Old/New Testament
The Lord Demands Justice, not Ritual
6 Listen to what the Lord says:
“Get up! Defend yourself[a] before the mountains.[b]
Present your case before the hills.”[c]
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![d]
3 “My people, how have I wronged you?[e]
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.[f]
5 My people, recall how King Balak of Moab planned to harm you,[g]
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.”[h]
6 With what should I[i] enter the Lord’s presence?
With what[j] should I bow before the sovereign God?[k]
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?[l]
8 He has told you,[m] O man, what is good,
and what the Lord really wants from you:[n]
He wants you to[o] carry out justice,[p] to love faithfulness,[q]
and to live obediently before[r] your God.
9 Listen! The Lord is calling[s] to the city!
It is wise to respect your authority, O Lord.[t]
Listen, O nation, and those assembled in the city![u]
10 “I will not overlook,[v] O sinful house, the dishonest gain you have hoarded away[w]
or the smaller-than-standard measure I hate so much.[x]
11 I do not condone the use of rigged scales,
or a bag of deceptive weights.[y]
12 The city’s wealthy people readily resort to violence;[z]
her inhabitants tell lies;
their tongues speak deceptive words.[aa]
13 I will strike you brutally[ab]
and destroy you because of your sin.
14 You will eat, but not be satisfied.
Even if you have the strength[ac] to overtake some prey,[ad]
you will not be able to carry it away;[ae]
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,[af] but you will have no oil to rub on your bodies;[ag]
you will squeeze juice from the grapes, but you will have no wine to drink.[ah]
16 You follow Omri’s edicts[ai]
and all the practices of Ahab’s dynasty;[aj]
you follow their policies.[ak]
Therefore I will make you an appalling sight;[al]
the city’s[am] inhabitants will be taunted derisively,[an]
and nations will mock all of you.”[ao]
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[ap] craves.
2 Faithful men have disappeared[aq] from the land;
there are no godly men left.[ar]
They all wait in ambush to shed blood;[as]
they hunt their own brother with a net.
3 They are experts at doing evil;[at]
government officials and judges take bribes,[au]
prominent men announce what they wish,
and then they plan it out.[av]
4 The best of them is like a thorn;
their godly are like a thorn bush.[aw]
Woe[ax] to your watchmen;
your appointed punishment is on the way.[ay]
The time of their confusion is now.[az]
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![ba]
6 For a son thinks his father is a fool,
a daughter challenges[bb] her mother,
and a daughter-in-law her mother-in-law;
a man’s enemies are his own family.[bc]
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,[bd] do not gloat[be] over me!
Though I have fallen, I will get up.
Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.[bf]
9 I must endure[bg] the Lord’s fury,
for I have sinned against him.
But then[bh] he will defend my cause[bi]
and accomplish justice on my behalf.
He will lead me out into the light;
I will witness his deliverance.[bj]
10 When my enemies see this, they will be covered with shame.
They say[bk] to me, “Where is the Lord your God?”
I will gloat over them;[bl]
then they will be trampled down[bm]
like mud in the streets.
11 It will be a day for rebuilding your walls;
in that day your boundary will be extended.[bn]
A Closing Prayer
12 In that day people[bo] will come to you[bp]
from Assyria as far as[bq] Egypt,
from Egypt as far as the Euphrates River,[br]
from the seacoasts[bs] and the mountains.[bt]
13 The earth will become desolate
because of what its inhabitants have done.[bu]
14 Shepherd your people with your rod,[bv]
the flock that belongs to you,[bw]
the one that lives alone in a thicket,
in the midst of a pastureland.[bx]
Allow them to graze in Bashan and Gilead,[by]
as they did in the old days.[bz]
15 “As in the days when you departed from the land of Egypt,
I will show you[ca] miraculous deeds.”[cb]
16 Nations will see this and be disappointed by[cc] all their strength;
they will put their hands over their mouths
and act as if they were deaf.[cd]
17 They will lick the dust like a snake,
like serpents crawling on the ground.[ce]
They will come trembling from their strongholds
to the Lord our God;[cf]
they will be terrified[cg] of you.[ch]
18 Who is a God like you?[ci]
Who[cj] forgives sin
and pardons[ck] the rebellion
of those who remain among his people?[cl]
Who does not stay angry forever,
but delights in showing loyal love?
19 Who[cm] will once again[cn] have mercy on us?
Who will conquer[co] our evil deeds?
Who will hurl[cp] all our[cq] sins into the depths of the sea?[cr]
20 You will be loyal to Jacob
and extend your loyal love to Abraham,[cs]
which you promised on oath to our ancestors[ct] in ancient times.[cu]
The Two Beasts
13 Then[a] I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. It[b] had ten horns and seven heads, and on its horns were ten diadem crowns,[c] and on its heads a blasphemous name.[d] 2 Now[e] the beast that I saw was like a leopard, but its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. The[f] dragon gave the beast[g] his power, his throne, and great authority to rule.[h] 3 One of the beast’s[i] heads appeared to have been killed,[j] but the lethal wound had been healed.[k] And the whole world followed[l] the beast in amazement; 4 they worshiped the dragon because he had given ruling authority[m] to the beast, and they worshiped the beast too, saying: “Who is like the beast?” and “Who is able to make war against him?”[n] 5 The beast[o] was given a mouth speaking proud words[p] and blasphemies, and he was permitted[q] to exercise ruling authority[r] for forty-two months. 6 So[s] the beast[t] opened his mouth to blaspheme against God—to blaspheme both his name and his dwelling place,[u] that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7 The beast[v] was permitted to go to war against the saints and conquer them.[w] He was given ruling authority[x] over every tribe, people,[y] language, and nation, 8 and all those who live on the earth will worship the beast,[z] everyone whose name has not been written since the foundation of the world[aa] in the book of life belonging to the Lamb who was killed.[ab] 9 If anyone has an ear, he had better listen!
10 If anyone is meant for captivity,
into captivity he will go.
If anyone is to be killed by the sword,[ac]
then by the sword he must be killed.
This[ad] requires steadfast endurance[ae] and faith from the saints.
11 Then[af] I saw another beast[ag] coming up from the earth. He[ah] had two horns like a lamb,[ai] but[aj] was speaking like a dragon. 12 He[ak] exercised all the ruling authority[al] of the first beast on his behalf,[am] and made the earth and those who inhabit it worship the first beast, the one whose lethal wound had been healed. 13 He[an] performed momentous signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people[ao] 14 and, by the signs he was permitted to perform on behalf of the beast, he deceived those who live on the earth. He told[ap] those who live on the earth to make an image to the beast who had been wounded by the sword, but still lived. 15 The second beast[aq] was empowered[ar] to give life[as] to the image of the first beast[at] so that it could speak, and could cause all those who did not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 He also caused[au] everyone (small and great, rich and poor, free and slave[av]) to obtain a mark on their right hand or on their forehead. 17 Thus no one was allowed to buy[aw] or sell things[ax] unless he bore[ay] the mark of the beast—that is, his name or his number.[az] 18 This calls for wisdom:[ba] Let the one who has insight calculate the beast’s number, for it is man’s number,[bb] and his number is 666.[bc]
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