Month: December 2019

Categories
Micah

Micah 5

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

God Promises a Ruler from Bethlehem

2 TheLordsays, “Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are one of the smallest towns in Judah, but out of you I will bring a ruler for Israel, whose family line goes back to ancient times.”

3 So theLordwill abandon his people to their enemies until the woman who is to give birth has her son. Then those Israelites who are in exile will be reunited with their own people.

4 When he comes, he will rule his people with the strength that comes from theLordand with the majesty of theLordGod himself. His people will live in safety because people all over the earth will acknowledge his greatness,

5 and he will bring peace.

Deliverance and Punishment

When the Assyrians invade our country and break through our defenses, we will send our strongest leaders to fight them.

6 By force of arms they will conquer Assyria, the land of Nimrod, and theywill save us from the Assyrians when they invade our territory.

7 The people of Israel who survive will be like refreshing dew sent by theLordfor many nations, like showers on growing plants. They will depend on God, not people.

8 Those who are left among the nations will be like a lion hunting for food in a forest or a pasture: it gets in among the sheep, pounces on them, and tears them to pieces—and there is no hope of rescue.

9 Israel will conquer her enemies and destroy them all.

10 TheLordsays, “At that time I will take away your horses and destroy your chariots.

11 I will destroy the cities in your land and tear down all your defenses.

12 I will destroy the magic charms you use and leave you without any fortunetellers.

13 I will destroy your idols and sacred stone pillars; no longer will you worship the things that you yourselves have made.

14 I will pull down the images of the goddess Asherah in your land and destroy your cities.

15 And in my great anger I will take revenge on all nations that have not obeyed me.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/MIC/5-ec809267017e9f0761d1ada2fc7218fe.mp3?version_id=68—

Categories
Micah

Micah 6

The Lord’s Case against Israel

1 Listen to theLord’s case against Israel.

Arise, OLord, and present your case; let the mountains and the hills hear what you say.

2 You mountains, you everlasting foundations of the earth, listen to theLord’s case! TheLordhas a case against his people. He is going to bring an accusation against Israel.

3 TheLordsays, “My people, what have I done to you? How have I been a burden to you? Answer me.

4 I brought you out of Egypt; I rescued you from slavery; I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to lead you.

5 My people, remember what King Balak of Moab planned to do to you and how Balaam son of Beor answered him. Remember the things that happened on the way from the camp at Acacia to Gilgal. Remember these things and you will realize what I did in order to save you.”

What the Lord Requires

6 What shall I bring to theLord, the God of heaven, when I come to worship him? Shall I bring the best calves to burn as offerings to him?

7 Will theLordbe pleased if I bring him thousands of sheep or endless streams of olive oil? Shall I offer him my first-born child to pay for my sins?

8 No, theLordhas told us what is good. What he requires of us is this: to do what is just, to show constant love, and to live in humble fellowship with our God.

9 It is wise to fear theLord. He calls to the city, “Listen, you people who assemble in the city!

10 In the houses of evil people are treasures which they got dishonestly. They use false measures, a thing that I hate.

11 How can I forgive those who use false scales and weights?

12 Your rich people exploit the poor, and all of you are liars.

13 So I have already begunyour ruin and destruction because of your sins.

14 You will eat, but not be satisfied—in fact you will still be hungry. You will carry things off, but you will not be able to save them; anything you do save I will destroy in war.

15 You will sow grain, but not harvest the crop. You will press oil from olives, but never get to use it. You will make wine, but never drink it.

16 This will happen because you have followed the evil practices of King Omri and of his son, King Ahab. You have continued their policies, and so I will bring you to ruin, and everyone will despise you. Peopleeverywhere will treat you with contempt.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/MIC/6-bf3e9118308956b14001a74abd7bc9b9.mp3?version_id=68—

Categories
Micah

Micah 7

Read Hand Book Bible Holy Open Religion

Israel’s Moral Corruption

1 It’s hopeless! I am like a hungry person who finds no fruit left on the trees and no grapes on the vines. All the grapes and all the tasty figs have been picked.

2 There is not an honest person left in the land, no one loyal to God. Everyone is waiting for a chance to commit murder. Everyone hunts down their own people.

3 They are all experts at doing evil. Officials and judges ask for bribes. The influential people tell them what they want, and so they scheme together.

4 Even the best and most honest of them are as worthless as weeds.

The day has come when God will punish the people, as he warned them through their watchmen, the prophets. Now they are in confusion.

5 Don’t believe your neighbor or trust your friend. Be careful what you say even to your husband or wife.

6 In these times sons treat their fathers like fools, daughters oppose their mothers, and young women quarrel with their mothers-in-law; your enemies are the members of your own family.

7 But I will watch for theLord; I will wait confidently for God, who will save me. My God will hear me.

The Lord Brings Salvation

8 Our enemies have no reason to gloat over us. We have fallen, but we will rise again. We are in darkness now, but theLordwill give us light.

9 We have sinned against theLord, so now we must endure his anger for a while. But in the end he will defend us and right the wrongs that have been done to us. He will bring us out to the light; we will live to see him save us.

10 Then our enemies will see this and be disgraced—the same enemies who taunted us by asking, “Where is theLordyour God?” We will see them defeated, trampleddown like mud in the streets.

11 People of Jerusalem, the time to rebuild the city walls is coming. At that time your territory will be enlarged.

12 Your people will return to you from everywhere—from Assyria in the east, from Egypt in the south, from the region of the Euphrates River, from distant seas and far-off mountains.

13 But the earth will become a desert because of the wickedness of those who live on it.

The Lord’s Compassion on Israel

14 Be a shepherd to your people,Lord, the people you have chosen. Although they live apart in the wilderness, there is fertile land around them. Let them go and feed in the rich pastures of Bashan and Gilead, as they did long ago.

15 Work miracles for us,Lord, as you did in the days when you brought us out of Egypt.

16 The nations will see this and be frustrated in spite of all their strength. In dismay they will close their mouths and cover their ears.

17 They will crawl in the dust like snakes; they will come from their fortresses, trembling and afraid. They will turn in fear to theLordour God.

18 There is no other god like you, OLord; you forgive the sins of your people who have survived. You do not stay angry forever, but you take pleasure in showing us your constant love.

19 You will be merciful to us once again. You will trample our sins underfoot and send them to the bottom of the sea!

20 You will show your faithfulness and constant love to your people, the descendants of Abraham and of Jacob, as you promised our ancestors long ago.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/MIC/7-67ebc6e132e2abc45721ce55e06d6817.mp3?version_id=68—

Categories
Nahum

Nahum Introduction

Introduction

The Book of Nahum

is a poem celebrating the fall of Nineveh, the capital city of Israel’s ancient and oppressive enemy, the Assyrians. The fall of Nineveh, near the end of the seventh century

b.c.

, is seen as the judgment of God upon a cruel and arrogant nation.

Outline of Contents

Judgment on Nineveh (1.1-15)

The fall of Nineveh (2.1—3.19)

Categories
Nahum

Nahum 1

Christ Pain Jesus The Passion Of The Lord Cross

1 This is a message about Nineveh, the account of a vision seen by Nahum, who was from Elkosh.

The Lord’s Anger against Nineveh

2 TheLordGod tolerates no rivals;

he punishes those who oppose him.

In his anger he pays them back.

3 TheLorddoes not easily become angry,

but he is powerful

and never lets the guilty go unpunished.

Where theLordwalks, storms arise;

the clouds are the dust raised by his feet!

4 He commands the sea, and it dries up!

He makes the rivers go dry.

The fields of Bashan wither,

Mount Carmel turns brown,

and the flowers of Lebanon fade.

5 Mountains quake in the presence of theLord;

hills melt before him.

The earth shakes when theLordappears;

the world and all its people tremble.

6 When he is angry, who can survive?

Who can survive his terrible fury?

He pours out his flaming anger;

rocks crumble to dust before him.

7 TheLordis good;

he protects his people in times of trouble;

he takes care of those who turn to him.

8 Like a great rushing flood he completely destroys his enemies;

he sends to their death those who oppose him.

9 What are you plotting against theLord?

He will destroy you.

No one opposes him more than once.

10 Like tangled thorns and dry straw

you drunkards will be burned up!

11 From you, Nineveh, there came someone full of wicked schemes, who plotted against theLord.

12 This is what theLordsays to his people Israel: “Even though the Assyrians are strong and numerous, they will be destroyed and disappear. My people, I made you suffer, but I will not do it again.

13 I will now end Assyria’s power over you and break the chains that bind you.”

14 This is what theLordhas decreed about the Assyrians: “They will have no descendants to carry on their name. I will destroy the idols that are in the temples of their gods. I am preparing a grave for the Assyrians—they don’t deserve to live!”

15 Look, a messenger is coming over the mountains with good news! He is on his way to announce the victory! People of Judah, celebrate your festivals and give God what you solemnly promised him. The wicked will never invade your land again. They have been totally destroyed!

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/NAM/1-2a4db30da173450f420c8bbe3e58d081.mp3?version_id=68—

Categories
Nahum

Nahum 2

The Fall of Nineveh

1 Nineveh, you are under attack!

The power that will shatter you has come.

Prepare the defenses!

Guard the road!

Prepare for battle!

(

2 TheLordis about to restore the glory of Israel, as it was before her enemies plundered her.)

3 The enemy soldiers carry red shields

and wear uniforms of red.

They are preparing to attack!

Their chariots flash like fire!

Their horsesprance!

4 Chariots dash wildly through the streets,

rushing back and forth in the city squares.

They flash like torches

and dart about like lightning.

5 The officers are summoned;

they stumble as they press forward.

The attackers rush to the wall

and set up the shield for the battering ram.

6 The gates by the river burst open;

the palace is filled with terror.

7 The queen is taken captive;

her servants moan like doves

and beat their breasts in sorrow.

8 Like water from a broken dam

the people rush from Nineveh!

“Stop! Stop!” the cry rings out—

but no one turns back.

9 Plunder the silver!

Plunder the gold!

The city is full of treasure!

10 Nineveh is destroyed, deserted, desolate!

Hearts melt with fear;

knees tremble, strength is gone;

faces grow pale.

11 Where now is the city

that was like a den of lions,

the place where young lions were fed,

where the lion and the lioness would go

and their cubs would be safe?

12 The lion killed his prey

and tore it to pieces for his mate and her cubs;

he filled his den with torn flesh.

13 “I am your enemy!” says theLordAlmighty. “I will burn up your chariots. Your soldiers will be killed in war, and I will take away everything that you took from others. The demands of your envoys will no longer be heard.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/NAM/2-363efd0ce27861601cbb8e1de770a75e.mp3?version_id=68—

Categories
Nahum

Nahum 3

1 Doomed is the lying, murderous city,

full of wealth to be looted and plundered!

2 Listen! The crack of the whip,

the rattle of wheels,

the gallop of horses,

the jolting of chariots!

3 Cavalry troops charge,

swords flash, spears gleam!

Corpses are piled high,

dead bodies without number—

men stumble over them!

4 Nineveh the whore is being punished.

Attractive and full of deadly charms,

she enchanted nations and enslavedthem.

5 TheLordAlmighty says,

“I will punish you, Nineveh!

I will strip you naked

and let the nations see you,

see you in all your shame.

6 I will treat you with contempt

and cover you with filth.

People will stare at you in horror.

7 All who see you will shrink back.

They will say, ‘Nineveh lies in ruins!

Who has any sympathy for her?

Who will want to comfort her?’”

8 Nineveh, are you any better than Thebes, the capital of Egypt? She too had a river to protect her like a wall—the Nile was her defense.

9 She ruled Ethiopiaand Egypt, there was no limit to her power; Libya was her ally.

10 Yet the people of Thebes were carried off into exile. At every street corner their children were beaten to death. Their leading men were carried off in chains and divided among their captors.

11 Nineveh, you too will fall into a drunken stupor! You too will try to escape from your enemies.

12 All your fortresses will be like fig trees with ripe figs: shake the trees, and the fruit falls right into your mouth!

13 Your soldiers are helpless, and your country stands defenseless before your enemies. Fire will destroy the bars across your gates.

14 Draw water to prepare for a siege, and strengthen your fortresses! Trample the clay to make bricks, and get the brick molds ready!

15 No matter what you do, you will still be burned to death or killed in battle. You will be wiped out like crops eaten up by locusts.

You multiplied like locusts!

16 You produced more merchants than there are stars in the sky! But now they are gone, like locusts that spread their wings and fly away.

17 Your officials are like a swarm of locusts that stay in the walls on a cold day. But when the sun comes out, they fly away, and no one knows where they have gone!

18 Emperor of Assyria, your governors are dead, and your noblemen are asleep forever! Your people are scattered on the mountains, and there is no one to bring them home again.

19 There is no remedy for your injuries, and your wounds cannot be healed. All those who hear the news of your destruction clap their hands for joy. Did anyone escape your endless cruelty?

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/NAM/3-6d398bd73a4f27d3421cfeee56603027.mp3?version_id=68—

Categories
Habakkuk

Habakkuk Introduction

Bible Book Old Book Holy Bible Old Literature

Introduction

The words of the prophet Habakkuk come from near the end of the seventh century

b.c.

, at a time when the Babylonians were in power. He was deeply disturbed by the violence of these cruel people, and asked the Lord, “So why are you silent while they destroy people who are more righteous than they are?” (1.13). The Lord’s answer was that he would take action in his own good time, and meanwhile “those who are righteous will live because they are faithful to God” (2.4).

The rest of the book is a prophecy of doom on the unrighteous, with a concluding psalm celebrating the greatness of God and expressing the undying faith of the poet.

Outline of Contents

Habakkuk’s complaints and the Lord’s replies (1.1—2.4)

Doom on the unrighteous (2.5-20)

Habakkuk’s prayer (3.1-19)

Categories
Habakkuk

Habakkuk 1

6th Station of the Cross

1 This is the message that theLordrevealed to the prophet Habakkuk.

Habakkuk Complains of Injustice

2 OLord, how long must I call for help before you listen, before you save us from violence?

3 Why do you make me see such trouble? How can you stand to look on such wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are all around me, and there is fighting and quarreling everywhere.

4 The law is weak and useless, and justice is never done. Evil people get the better of the righteous, and so justice is perverted.

The Lord’s Reply

5 Then theLordsaid to his people, “Keep watching the nations around you, and you will be astonished at what you see. I am going to do something that you will not believe when you hear about it.

6 I am bringing the Babylonians to power, those fierce, restless people. They are marching out across the world to conquer other lands.

7 They spread fear and terror, and in their pride they are a law to themselves.

8 “Their horses are faster than leopards, fiercer than hungry wolves. Their cavalry troops come riding from distant lands; their horses paw the ground. They come swooping down like eagles attacking their prey.

9 “Their armies advance in violent conquest, and everyone is terrified as they approach.Their captives are as numerous as grains of sand.

10 They treat kings with contempt and laugh at high officials. No fortress can stop them—they pile up earth against it and capture it.

11 Then they sweep on like the wind and are gone, these men whose power is their god.”

Habakkuk Complains to the Lord Again

12 Lord, from the very beginning you are God. You are my God, holy and eternal.Lord, my God and protector, you have chosen the Babylonians and made them strong so that they can punish us.

13 But how can you stand these treacherous, evil men? Your eyes are too holy to look at evil, and you cannot stand the sight of people doing wrong. So why are you silent while they destroy people who are more righteous than they are?

14 How can you treat people like fish or like a swarm of insects that have no ruler to direct them?

15 The Babylonians catch people with hooks, as though they were fish. They drag them off in nets and shout for joy over their catch!

16 They even worship their nets and offer sacrifices to them, because their nets provide them with the best of everything.

17 Are they going to use their swords forever and keep on destroying nations without mercy?

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/HAB/1-207226493568145c6b5f2bcc8559b548.mp3?version_id=68—

Categories
Habakkuk

Habakkuk 2

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The Lord’s Answer to Habakkuk

1 I will climb my watchtower and wait to see what theLordwill tell me to say and what answer hewill give to my complaint.

2 TheLordgave me this answer: “Write down clearly on tablets what I reveal to you, so that it can be read at a glance.

3 Put it in writing, because it is not yet time for it to come true. But the time is coming quickly, and what I show you will come true. It may seem slow in coming, but wait for it; it will certainly take place, and it will not be delayed.

4 And this is the message: ‘Those who are evil will not survive,but those who are righteous will live because they are faithful to God.’”

Doom on the Unrighteous

5 Wealth is deceitful. Greedy people are proud and restless—like death itself they are never satisfied. That is why they conquer nation after nation for themselves.

6 The conquered people will taunt their conquerors and show their scorn for them. They will say, “You take what isn’t yours, but you are doomed! How long will you go on getting rich by forcing your debtors to pay up?”

7 But before you know it, you that have conquered others will be in debt yourselves and be forced to pay interest. Enemies will come and make you tremble. They will plunder you!

8 You have plundered the people of many nations, but now those who have survived will plunder you because of the murders you have committed and because of your violence against the people of the world and its cities.

9 You are doomed! You have made your family rich with what you took by violence, and have tried to make your own home safe from harm and danger!

10 But your schemes have brought shame on your family; by destroying many nations you have only brought ruin on yourself.

11 Even the stones of the walls cry out against you, and the rafters echo the cry.

12 You are doomed! You founded a city on crime and built it up by murder.

13 The nations you conquered wore themselves out in useless labor, and all they have built goes up in flames. TheLordAlmighty has done this.

14 But the earth will be as full of the knowledge of theLord’s glory as the seas are full of water.

15 You are doomed! In your fury you humiliated and disgraced your neighbors; you made them stagger as though they were drunk.

16 You in turn will be covered with shame instead of honor. You yourself will drink and stagger. TheLordwill make you drink your own cup of punishment, and your honor will be turned to disgrace.

17 You have cut down the forests of Lebanon; now you will be cut down. You killed its animals; now animals will terrify you. This will happen because of the murders you have committed and because of your violence against the people of the world and its cities.

18 What’s the use of an idol? It is only something that a human being has made, and it tells you nothing but lies. What good does it do for its maker to trust it—a god that can’t even talk!

19 You are doomed! You say to a piece of wood, “Wake up!” or to a block of stone, “Get up!” Can an idol reveal anything to you? It may be covered with silver and gold, but there is no life in it.

20 TheLordis in his holy Temple; let everyone on earth be silent in his presence.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/HAB/2-70e766156f9c7256cf4dbb7424c547a8.mp3?version_id=68—