Day 355 of 365

Mic 1:1–4:13

1:1 The word of the Lord that came to Micah the Morashtite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

1:2 Hear, you peoples, all of you. Listen, O earth, and all that is therein: and let the Lord God be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.

1:3 For, behold, the Lord comes forth out of his place, and will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.

1:4 The mountains melt under him, and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like waters that are poured down a steep place.

1:5 "All this is for the disobedience of Jacob, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the disobedience of Jacob? Isn't it Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Aren't they Jerusalem?

1:6 Therefore I will make Samaria like a rubble heap of the field, like places for planting vineyards; and I will pour down its stones into the valley, and I will uncover its foundations.

1:7 All her idols will be beaten to pieces, and all her temple gifts will be burned with fire, and all her images I will destroy; for of the hire of a prostitute has she gathered them, and to the hire of a prostitute shall they return."

1:8 For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will howl like the jackals, and moan like the daughters of owls.

1:9 For her wounds are incurable; for it has come even to Judah. It reaches to the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.

1:10 Do not tell it in Gath. Do not weep at all. At Beth Ophrah I have rolled myself in the dust.

1:11 Pass on, inhabitant of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame. The inhabitant of Zaanan won't come out. The wailing of Beth Ezel will take from you his protection.

1:12 For the inhabitant of Maroth waits anxiously for good, because evil has come down from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem.

1:13 Harness the chariot to the swift steed, inhabitant of Lachish. She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion; For the transgressions of Israel were found in you.

1:14 Therefore you will give a parting gift to Moresheth Gath. The houses of Achzib will be a deceitful thing to the kings of Israel.

1:15 I will yet bring to you, inhabitant of Mareshah. He who is the glory of Israel will come to Adullam.

1:16 Shave your heads, and cut off your hair for the children of your delight. Enlarge your baldness like the vulture; for they have gone into captivity from you!

2:1 Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil on their beds! When the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand.

2:2 They covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take them away: and they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.

2:3 Therefore thus says the Lord: "Behold, I am planning against these people a disaster, from which you will not remove your necks, neither will you walk haughtily; for it is an evil time.

2:4 In that day they will take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, saying, 'We are utterly ruined! My people's possession is divided up. Indeed he takes it from me and assigns our fields to traitors!'"

2:5 Therefore you will have no one who divides the land by lot in the assembly of the Lord.

2:6 "Do not prophesy!" They prophesy. "Do not prophesy about these things. Disgrace won't overtake us."

2:7 Shall it be said, O house of Jacob: "Is the Spirit of the Lord angry? Are these his doings? Do not my words do good to him who walks blamelessly?"

2:8 But lately my people have risen up as an enemy. You strip the robe and clothing from those who pass by without a care, returning from battle.

2:9 You drive the women of my people out from their pleasant houses; from their young children you take away my blessing forever.

2:10 Arise, and depart! For this is not your resting place, because of uncleanness that destroys, even with a grievous destruction.

2:11 If a man walking in a spirit of falsehood lies: "I will prophesy to you of wine and of strong drink;" he would be the prophet of this people.

2:12 I will surely assemble, Jacob, all of you; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as a flock in the midst of their pasture; they will swarm with people.

2:13 He who breaks open the way goes up before them. They break through the gate, and go out. And their king passes on before them, with the Lord at their head.

3:1 I said, "Please listen, you heads of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel: Isn't it for you to know justice?

3:2 You who hate the good, and love the evil; who tear off their skin, and their flesh from off their bones;

3:3 who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.

3:4 Then they will cry to the Lord, but he will not answer them. Yes, he will hide his face from them at that time, because they made their deeds evil."

3:5 Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who lead my people astray; for those who feed their teeth, they proclaim, "Peace!" and whoever doesn't provide for their mouths, they prepare war against him:

3:6 "Therefore night is over you, with no vision, and it is dark to you, that you may not divine; and the sun will go down on the prophets, and the day will be black over them.

3:7 The seers shall be disappointed, and the diviners confounded. Yes, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer from God."

3:8 But as for me, I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, and of judgment, and of might, to declare to Jacob his disobedience, and to Israel his sin.

3:9 Please listen to this, you heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice, and pervert all equity.

3:10 They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.

3:11 Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money: yet they lean on the Lord, and say, "Isn't the Lord in the midst of us? No disaster will come on us."

3:12 Therefore Zion for your sake will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble, and the mountain of the temple like the high places of a forest.

4:1 But in the latter days, it will happen that the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established on the top of the mountains, and it will be exalted above the hills; and peoples will stream to it.

4:2 Many nations will go and say, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths." For out of Zion will go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem;

4:3 and he will judge between many peoples, and will decide concerning strong nations afar off. They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war any more.

4:4 But they will sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and no one will make them afraid: For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

4:5 Indeed all the nations may walk in the name of their gods; but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.

4:6 "In that day," says the Lord, "I will assemble that which is lame, and I will gather that which is driven away, and that which I have afflicted;

4:7 and I will make that which was lame a remnant, and that which was cast far off a strong nation: and the Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion from then on, even forever."

4:8 You, tower of the flock, the hill of the daughter of Zion, to you it will come, yes, the former dominion will come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.

4:9 Now why do you cry out aloud? Is there no king in you? Has your counselor perished, that pains have taken hold of you as of a woman in travail?

4:10 Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail; for now you will go forth out of the city, and will dwell in the field, and will come even to Babylon. There you will be rescued. There the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.

4:11 Now many nations have assembled against you, that say, "Let her be defiled, and let our eye gloat over Zion."

4:12 But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord, neither do they understand his counsel; for he has gathered them like the sheaves to the threshing floor.

4:13 Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion; for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs brass; and you will beat in pieces many peoples: and I will devote their gain to the Lord, and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth.

Rev 13:1–18

1 I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads. On his horns were ten crowns, and on his heads, blasphemous names.

2 The beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The serpent gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.

3 One of his heads looked like it had been wounded fatally. His fatal wound was healed, and the whole earth was amazed and followed the beast.

4 They worshiped the serpent, because he gave his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?"

5 A mouth was given to him speaking proud words and blasphemies. There was given to him authority to act for forty-two months.

6 He opened his mouth for blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name, and his dwelling, those who dwell in heaven.

7 It was given to him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them. Authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation was given to him.

8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been killed.

9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear.

10 If anyone has captivity, he will go into captivity. If anyone shall kill with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. Here is the endurance and the faith of the saints.

11 I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke like a serpent.

12 He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. He makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.

13 He performs great signs, even making fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the sight of people.

14 He deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs he was granted to do in front of the beast; saying to those who dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast who had been wounded by the sword and yet lived.

15 It was given to him to give breath to it, to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast could both speak and cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

16 He causes all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, and the free and the slave, to be given a mark on their right hands, or on their forehead;

17 and that no one could be able to buy or to sell, unless he has that mark, the name of the beast or the number of his name.

18 Here is wisdom. He who has understanding, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is six hundred sixty-six.

Job 40:6–23

6 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind,

7 "Now brace yourself like a man. I will question you, and you will answer me.

8 Will you even annul my judgment? Will you condemn me, that you may be justified?

9 Or do you have an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like him?

10 "Now deck yourself with excellency and dignity. Array yourself with honor and majesty.

11 Pour out the fury of your anger. Look at everyone who is proud, and bring him low.

12 Look at everyone who is proud, and humble him. Crush the wicked in their place.

13 Hide them in the dust together. Bind their faces in the hidden place.

14 Then I will also admit to you that your own right hand can save you.

15 "See now, behemoth, which I made as well as you. He eats grass as an ox.

16 Look now, his strength is in his thighs. His force is in the muscles of his belly.

17 He moves his tail like a cedar. The sinews of his thighs are knit together.

18 His bones are like tubes of brass. His limbs are like bars of iron.

19 He is the chief of the ways of God. He who made him gives him his sword.

20 Surely the mountains produce food for him, where all the animals of the field play.

21 He lies under the lotus trees, in the covert of the reed, and the marsh.

22 The lotuses cover him with their shade. The willows of the brook surround him.

23 Behold, if a river overflows, he doesn't tremble. He is confident, though the Jordan swells even to his mouth.