Bible Reading Plan – Day 187

₁During the time that Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah, the LORD gave this message to Micah, who was from the town of Moresheth. The LORD revealed to Micah all these things about Samaria and Jerusalem.

₁How terrible it will be for those who lie awake and plan evil! When morning comes, as soon as they have the chance, they do the evil they planned. ₂When they want fields, they seize them; when they want houses, they take them. No one's family or property is safe.

₃And so the LORD says, “I am planning to bring disaster on you, and you will not be able to escape it. You are going to find yourselves in trouble, and then you will not walk so proudly any more. ₄When that time comes, people will use your story as an example of disaster, and they will sing this song of despair about your experience:

₅So then, when the time comes for the land to be given back to the LORD's people, there will be no share for any of you.

₆The people preach at me and say, “Don't preach at us. Don't preach about all that. God is not going to disgrace us. ₇Do you think the people of Israel are under a curse? Has the LORD lost his patience? Would he really do such things? Doesn't he speak kindly to those who do right?”

₈The LORD replies, “You attack my people like enemies. Men return from battle, thinking they are safe at home, but there you are, waiting to steal the coats off their backs. ₉You drive the women of my people out of the homes they love, and you have robbed their children of my blessings for ever. ₁₀Get up and go; there is no safety here any more. Your sins have doomed this place to destruction.

₁₁“These people want the kind of prophet who goes about full of lies and deceit and says, ‘I prophesy that wine and liquor will flow for you.’

₁₂“But I will gather you together, all you people of Israel that are left. I will bring you together like sheep returning to the fold. Like a pasture full of sheep, your land will once again be filled with many people.”

₁₃God will open the way for them and lead them out of exile. They will break out of the city gates and go free. Their king, the LORD himself, will lead them out.

₁Listen, you rulers of Israel! You are supposed to be concerned about justice, ₂yet you hate what is good and you love what is evil. You skin my people alive and tear the flesh off their bones. ₃You eat my people up. You strip off their skin, break their bones, and chop them up like meat for the pot. ₄The time is coming when you will cry out to the LORD, but he will not answer you. He will not listen to your prayers, for you have done evil.

₅My people are deceived by prophets who promise peace to those who pay them, but threaten war for those who don't. To these prophets the LORD says, ₆“Prophets, your day is almost over; the sun is going down on you. Because you mislead my people, you will have no more prophetic visions, and you will not be able to predict anything.” ₇Those who predict the future will be disgraced by their failure. They will all be humiliated because God does not answer them.

₈But as for me, the LORD fills me with his Spirit and power, and gives me a sense of justice and the courage to tell the people of Israel what their sins are. ₉Listen to me, you rulers of Israel, you that hate justice and turn right into wrong. ₁₀You are building God's city, Jerusalem, on a foundation of murder and injustice. ₁₁The city's rulers govern for bribes, the priests interpret the Law for pay, the prophets give their revelations for money — and they all claim that the LORD is with them. “No harm will come to us,” they say. “The LORD is with us.”

₁₂And so, because of you, Zion will be ploughed like a field, Jerusalem will become a pile of ruins, and the Temple hill will become a forest.

₅Each nation worships and obeys its own god, but we will worship and obey the LORD our God for ever and ever.

₆“The time is coming,” says the LORD, “when I will gather together the people I punished, those who have suffered in exile. ₇They are crippled and far from home, but I will make a new beginning with those who are left, and they will become a great nation. I will rule over them on Mount Zion from that time on and for ever.”

₈And you, Jerusalem, where God, like a shepherd, watches over his people, will once again be the capital of the kingdom that was yours. ₉Why do you cry out so loudly? Why are you suffering like a woman in labour? Is it because you have no king, and your counsellors are dead? ₁₀Twist and groan, people of Jerusalem, like a woman giving birth, for now you will have to leave the city and live in the open country. You will have to go to Babylon, but there the LORD will save you from your enemies. ₁₁Many nations have gathered to attack you. They say, “Jerusalem must be destroyed! We will see this city in ruins!” ₁₂But these nations do not know what is in the LORD's mind. They do not realize that they have been gathered together to be punished in the same way that corn is brought in to be threshed.

₁₃The LORD says, “People of Jerusalem, go and punish your enemies! I will make you as strong as a bull with iron horns and bronze hoofs. You will crush many nations, and the wealth they got by violence you will present to me, the Lord of the whole world.”

₁People of Jerusalem, gather your forces! We are besieged! They are attacking the leader of Israel!