Micah 5 - Nahum 3

New King James Version

³ Therefore He shall give them up,
Until the time that ^(H)she who is in labor has given birth;
Then ^(I)the remnant of His brethren
Shall return to the children of Israel.
⁴ And He shall stand and ^(J)feed^[b] His flock
In the strength of the Lord,
In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God;
And they shall abide,
For now He ^(K)shall be great
To the ends of the earth;
⁵ And this One ^(L)shall be peace.

⁷ Then ^(O)the remnant of Jacob
Shall be in the midst of many peoples,
^(P)Like dew from the Lord,
Like showers on the grass,
That ^[d]tarry for no man
Nor ^[e]wait for the sons of men.
⁸ And the remnant of Jacob
Shall be among the Gentiles,
In the midst of many peoples,
Like a ^(Q)lion among the beasts of the forest,
Like a young lion among flocks of sheep,
Who, if he passes through,
Both treads down and tears in pieces,
And none can deliver.
⁹ Your hand shall be lifted against your adversaries,
And all your enemies shall be ^[f]cut off.

¹⁰ “And it shall be in that day,” says the Lord,
“That I will ^(R)cut^[g] off your ^(S)horses from your midst
And destroy your ^(T)chariots.
¹¹ I will cut off the cities of your land
And throw down all your strongholds.
¹² I will cut off sorceries from your hand,
And you shall have no ^(U)soothsayers.
^13 (V)Your carved images I will also cut off,
And your sacred pillars from your midst;
You shall ^(W)no more worship the work of your hands;
¹⁴ I will pluck your ^[h]wooden images from your midst;
Thus I will destroy your cities.
¹⁵ And I will ^(X)execute vengeance in anger and fury
On the nations that have not ^[i]heard.”

“Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
And let the hills hear your voice.
^2 (Y)Hear, O you mountains, ^(Z)the Lord’s complaint,
And you strong foundations of the earth;
For ^(AA)the Lord has a complaint against His people,
And He will ^[j]contend with Israel.

³ “O My people, what ^(AB)have I done to you?
And how have I ^(AC)wearied you?
Testify against Me.
^4 (AD)For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
I redeemed you from the house of bondage;
And I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
⁵ O My people, remember now
What ^(AE)Balak king of Moab counseled,
And what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
From ^[k]Acacia Grove to Gilgal,
That you may know ^(AF)the righteousness of the Lord.”

⁶ With what shall I come before the Lord,
And bow myself before the High God?
Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings,
With calves a year old?
^7 (AG)Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
Ten thousand ^(AH)rivers of oil?
^(AI)Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
^[l]The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

⁸ He has ^(AJ)shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But ^(AK)to do justly,
To love ^[m]mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?

“Hear the rod!
Who has appointed it?
¹⁰ Are there yet the treasures of wickedness
In the house of the wicked,
And the short measure that is an abomination?
¹¹ Shall I count pure those with ^(AL)the wicked scales,
And with the bag of deceitful weights?
¹² For her rich men are full of ^(AM)violence,
Her inhabitants have spoken lies,
And ^(AN)their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

¹³ “Therefore I will also ^(AO)make you sick by striking you,
By making you desolate because of your sins.
^14 (AP)You shall eat, but not be satisfied;
^[n]Hunger shall be in your midst.
You may carry some away,^[o] but shall not save them;
And what you do rescue I will give over to the sword.

¹⁵ “You shall ^(AQ)sow, but not reap;
You shall tread the olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;
And make sweet wine, but not drink wine.
¹⁶ For the statutes of ^(AR)Omri are ^(AS)kept;
All the works of Ahab’s house are done;
And you walk in their counsels,
That I may make you a ^[p]desolation,
And your inhabitants a hissing.
Therefore you shall bear the ^(AT)reproach of ^[q]My people.”

³ That they may successfully do evil with both hands—
The prince asks for gifts,
The judge seeks a ^(AY)bribe,
And the great man utters his evil desire;
So they scheme together.
⁴ The best of them is ^(AZ)like a brier;
The most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge;
The day of your watchman and your punishment comes;
Now shall be their perplexity.

^5 (BA)Do not trust in a friend;
Do not put your confidence in a companion;
Guard the doors of your mouth
From her who lies in your ^(BB)bosom.
⁶ For ^(BC)son dishonors father,
Daughter rises against her mother,
Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
A man’s enemies are the men of his own household.
⁷ Therefore I will look to the Lord;
I will ^(BD)wait for the God of my salvation;
My God will hear me.

¹¹ In the day when your ^(BK)walls are to be built,
In that day ^[s]the decree shall go far and wide.
¹² In that day ^(BL)they^[t] shall come to you
From Assyria and the ^[u]fortified cities,
From the ^[v]fortress to ^[w]the River,
From sea to sea,
And mountain to mountain.
¹³ Yet the land shall be desolate
Because of those who dwell in it,
And ^(BM)for the fruit of their deeds.

¹⁵ “As^(BO) in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
I will show ^[y]them ^(BP)wonders.”

¹⁶ The nations ^(BQ)shall see and be ashamed of all their might;
^(BR)They shall put their hand over their mouth;
Their ears shall be deaf.
¹⁷ They shall lick the ^(BS)dust like a serpent;
^(BT)They shall crawl from their holes like ^[z]snakes of the earth.
^(BU)They shall be afraid of the Lord our God,
And shall fear because of You.
^18 (BV)Who is a God like You,
^(BW)Pardoning iniquity
And passing over the transgression of ^(BX)the remnant of His heritage?

^(BY)He does not retain His anger forever,
Because He delights in ^(BZ)mercy.^[aa]
19 He will again have compassion on us,
And will subdue our iniquities.

You will cast all ^[ab]our sins
Into the depths of the sea.
^20 (CA)You will give truth to Jacob
And ^[ac]mercy to Abraham,
^(CB)Which You have sworn to our fathers
From days of old.

^(CG)The Lord has His way
In the whirlwind and in the storm,
And the clouds are the dust of His feet.
^4 (CH)He rebukes the sea and makes it dry,
And dries up all the rivers.
^(CI)Bashan and Carmel wither,
And the flower of Lebanon wilts.
⁵ The mountains quake before Him,
The hills melt,
And the earth ^[ae]heaves at His presence,
Yes, the world and all who dwell in it.

⁶ Who can stand before His indignation?
And ^(CJ)who can endure the fierceness of His anger?
His fury is poured out like fire,
And the rocks are thrown down by Him.

^7 (CK)The Lord is good,
A stronghold in the day of trouble;
And ^(CL)He knows those who trust in Him.
⁸ But with an overflowing flood
He will make an utter end of its place,
And darkness will pursue His enemies.

^9 (CM)What do you ^[af]conspire against the Lord?
^(CN)He will make an utter end of it.
Affliction will not rise up a second time.
¹⁰ For while tangled ^(CO)like thorns,
^(CP)And while drunken like drunkards,
^(CQ)They shall be devoured like stubble fully dried.
¹¹ From you comes forth one
Who plots evil against the Lord,
A ^[ag]wicked counselor.

“Though they are ^[ah]safe, and likewise many,
Yet in this manner they will be ^(CR)cut down
When he passes through.
Though I have afflicted you,
I will afflict you no more;
¹³ For now I will break off his yoke from you,
And burst your bonds apart.”

¹⁴ The Lord has given a command concerning you:
^[ai]“Your name shall be perpetuated no longer.
Out of the house of your gods
I will cut off the carved image and the molded image.
I will dig your ^(CS)grave,
For you are ^(CT)vile.”^[aj]

¹⁵ Behold, on the mountains
The ^(CU)feet of him who brings good tidings,
Who proclaims peace!
O Judah, keep your appointed feasts,
Perform your vows.
For the ^[ak]wicked one shall no more pass through you;
He is ^(CV)utterly cut off.

² For the Lord will restore the excellence of Jacob
Like the excellence of Israel,
For the emptiers have emptied them out
And ruined their vine branches.

³ The shields of his mighty men are made red,
The valiant men are in scarlet.
The chariots come with flaming torches
In the day of his preparation,
And ^[am]the spears are brandished.
⁴ The chariots rage in the streets,
They jostle one another in the broad roads;
They seem like torches,
They run like lightning.

⁵ He remembers his nobles;
They stumble in their walk;
They make haste to her walls,
And the defense is prepared.
⁶ The gates of the rivers are opened,
And the palace is dissolved.
^7 [an]It is decreed:
She shall be led away captive,
She shall be brought up;
And her maidservants shall lead her as with the voice of doves,
Beating their breasts.

⁸ Though Nineveh of old was like a pool of water,
Now they flee away.
^[ao]“Halt! Halt!” they cry;
But no one turns back.
^9 [ap]Take spoil of silver!
Take spoil of ^(CW)gold!
There is no end of treasure,
Or wealth of every desirable prize.
¹⁰ She is empty, desolate, and waste!
The heart melts, and the knees shake;
Much pain is in every side,
And all their faces ^[aq]are drained of color.

¹¹ Where is the dwelling of the ^(CX)lions,
And the feeding place of the young lions,
Where the lion walked, the lioness and lion’s cub,
And no one made them afraid?
¹² The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs,
^[ar]Killed for his lionesses,
^(CY)Filled his caves with prey,
And his dens with ^[as]flesh.

⁵ “Behold, I am ^(DD)against you,” says the Lord of hosts;
^(DE)“I will lift your skirts over your face,
I will show the nations your nakedness,
And the kingdoms your shame.
⁶ I will cast abominable filth upon you,
Make you ^(DF)vile,^[ay]
And make you ^(DG)a spectacle.
⁷ It shall come to pass that all who look upon you
^(DH)Will flee from you, and say,
^(DI)‘Nineveh is laid waste!
^(DJ)Who will bemoan her?’
Where shall I seek comforters for you?”

^8 (DK)Are you better than ^(DL)No^[az] Amon
That was situated by the ^[ba]River,
That had the waters around her,
Whose rampart was the sea,
Whose wall was the sea?
⁹ Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength,
And it was boundless;
^(DM)Put and Lubim were ^[bb]your helpers.
¹⁰ Yet she was carried away,
She went into captivity;
^(DN)Her young children also were dashed to pieces
^(DO)At the head of every street;
They ^(DP)cast lots for her honorable men,
And all her great men were bound in chains.
¹¹ You also will be ^(DQ)drunk;
You will be hidden;
You also will seek refuge from the enemy.

¹² All your strongholds are ^(DR)fig trees with ripened figs:
If they are shaken,
They fall into the mouth of the eater.
¹³ Surely, ^(DS)your people in your midst are women!
The gates of your land are wide open for your enemies;
Fire shall devour the ^(DT)bars of your gates.

¹⁴ Draw your water for the siege!
^(DU)Fortify your strongholds!
Go into the clay and tread the mortar!
Make strong the brick kiln!
¹⁵ There the fire will devour you,
The sword will cut you off;
It will eat you up like a ^(DV)locust.

Make yourself many—like the locust!
Make yourself many—like the swarming locusts!
¹⁶ You have multiplied your ^(DW)merchants more than the stars of heaven.
The locust plunders and flies away.
^17 (DX)Your commanders are like swarming locusts,
And your generals like great grasshoppers,
Which camp in the hedges on a cold day;
When the sun rises they flee away,
And the place where they are is not known.

^18 (DY)Your shepherds slumber, O ^(DZ)king of Assyria;
Your nobles rest in the dust.
Your people are ^(EA)scattered on the mountains,
And no one gathers them.
¹⁹ Your injury has no healing,
^(EB)Your wound is severe.
^(EC)All who hear news of you
Will clap their hands over you,
For upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually?