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First Reading: Micah Chapter 6 and 7Micah 6
1 Hear ye now what Jehovah saith: Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.
2 Hear, O ye mountains, Jehovah's controversy, and ye enduring foundations of the earth; for Jehovah hath a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel.
3 O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me.
4 For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
5 O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him; `remember' from Shittim unto Gilgal, that ye may know the righteous acts of Jehovah.
6 Wherewith shall I come before Jehovah, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves a year old?
7 will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, `or' with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God?
9 The voice of Jehovah crieth unto the city, and `the man of' wisdom will see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.
10 Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and a scant measure that is abominable?
11 Shall I be pure with wicked balances, and with a bag of deceitful weights?
12 For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
13 Therefore I also have smitten thee with a grievous wound; I have made thee desolate because of thy sins.
14 Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy humiliation shall be in the midst of thee: and thou shalt put away, but shalt not save; and that which thou savest will I give up to the sword.
15 Thou shalt sow, but shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but shalt not anoint thee with oil; and the vintage, but shalt not drink the wine.
16 For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I may make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing: and ye shall bear the reproach of my people.
Micah 7
1 Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat; my soul desireth the first-ripe fig.
2 The godly man is perished out of the earth, and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.
3 Their hands are upon that which is evil to do it diligently; the prince asketh, and the judge `is ready' for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth the evil desire of his soul: thus they weave it together.
4 The best of them is as a brier; the most upright is `worse' than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen, even thy visitation, is come; now shall be their perplexity.
5 Trust ye not in a neighbor; put ye not confidence in a friend; keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.
6 For the son dishonoreth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.
7 But as for me, I will look unto Jehovah; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.
8 Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, Jehovah will be a light unto me.
9 I will bear the indignation of Jehovah, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, `and' I shall behold his righteousness.
10 Then mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her who said unto me, Where is Jehovah thy God? Mine eyes shall see `my desire' upon her; now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.
11 A day for building thy walls! in that day shall the decree be far removed.
12 In that day shall they come unto thee from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt even to the River, and from sea to sea, and `from' mountain to mountain.
13 Yet shall the land be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.
14 Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thy heritage, which dwell solitarily, in the forest in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
15 As in the days of thy coming forth out of the land of Egypt will I show unto them marvellous things.
16 The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might; they shall lay their hand upon their mouth; their ears shall be deaf.
17 They shall lick the dust like a serpent; like crawling things of the earth they shall come trembling out of their close places; they shall come with fear unto Jehovah our God, and shall be afraid because of thee.
18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in lovingkindness.
19 He will again have compassion upon us; he will tread our iniquities under foot; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
20 Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, `and' the lovingkindness to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.
Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians Chapter 1
2 Thessalonians 1
1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ;
2 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 We are bound to give thanks to God always to you, brethren, even as it is meet, for that your faith growth exceedingly, and the love of each one of you all toward one another aboundeth;
4 so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which ye endure;
5 `which is' a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God; to the end that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:
6 if so be that it is righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to them that afflict you,
7 and to you that are afflicted rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire,
8 rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus:
9 who shall suffer punishment, `even' eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might,
10 when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be marvelled at in all them that believed (because our testimony unto you was believed) in that day.
11 To which end we also pray always for you, that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfil every desire of goodness and `every' work of faith, with power;
12 that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE
II THESSALONIANS
The theme of Paul's second letter to the Thessalonian believers is "Christ as our victory." A key verse is chapter 1:7-10:
This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.
The main parts of the letter are:
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