Micah 1-3

New International Version

1 The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth^(A) during the reigns of Jotham,^(B) Ahaz^(C) and Hezekiah,^(D) kings of Judah^(E)—the vision^(F) he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

²Hear,^(G) you peoples, all of you,^(H)
listen, earth^(I) and all who live in it,
that the Sovereign Lord may bear witness^(J) against you,
the Lord from his holy temple.^(K)

Judgment Against Samaria and Jerusalem

³Look! The Lord is coming from his dwelling^(L) place;
    he comes down^(M) and treads on the heights of the earth.^(N)
⁴The mountains melt^(O) beneath him^(P)
    and the valleys split apart,^(Q)
like wax before the fire,
    like water rushing down a slope.
⁵All this is because of Jacob’s transgression,
    because of the sins of the people of Israel.
What is Jacob’s transgression?
    Is it not Samaria?^(R)
What is Judah’s high place?
    Is it not Jerusalem?

⁶“Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble,
    a place for planting vineyards.^(S)
I will pour her stones^(T) into the valley
    and lay bare her foundations.^(U)
⁷All her idols^(V) will be broken to pieces;^(W)
    all her temple gifts will be burned with fire;
    I will destroy all her images.^(X)
Since she gathered her gifts from the wages of prostitutes,^(Y)
    as the wages of prostitutes they will again be used.”

Weeping and Mourning

⁸Because of this I will weep^(Z) and wail;
    I will go about barefoot^(AA) and naked.
I will howl like a jackal
    and moan like an owl.
⁹For Samaria’s plague^(AB) is incurable;^(AC)
    it has spread to Judah.^(AD)
It has reached the very gate^(AE) of my people,
    even to Jerusalem itself.
¹⁰Tell it not in Gath^[a];
    weep not at all.
In Beth Ophrah^[b]
    roll in the dust.
¹¹Pass by naked^(AF) and in shame,
    you who live in Shaphir.^[c]
Those who live in Zaanan^[d]
    will not come out.
Beth Ezel is in mourning;
    it no longer protects you.
¹²Those who live in Maroth^[e] writhe in pain,
    waiting for relief,^(AG)
because disaster^(AH) has come from the Lord,
    even to the gate of Jerusalem.
¹³You who live in Lachish,^(AI)
    harness fast horses to the chariot.
You are where the sin of Daughter Zion^(AJ) began,
    for the transgressions of Israel were found in you.
¹⁴Therefore you will give parting gifts^(AK)
    to Moresheth^(AL) Gath.
The town of Akzib^[f]^(AM) will prove deceptive^(AN)
    to the kings of Israel.
¹⁵I will bring a conqueror against you
    who live in Mareshah.^[g]^(AO)
The nobles of Israel
    will flee to Adullam.^(AP)
¹⁶Shave^(AQ) your head in mourning
    for the children in whom you delight;
make yourself as bald as the vulture,
    for they will go from you into exile.^(AR)

Human Plans and God’s Plans

2 Woe to those who plan iniquity,
    to those who plot evil^(AS) on their beds!^(AT)
At morning’s light they carry it out
    because it is in their power to do it.
²They covet fields^(AU) and seize them,^(AV)
    and houses, and take them.
They defraud^(AW) people of their homes,
    they rob them of their inheritance.^(AX)

³Therefore, the Lord says:

“I am planning disaster^(AY) against this people,
    from which you cannot save yourselves.
You will no longer walk proudly,^(AZ)
    for it will be a time of calamity.
⁴In that day people will ridicule you;
    they will taunt you with this mournful song:
‘We are utterly ruined;^(BA)
    my people’s possession is divided up.^(BB)
He takes it from me!
    He assigns our fields to traitors.’”

⁵Therefore you will have no one in the assembly of the Lord
to divide the land^(BC) by lot.^(BD)

False Prophets

⁶“Do not prophesy,” their prophets say.
    “Do not prophesy about these things;
    disgrace^(BE) will not overtake us.^(BF)”
⁷You descendants of Jacob, should it be said,
    “Does the Lord become^[h] impatient?
    Does he do such things?”

“Do not my words do good^(BG)
    to the one whose ways are upright?^(BH)
⁸Lately my people have risen up
    like an enemy.
You strip off the rich robe
    from those who pass by without a care,
    like men returning from battle.
⁹You drive the women of my people
    from their pleasant homes.^(BI)
You take away my blessing
    from their children forever.
¹⁰Get up, go away!
    For this is not your resting place,^(BJ)
because it is defiled,^(BK)
    it is ruined, beyond all remedy.
¹¹If a liar and deceiver^(BL) comes and says,
    ‘I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,’^(BM)
    that would be just the prophet for this people!^(BN)

Deliverance Promised

¹²“I will surely gather all of you, Jacob;
    I will surely bring together the remnant^(BO) of Israel.
I will bring them together like sheep in a pen,
    like a flock in its pasture;
    the place will throng with people.^(BP)
¹³The One who breaks open the way will go up before^(BQ) them;
    they will break through the gate^(BR) and go out.
Their King will pass through before them,
    the Lord at their head.”

Leaders and Prophets Rebuked

3 Then I said,

“Listen, you leaders^(BS) of Jacob,
    you rulers of Israel.
Should you not embrace justice,
²    you who hate good and love evil;
who tear the skin from my people
    and the flesh from their bones;^(BT)
³who eat my people’s flesh,^(BU)
    strip off their skin
    and break their bones in pieces;^(BV)
who chop^(BW) them up like meat for the pan,
    like flesh for the pot?^(BX)”

⁴Then they will cry out to the Lord,
but he will not answer them.^(BY)
At that time he will hide his face^(BZ) from them
because of the evil they have done.^(CA)

⁵This is what the Lord says:

“As for the prophets
    who lead my people astray,^(CB)
they proclaim ‘peace’^(CC)
    if they have something to eat,
but prepare to wage war against anyone
    who refuses to feed them.
⁶Therefore night will come over you, without visions,
    and darkness, without divination.^(CD)
The sun will set for the prophets,^(CE)
    and the day will go dark for them.^(CF)
⁷The seers will be ashamed^(CG)
    and the diviners disgraced.^(CH)
They will all cover^(CI) their faces^(CJ)
    because there is no answer from God.^(CK)”
⁸But as for me, I am filled with power,
    with the Spirit of the Lord,
    and with justice and might,
to declare to Jacob his transgression,
    to Israel his sin.^(CL)

⁹Hear this, you leaders of Jacob,
    you rulers of Israel,
who despise justice
    and distort all that is right;^(CM)
¹⁰who build^(CN) Zion with bloodshed,^(CO)
    and Jerusalem with wickedness.^(CP)
¹¹Her leaders judge for a bribe,^(CQ)
    her priests teach for a price,^(CR)
    and her prophets tell fortunes for money.^(CS)
Yet they look^(CT) for the Lord’s support and say,
    “Is not the Lord among us?
    No disaster will come upon us.”^(CU)
¹²Therefore because of you,
    Zion will be plowed like a field,
Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble,^(CV)
    the temple^(CW) hill a mound overgrown with thickets.^(CX)

Footnotes

Micah 1:10 Gath sounds like the Hebrew for tell.
Micah 1:10 Beth Ophrah means house of dust.
Micah 1:11 Shaphir means pleasant.
Micah 1:11 Zaanan sounds like the Hebrew for come out.
Micah 1:12 Maroth sounds like the Hebrew for bitter.
Micah 1:14 Akzib means deception.
Micah 1:15 Mareshah sounds like the Hebrew for conqueror.
Micah 2:7 Or Is the Spirit of the Lord

Revelation 11

New International Version

The Two Witnesses

11 I was given a reed like a measuring rod^(A) and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers. ²But exclude the outer court;^(B) do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles.^(C) They will trample on the holy city^(D) for 42 months.^(E) ³And I will appoint my two witnesses,^(F) and they will prophesy for 1,260 days,^(G) clothed in sackcloth.”^(H) ⁴They are “the two olive trees”^(I) and the two lampstands, and “they stand before the Lord of the earth.”^[a]^(J) ⁵If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies.^(K) This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die.^(L) ⁶They have power to shut up the heavens^(M) so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying;^(N) and they have power to turn the waters into blood^(O) and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.

⁷Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast^(P) that comes up from the Abyss^(Q) will attack them,^(R) and overpower and kill them. ⁸Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city^(S)—which is figuratively called Sodom^(T) and Egypt—where also their Lord was crucified.^(U) ⁹For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation^(V) will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial.^(W) ¹⁰The inhabitants of the earth^(X) will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts,^(Y) because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.

¹¹But after the three and a half days^(Z) the breath^[b] of life from God entered them,^(AA) and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. ¹²Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.”^(AB) And they went up to heaven in a cloud,^(AC) while their enemies looked on.

¹³At that very hour there was a severe earthquake^(AD) and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory^(AE) to the God of heaven.^(AF)

¹⁴The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon.^(AG)

The Seventh Trumpet

¹⁵The seventh angel sounded his trumpet,^(AH) and there were loud voices^(AI) in heaven, which said:

“The kingdom of the world has become
the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah,^(AJ)
and he will reign for ever and ever.”^(AK)

¹⁶And the twenty-four elders,^(AL) who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces^(AM) and worshiped God, ¹⁷saying:

“We give thanks^(AN) to you, Lord God Almighty,^(AO)
    the One who is and who was,^(AP)
because you have taken your great power
    and have begun to reign.^(AQ)
¹⁸The nations were angry,^(AR)
    and your wrath has come.
The time has come for judging the dead,^(AS)
    and for rewarding your servants the prophets^(AT)
and your people who revere your name,
    both great and small^(AU)—
and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”

¹⁹Then God’s temple^(AV) in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant.^(AW) And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder,^(AX) an earthquake and a severe hailstorm.^(AY)