your king will lead you; the Lord himself will guide you.”H6555H5927H6440H6555H5674H8179H3318H4428H5674H6440H3068H7218

Micah 3

Judgment against Israel’s Leaders

3I said, “Listen, you leaders of Israel! You are supposed to know right from wrong,H559H8085H7218H3290H7101H1004H3478H3045H49412but you are the very ones who hate good and love evil. You skin my people alive and tear the flesh from their bones.H8130H2896H157H7451H1497H5785H7607H61063Yes, you eat my people’s flesh, strip off their skin, and break their bones. You chop them up like meat for the cooking pot.H398H7607H5971H6584H5785H6476H6106H6566H5518H1320H8432H70374Then you beg the Lord for help in times of trouble! Do you really expect him to answer? After all the evil you have done, he won’t even look at you!”H2199H3068H6030H5641H6440H6256H7489H46115This is what the Lord says. “You false prophets are leading my people astray! You promise peace for those who give you food, but you declare war on those who refuse to feed you.H559H3068H5030H5971H8582H5391H8127H7121H7965H5414H6310H6942H44216Now the night will close around you, cutting off all your visions. Darkness will cover you, putting an end to your predictions. The sun will set for you prophets, and your day will come to an end.H3915H2377H2821H2821H7080H8121H935H5030H3117H69377Then you seers will be put to shame, and you fortune-tellers will be disgraced. And you will cover your faces because there is no answer from God.”H2374H954H7080H2659H5844H8222H4617H4308But as for me, I am filled with power—with the Spirit of the Lord. I am filled with justice and strength to boldly declare Israel’s sin and rebellion.H199H4390H3581H7307H3068H4941H1369H5046H3290H6588H3478H24039Listen to me, you leaders of Israel! You hate justice and twist all that is right.H8085H7218H1004H3290H7101H1004H3478H8581H4941H6140H347710You are building Jerusalem on a foundation of murder and corruption.H1129H6726H1818H3389H576611You rulers make decisions based on bribes; you priests teach God’s laws only for a price; you prophets won’t prophesy unless you are paid. Yet all of you claim to depend on the Lord. “No harm can come to us,” you say, “for the Lord is here among us.”H7218H8199H7810H3548H3384H4242H5030H7080H3701H8172H3068H559H3068H7130H7451H93512Because of you, Mount Zion will be plowed like an open field; Jerusalem will be reduced to ruins! A thicket will grow on the heights where the Temple now stands.H6726H1558H2790H7704H3389H5856H2022H1004H1116H3293

Micah 4

The Lord’s Future Reign

4In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house will be the highest of all—the most important place on earth. It will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream there to worship.H319H3117H2022H1004H3068H3559H7218H2022H5375H1389H5971H51022People from many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the Lord’s teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem.H7227H1471H1980H559H3212H5927H2022H3068H1004H430H3290H3384H1870H3212H734H8451H3318H6726H1697H3068H33893The Lord will mediate between peoples and will settle disputes between strong nations far away. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore.H8199H7227H5971H3198H6099H1471H7350H3807H2719H855H2595H4211H1471H5375H2719H1471H3925H44214Everyone will live in peace and prosperity, enjoying their own grapevines and fig trees, for there will be nothing to fear. The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has made this promise!H3427H376H1612H8384H2729H6310H3068H6635H16965Though the nations around us follow their idols, we will follow the Lord our God forever and ever.H5971H3212H376H8034H430H3212H8034H3068H430H5769H5703

Israel’s Return from Exile

6“In that coming day,” says the Lord, “I will gather together those who are lame, those who have been exiles, and those whom I have filled with grief.H3117H5002H3068H622H6760H6908H5080H74897Those who are weak will survive as a remnant; those who were exiles will become a strong nation. Then I, the Lord, will rule from Jerusalem① as their king forever.”/ ①Hebrew Mount Zion.H7760H6760H7611H1972H6099H1471H3068H4427H2022H6726H5704H57698As for you, Jerusalem, the citadel of God’s people, your royal might and power will come back to you again. The kingship will be restored to my precious Jerusalem.H4026H5739H4029H6076H1323H6726H857H7223H4475H4467H935H1323H33899But why are you now screaming in terror? Have you no king to lead you? Have your wise people all died? Pain has gripped you like a woman in childbirth.H7321H7452H4428H3289H6H2427H2388H320510Writhe and groan like a woman in labor, you people of Jerusalem, for now you must leave this city to live in the open country. You will soon be sent in exile to distant Babylon. But the Lord will rescue you there; he will redeem you from the grip of your enemies.H2342H1518H1323H6726H3205H3318H7151H7931H7704H935H894H5337H3068H1350H3709H34111Now many nations have gathered against you. “Let her be desecrated,” they say. “Let us see the destruction of Jerusalem.”H7227H1471H622H559H2610H5869H2372H672612But they do not know the Lord’s thoughts or understand his plan. These nations don’t know that he is gathering them together to be beaten and trampled like sheaves of grain on a threshing floor.H3045H4284H3068H995H6098H6908H5995H163713“Rise up and crush the nations, O Jerusalem!” says the Lord. “For I will give you iron horns and bronze hooves, so you can trample many nations to pieces. You will present their stolen riches to the Lord, their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.”H6965H1758H1323H6726H7760H7161H1270H7760H6541H5154H1854H7227H5971H2763H1215H3068H2428H113H776

Psalms 130

130[A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.] From the depths of despair, O Lord, I call for your help.H7892H4609H4615H7121H3068 2Hear my cry, O Lord. Pay attention to my prayer.H136H8085H6963H241H7183H6963H8469 3Lord, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive?H3050H8104H5771H136H5975 4But you offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear you.H5547H3372 5I am counting on the Lord; yes, I am counting on him. I have put my hope in his word.H6960H3068H5315H6960H1697H3176 6I long for the Lord more than sentries long for the dawn, yes, more than sentries long for the dawn.H5315H136H8104H1242H8104H1242 7O Israel, hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is unfailing love. His redemption overflows.H3478H3176H3068H3068H2617H7235H6304 8He himself will redeem Israel from every kind of sin.H6299H3478H5771