Micah 3 - 4 - Legacy Standard Bible

Micah 3 - 4

Yahweh Will Not Answer

And I said,

“Hear now, heads of Jacob

And rulers of the house of Israel.

Is it not for you to know justice?

You who hate good and love evil,

Who tear off their skin from them

And their flesh from their bones,

And who eat the flesh of my people,

Strip off their skin from them,

Break their bones,

And spread them out as for the pot

And as meat in a caldron.”

Then they will cry out to Yahweh,

But He will not answer them.

Instead, He will hide His face from them at that time

Because they have practiced evil deeds.

5 Thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who lead my people astray;

When they have something to bite with their teeth,

They call out, “Peace,”

But against him who puts nothing in their mouths,

They set themselves apart for war.

Therefore it will be night for you—without vision,

And darkness for you—without divination.

The sun will go down on the prophets,

And the day will grow black over them.

The seers will be ashamed,

And the diviners will be humiliated.

Indeed, they will all cover their mouths

Because there is no answer from God.

On the other hand I am filled with power—

With the Spirit of Yahweh—

And with justice and might

To declare to Jacob his transgression,

Even to Israel his sin.

Now hear this, heads of the house of Jacob

And rulers of the house of Israel,

Who abhor justice

And twist everything that is straight,

Who build Zion with bloodshed

And Jerusalem with violent injustice.

Her heads pronounce judgment for a bribe,

And her priests instruct for a price,

And her prophets divine for money.

Yet they lean on Yahweh saying,

“Is not Yahweh in our midst?

Evil will not come upon us.”

Therefore, on account of you

Zion will be plowed as a field;

Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,

And the mountain of the house of God will become high places of a forest.

The Law Will Go Forth from Zion

Now it will be that in the last days

The mountain of the house of Yahweh

Will be established as the head of the mountains,

And will be lifted up above the hills,

And the peoples will stream to it.

And many nations will come and say,

“Come and let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh

And to the house of the God of Jacob,

That He may instruct us from His ways

And that we may walk in His paths.”

For from Zion will go forth the law,

And the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.

And He will judge between many peoples

And will render decisions for mighty, distant nations.

And they will hammer their swords into plowshares

And their spears into pruning hooks;

Nation will not lift up sword against nation,

And never again will they learn war.

And each of them will sit under his vine

And under his fig tree,

With no one to make them tremble,

For the mouth of Yahweh of hosts has spoken.

Though all the peoples walk

Each in the name of his god,

As for us, we will walk

In the name of Yahweh our God forever and ever.

“In that day,” declares Yahweh,

“I will assemble the lame

And gather the banished,

Even those upon whom I have brought calamity.

I will make the lame a remnant

And the outcasts a mighty nation,

And Yahweh will reign over them in Mount Zion

From now on and forever.

And as for you, tower of the flock,

Hill of the daughter of Zion,

To you it will come—

Even the former dominion will come,

The kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.

“Now, why do you make a loud shout?

Is there no king among you,

Or has your counselor perished,

That writhing has taken hold of you like a woman in childbirth?

Writhe and labor to give birth,

Daughter of Zion,

Like a woman in childbirth;

For now you will go out of the city,

Dwell in the field,

And go to Babylon.

There you will be delivered;

There Yahweh will redeem you

From the hand of your enemies.

But now many nations have been assembled against you

Who say, ‘Let her be polluted,

And let our eyes behold Zion in triumph.’

But they do not know the thoughts of Yahweh,

And they do not understand His counsel;

For He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.

Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion,

For your horn I will make iron,

And your hoofs I will make bronze,

That you may pulverize many peoples,

That you may devote to Yahweh their greedy gain unto destruction

And their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.

Acts 8:1 - 9:35

Saul Persecutes the Church

Now Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 And some devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him. 3 But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he was delivering them into prison.

Philip Preaches in Samaria

4 Therefore, those who had been scattered went about, proclaiming the good news of the word. 5 Now Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began preaching Christ to them. 6 And the crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was being said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was doing. 7 For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice; and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city. 9 Now there was a man named Simon, who formerly was practicing magic in the city and astounding the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great; 10 and they all, from smallest to greatest, were giving attention to him, saying, “This man is what is called the Great Power of God.” 11 And they were giving him attention because he had for a long time astounded them with his magic arts. 12 But when they believed Philip proclaiming the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, both men and women. 13 Even Simon himself believed; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly astounded. 14 Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. 16 For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit. 18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit had been bestowed through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you supposed you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. 22 Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray earnestly to the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of unrighteousness.” 24 But Simon answered and said, “Pray earnestly to the Lord for me yourselves, so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”

An Ethiopian Receives Christ

25 So, when they had solemnly borne witness and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem, and were proclaiming the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. 26 But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, “Rise up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a desert road.) 27 So he rose up and went; and behold, there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 And Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this:

“As a sheep is led to slaughter;

And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,

So He does not open His mouth.

In humiliation His judgment was taken away;

Who will recount His generation?

For His life is removed from the earth.”

34 And the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you earnestly, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he proclaimed the good news about Jesus to him. 36 And as they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch *said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 37 [And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”] 38 And he ordered the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept proclaiming the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea.

The Conversion of Saul

Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, 2 and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 And as he was traveling, it happened that when he was approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; 4 and falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” 5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, 6 but rise up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.” 7 And the men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. 8 And Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. Leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus. 9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank. 10 Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 And the Lord said to him, “Rise up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, 12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.” 13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; 16 for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name.” 17 So Ananias departed and entered the house. And he laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord sent me—that is Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming—so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he rose up and was baptized; 19 and he took food and was strengthened.

Saul Begins to Preach Christ

Now for several days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus, 20 and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” 21 And all those hearing him continued to be astounded, and were saying, “Is this not the one who in Jerusalem destroyed those that called on this name, and who had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?” 22 But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this One is the Christ. 23 And when many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to put him to death, 24 but their plot became known to Saul. They were also watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death; 25 but his disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall, lowering him in a large basket. 26 And when he came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and recounted to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had talked to him, and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus. 28 So he was with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 And he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews, but they were attempting to put him to death. 30 But when the brothers learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus. 31 So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria was having peace, being built up. And going on in the fear of the Lord and in the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it continued to multiply.

Peter Heals Aeneas

32 Now it happened that as Peter was traveling through all those regions, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. 33 And there he found a man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden eight years, for he was paralyzed. 34 And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Rise up and make your bed.” Immediately he rose up. 35 And all who lived at Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

Psalm 84

Blessed Is the Man Who Trusts in You

For the choir director. According to the Gittith. Of the sons of Korah. A Psalm.

How lovely are Your dwelling places,

O Yahweh of hosts!

My soul has longed and even fainted for the courts of Yahweh;

My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.

Even the bird has found a home,

And the swallow a nest for herself, where she sets her young,

At Your altars, O Yahweh of hosts,

My King and my God.

How blessed are those who dwell in Your house!

They are ever praising You. Selah.

How blessed is the man whose strength is in You,

In whose heart are the highways to Zion!

Passing through the valley of Baca they make it a spring;

The early rain also wraps it up with blessings.

They go from strength to strength,

Each one of them appears before God in Zion.

O Yahweh God of hosts, hear my prayer;

Give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah.

See our shield, O God,

And look upon the face of Your anointed.

For better is a day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere.

I would choose to stand at the threshold of the house of my God

Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

For Yahweh God is a sun and shield;

Yahweh gives grace and glory;

No good thing does He withhold from those who walk blamelessly.

O Yahweh of hosts,

How blessed is the man who trusts in You!