Micah 4
The Lord Shall Reign
1 And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord will be revealed. It will be raised up on the top of the mountains, and it will be exalted far above the hills, and peoples will hasten to it.
2 And many nations will go there and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. They will teach us His ways, and we will walk in His paths.” For out of Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
3 And He will judge between many peoples and rebuke strong nations afar off. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into sickles. Nation shall no more lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.
4 But everyone shall be at rest under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord Almighty has spoken these things.
5 For all the peoples shall walk each one his own way, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.
6 “In that day,” says the Lord, “I shall gather her who has been broken, and I will welcome her who has been exiled, even those whom I have rejected.
7 And I shall make her who has been broken into a remnant, and her that was rejected into a strong nation. So the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion henceforth and forever.
8 And you, O daughter of Zion, dark tower of the flock, on you it will come and enter in, even the former kingdom of Babylon to the daughter of Jerusalem.”
9 And now, why have you experienced such evils? Was there no king in your midst? Or did your counsel perish? For your birth pangs have seized you as one in labor.
10 Suffer birth pains and take courage, O daughter of Zion, and draw near like a woman giving birth; for now you will be exiled from the city, and you will abide in the flat open country, and you will have come as far off as Babylon; and from that place the Lord your God shall redeem you from the hand of your enemies.†
11 Now many nations have gathered against you, saying, “We will rejoice, and our eyes will gaze upon Zion.”
12 But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord nor perceive His counsel, for He gathered them like sheaves for the threshing floor.
13 “Arise and thresh them, O daughter of Zion, for I shall make your horns iron, and I will make your hooves bronze. And you will cause the nations to melt away, and you will winnow many peoples. You will dedicate their abundance to the Lord and their strength to the Lord of all the earth.
14 Now the daughter of Ephraim will be blockaded by a siege wall; for he ordered affliction against us, and they shall smite the tribes of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.”
Micah 5
A Ruler Out of Bethlehem
1 “And you, O Bethlehem, House of Ephrathah, though you are fewest in number among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the One to be ruler of Israel. His goings forth were from the beginning, even from everlasting.”
2 Therefore He shall give them up until the appointed time for her to give birth, and then the remnant of their brothers will return to the sons of Israel.
3 And He shall stand and see, and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord, and they will dwell in the glory of the name of the Lord their God, for now they will be magnified unto the ends of the earth.
4 And she will have peace; for when the Assyrian comes into our land and goes up upon our country, then seven shepherds and eight attacks from men will be raised up against them.
5 They will tend the Assyrian with a sword and the land of Nimrod in her trench. And He shall deliver you from the Assyrian should he come into your land, and should he come up over your borders.
6 And the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, as dew falling from the Lord and as lambs in a field of grass, in order that none among the sons of men may assemble together nor resist.†
7 And the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, as a lion among the cattle in the forest, and as a young lion among a flock of sheep, which, whenever it passes through, seizes and carries off its prey, and there is none to rescue.
8 But your hand will be exalted above those oppressing you, and all your enemies will be completely cut off.
9 “And it shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord, “I shall utterly destroy your horses from your midst and destroy your chariots.
10 I shall utterly destroy the cities of your land and demolish all your strongholds.
11 And I shall drive away your sorceries out of your hands, and there shall be no soothsayers among you.
12 I shall utterly destroy your carved images and the sacred pillars from your midst, and you will no longer worship the work of your hands;
13 and I shall cut off your sacred groves from your midst and destroy your cities.
14 And I shall exact vengeance on the nations with wrath and anger among those who did not heed.”
Psalms 50
1 For the End; a psalm by David; †
2 when Nathan the prophet came to him, at the time he went in to Bathsheba.
3 Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your great mercy; And according to the abundance of Your compassion, blot out my transgression.
4 Wash me thoroughly from my lawlessness And cleanse me from my sin.
5 For I know my lawlessness, And my sin is always before me.
6 Against You only have I sinned And done evil in Your sight; That You may be justified in Your words, And overcome when You are judged.
7 For behold, I was conceived in transgressions, And in sins my mother bore me.
8 Behold, You love truth; You showed me the unknown and secret things of Your wisdom.
9 You shall sprinkle me with hyssop, and I will be cleansed; You shall wash me, and I will be made whiter than snow.
10 You shall make me hear joy and gladness; My bones that were humbled shall greatly rejoice.
Proverbs of Solomon 10
23 The blessing of the Lord is upon the head of a righteous man; It enriches him, and grief of heart will not be added to it.
24 A man without discernment does evil things with laughter, But wisdom gives birth to discernment in a man.†
25 The ungodly man is carried about in destruction, But the desire of the righteous man is acceptable.
26 The ungodly man is destroyed by the passing storm, But the righteous man turns aside and shall be saved forever.
27 As an unripe grape is harmful to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, So is a lawless woman to the men who use her.
1 Corinthians 8
Love Reigns Over Knowledge
1 Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.
2 And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.
3 But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.
4 Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one.†
5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords),
6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live. †
7 However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.
8 But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse.
9 But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak.
10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols?
11 And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?
12 But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.
13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.