Bible Reading for December 21 and 22
World English Bible
Dec.
21
Mic
1:1 The word of Yahweh that came to Micah the Morashtite in the days
of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw
concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
Mic
1:2 Hear, you peoples, all of you. Listen, O earth, and all that is
therein: and let the Lord Yahweh be witness against you, the Lord
from his holy temple.
Mic
1:3 For, behold, Yahweh comes forth out of his place, and will come
down and tread on the high places of the earth.
Mic
1:4 The mountains melt under him, and the valleys split apart, like
wax before the fire, like waters that are poured down a steep place.
Mic
1:5 "All this is for the disobedience of Jacob, and for the
sins of the house of Israel. What is the disobedience of Jacob? Isn't
it Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Aren't they
Jerusalem?
Mic
1:6 Therefore I will make Samaria like a rubble heap of the field,
like places for planting vineyards; and I will pour down its stones
into the valley, and I will uncover its foundations.
Mic
1:7 All her idols will be beaten to pieces, and all her temple gifts
will be burned with fire, and all her images I will destroy; for of
the hire of a prostitute has she gathered them, and to the hire of a
prostitute shall they return."
Mic
1:8 For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I
will howl like the jackals, and moan like the daughters of owls.
Mic
1:9 For her wounds are incurable; for it has come even to Judah. It
reaches to the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.
Mic
1:10 Don't tell it in Gath. Don't weep at all. At Beth Ophrah I have
rolled myself in the dust.
Mic
1:11 Pass on, inhabitant of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame. The
inhabitant of Zaanan won't come out. The wailing of Beth Ezel will
take from you his protection.
Mic
1:12 For the inhabitant of Maroth waits anxiously for good, because
evil has come down from Yahweh to the gate of Jerusalem.
Mic
1:13 Harness the chariot to the swift steed, inhabitant of Lachish.
She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion; For the
transgressions of Israel were found in you.
Mic
1:14 Therefore you will give a parting gift to Moresheth Gath. The
houses of Achzib will be a deceitful thing to the kings of Israel.
Mic
1:15 I will yet bring to you, inhabitant of Mareshah. He who is the
glory of Israel will come to Adullam.
Mic
1:16 Shave your heads, and cut off your hair for the children of
your delight. Enlarge your baldness like the vulture; for they have
gone into captivity from you!
Mic
2:1 Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil on their beds!
When the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the
power of their hand.
Mic
2:2 They covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take them
away: and they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his
heritage.
Mic
2:3 Therefore thus says Yahweh: "Behold, I am planning against
these people a disaster, from which you will not remove your necks,
neither will you walk haughtily; for it is an evil time.
Mic
2:4 In that day they will take up a parable against you, and lament
with a doleful lamentation, saying, 'We are utterly ruined! My
people's possession is divided up. Indeed he takes it from me and
assigns our fields to traitors!' "
Mic
2:5 Therefore you will have no one who divides the land by lot in
the assembly of Yahweh.
Mic
2:6 "Don't prophesy!" They prophesy. "Don't prophesy
about these things. Disgrace won't overtake us."
Mic
2:7 Shall it be said, O house of Jacob: "Is the Spirit of
Yahweh angry? Are these his doings? Don't my words do good to him who
walks blamelessly?"
Mic
2:8 But lately my people have risen up as an enemy. You strip the
robe and clothing from those who pass by without a care, returning
from battle.
Mic
2:9 You drive the women of my people out from their pleasant houses;
from their young children you take away my blessing forever.
Mic
2:10 Arise, and depart! For this is not your resting place, because
of uncleanness that destroys, even with a grievous destruction.
Mic
2:11 If a man walking in a spirit of falsehood lies: "I will
prophesy to you of wine and of strong drink;" he would be the
prophet of this people.
Mic
2:12 I will surely assemble, Jacob, all of you; I will surely gather
the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of
Bozrah, as a flock in the midst of their pasture; they will swarm
with people.
Mic
2:13 He who breaks open the way goes up before them. They break
through the gate, and go out. And their king passes on before them,
with Yahweh at their head.
Mic
3:1 I said, "Please listen, you heads of Jacob, and rulers of
the house of Israel: Isn't it for you to know justice?
Mic
3:2 You who hate the good, and love the evil; who tear off their
skin, and their flesh from off their bones;
Mic
3:3 who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from
off them, and break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the
pot, and as flesh within the caldron.
Mic
3:4 Then they will cry to Yahweh, but he will not answer them. Yes,
he will hide his face from them at that time, because they made their
deeds evil."
Mic
3:5 Thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who lead my people
astray; for those who feed their teeth, they proclaim, "Peace!"
and whoever doesn't provide for their mouths, they prepare war
against him:
Mic
3:6 "Therefore night is over you, with no vision, and it is
dark to you, that you may not divine; and the sun will go down on the
prophets, and the day will be black over them.
Mic
3:7 The seers shall be disappointed, and the diviners confounded.
Yes, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer from
God."
Mic
3:8 But as for me, I am full of power by the Spirit of Yahweh, and
of judgment, and of might, to declare to Jacob his disobedience, and
to Israel his sin.
Mic
3:9 Please listen to this, you heads of the house of Jacob, and
rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice, and pervert all
equity.
Mic
3:10 They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.
Mic
3:11 Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a
price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money: yet they lean
on Yahweh, and say, "Isn't Yahweh in the midst of us? No
disaster will come on us."
Mic
3:12 Therefore Zion for your sake will be plowed like a field, and
Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble, and the mountain of the temple
like the high places of a forest.
Mic
4:1 But in the latter days, it will happen that the mountain of
Yahweh's temple will be established on the top of the mountains, and
it will be exalted above the hills; and peoples will stream to it.
Mic
4:2 Many nations will go and say, "Come, and let us go up to
the mountain of Yahweh, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he
will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths." For
out of Zion will go forth the law, and the word of Yahweh from
Jerusalem;
Mic
4:3 and he will judge between many peoples, and will decide
concerning strong nations afar off. They will beat their swords into
plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift
up sword against nation, neither will they learn war any more.
Mic
4:4 But they will sit every man under his vine and under his fig
tree; and no one will make them afraid: For the mouth of Yahweh of
Armies has spoken.
Mic
4:5 Indeed all the nations may walk in the name of their gods; but
we will walk in the name of Yahweh our God forever and ever.
Mic
4:6 "In that day," says Yahweh, "I will assemble that
which is lame, and I will gather that which is driven away, and that
which I have afflicted;
Mic
4:7 and I will make that which was lame a remnant, and that which
was cast far off a strong nation: and Yahweh will reign over them on
Mount Zion from then on, even forever."
Mic
4:8 You, tower of the flock, the hill of the daughter of Zion, to
you it will come, yes, the former dominion will come, the kingdom of
the daughter of Jerusalem.
Mic
4:9 Now why do you cry out aloud? Is there no king in you? Has your
counselor perished, that pains have taken hold of you as of a woman
in travail?
Mic
4:10 Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, daughter of Zion, like a
woman in travail; for now you will go forth out of the city, and will
dwell in the field, and will come even to Babylon. There you will be
rescued. There Yahweh will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.
Mic
4:11 Now many nations have assembled against you, that say, "Let
her be defiled, and let our eye gloat over Zion."
Mic
4:12 But they don't know the thoughts of Yahweh, neither do they
understand his counsel; for he has gathered them like the sheaves to
the threshing floor.
Mic
4:13 Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion; for I will make your horn
iron, and I will make your hoofs brass; and you will beat in pieces
many peoples: and I will devote their gain to Yahweh, and their
substance to the Lord of the whole earth.
Dec.
22
Micah
5-7
Mic
5:1 Now you shall gather yourself in troops, daughter of troops. He
has laid siege against us. They will strike the judge of Israel with
a rod on the cheek.
Mic
5:2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of
Judah, out of you one will come forth to me that is to be ruler in
Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.
Mic
5:3 Therefore he will abandon them until the time that she who is in
labor gives birth. Then the rest of his brothers will return to the
children of Israel.
Mic
5:4 He shall stand, and shall shepherd in the strength of Yahweh, in
the majesty of the name of Yahweh his God: and they will live, for
then he will be great to the ends of the earth.
Mic
5:5 He will be our peace when Assyria invades our land, and when he
marches through our fortresses, then we will raise against him seven
shepherds, and eight leaders of men.
Mic
5:6 They will rule the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land
of Nimrod in its gates. He will deliver us from the Assyrian, when he
invades our land, and when he marches within our border.
Mic
5:7 The remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples, like
dew from Yahweh, like showers on the grass, that don't wait for man,
nor wait for the sons of men.
Mic
5:8 The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of
many peoples, like a lion among the animals of the forest, like a
young lion among the flocks of sheep; who, if he goes through, treads
down and tears in pieces, and there is no one to deliver.
Mic
5:9 Let your hand be lifted up above your adversaries, and let all
of your enemies be cut off.
Mic
5:10 "It will happen in that day," says Yahweh, "That
I will cut off your horses out of the midst of you, and will destroy
your chariots.
Mic
5:11 I will cut off the cities of your land, and will tear down all
your strongholds.
Mic
5:12 I will destroy witchcraft from your hand; and you shall have no
soothsayers.
Mic
5:13 I will cut off your engraved images and your pillars out of
your midst; and you shall no more worship the work of your hands.
Mic
5:14 I will uproot your Asherim out of your midst; and I will
destroy your cities.
Mic
5:15 I will execute vengeance in anger, and wrath on the nations
that didn't listen."
Mic
6:1 Listen now to what Yahweh says: "Arise, plead your case
before the mountains, and let the hills hear what you have to say.
Mic
6:2 Hear, you mountains, Yahweh's controversy, and you enduring
foundations of the earth; for Yahweh has a controversy with his
people, and he will contend with Israel.
Mic
6:3 My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you?
Answer me!
Mic
6:4 For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you
out of the house of bondage. I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and
Miriam.
Mic
6:5 My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and
what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim to Gilgal, that
you may know the righteous acts of Yahweh."
Mic
6:6 How shall I come before Yahweh, and bow myself before the
exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with
calves a year old?
Mic
6:7 Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams? With tens of
thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my
disobedience? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
Mic
6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require
of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with
your God?
Mic
6:9 Yahweh's voice calls to the city, and wisdom sees your name:
"Listen to the rod, and he who appointed it.
Mic
6:10 Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the
wicked, and a short ephah that is accursed?
Mic
6:11 Shall I be pure with dishonest scales, and with a bag of
deceitful weights?
Mic
6:12 Her rich men are full of violence, her inhabitants speak lies,
and their tongue is deceitful in their speech.
Mic
6:13 Therefore I also have struck you with a grievous wound. I have
made you desolate because of your sins.
Mic
6:14 You shall eat, but not be satisfied. Your humiliation will be
in your midst. You will store up, but not save; and that which you
save I will give up to the sword.
Mic
6:15 You will sow, but won't reap. You will tread the olives, but
won't anoint yourself with oil; and crush grapes, but won't drink the
wine.
Mic
6:16 For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the
house of Ahab. You walk in their counsels, that I may make you a
ruin, and her inhabitants a hissing; And you will bear the reproach
of my people."
Mic
7:1 Misery is mine! Indeed, I am like one who gathers the summer
fruits, as gleanings of the vineyard: There is no cluster of grapes
to eat. My soul desires to eat the early fig.
Mic
7:2 The godly man has perished out of the earth, and there is no one
upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts
his brother with a net.
Mic
7:3 Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently. The
ruler and judge ask for a bribe; and the powerful man dictates the
evil desire of his soul. Thus they conspire together.
Mic
7:4 The best of them is like a brier. The most upright is worse than
a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, even your visitation, has
come; now is the time of their confusion.
Mic
7:5 Don't trust in a neighbor. Don't put confidence in a friend.
With the woman lying in your embrace, be careful of the words of your
mouth!
Mic
7:6 For the son dishonors the father, the daughter rises up against
her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man's
enemies are the men of his own house.
Dec. 21
Revelation
3, 4
Rev 3:1
"And to the angel of the assembly in Sardis write: "He who
has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars says these things:
"I know your works, that you have a reputation of being alive,
but you are dead.
Rev 3:2
Wake up, and keep the things that remain, which you were about to
throw away, for I have found no works of yours perfected before my
God.
Rev 3:3
Remember therefore how you have received and heard. Keep it, and
repent. If therefore you won't watch, I will come as a thief, and you
won't know what hour I will come upon you.
Rev 3:4
Nevertheless you have a few names in Sardis that did not defile
their garments. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.
Rev 3:5
He who overcomes will be arrayed in white garments, and I will in no
way blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his
name before my Father, and before his angels.
Rev 3:6
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the
assemblies.
Rev 3:7
"To the angel of the assembly in Philadelphia write: "He
who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who
opens and no one can shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says these
things:
Rev 3:8
"I know your works (behold, I have set before you an open door,
which no one can shut), that you have a little power, and kept my
word, and didn't deny my name.
Rev 3:9
Behold, I give of the synagogue of Satan, of those who say they are
Jews, and they are not, but lie. Behold, I will make them to come and
worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.
Rev
3:10 Because you kept my command to endure, I also will keep you
from the hour of testing, which is to come on the whole world, to
test those who dwell on the earth.
Rev
3:11 I am coming quickly! Hold firmly that which you have, so that
no one takes your crown.
Rev
3:12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my
God, and he will go out from there no more. I will write on him the
name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new
Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and my own new
name.
Rev
3:13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the
assemblies.
Rev
3:14 "To the angel of the assembly in Laodicea write: "The
Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Head of God's creation, says
these things:
Rev
3:15 "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I
wish you were cold or hot.
Rev
3:16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will
vomit you out of my mouth.
Rev
3:17 Because you say, 'I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have
need of nothing;' and don't know that you are the wretched one,
miserable, poor, blind, and naked;
Rev
3:18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may
become rich; and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and
that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve
to anoint your eyes, that you may see.
Rev
3:19 As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore,
and repent.
Rev
3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice
and opens the door, then I will come in to him, and will dine with
him, and he with me.
Rev
3:21 He who overcomes, I will give to him to sit down with me on my
throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father on his
throne.
Rev
3:22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the
assemblies."
Rev 4:1
After these things I looked and saw a door opened in heaven, and the
first voice that I heard, like a trumpet speaking with me, was one
saying, "Come up here, and I will show you the things which must
happen after this."
Rev 4:2
Immediately I was in the Spirit. Behold, there was a throne set in
heaven, and one sitting on the throne
Rev 4:3
that looked like a jasper stone and a sardius. There was a rainbow
around the throne, like an emerald to look at.
Rev 4:4
Around the throne were twenty-four thrones. On the thrones were
twenty-four elders sitting, dressed in white garments, with crowns of
gold on their heads.
Rev 4:5
Out of the throne proceed lightnings, sounds, and thunders. There
were seven lamps of fire burning before his throne, which are the
seven Spirits of God.
Rev 4:6
Before the throne was something like a sea of glass, similar to
crystal. In the midst of the throne, and around the throne were four
living creatures full of eyes before and behind.
Rev 4:7
The first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a
calf, and the third creature had a face like a man, and the fourth
was like a flying eagle.
Rev 4:8
The four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are
full of eyes around and within. They have no rest day and night,
saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was
and who is and who is to come!"
Rev 4:9
When the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to him who
sits on the throne, to him who lives forever and ever,
Rev
4:10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the
throne, and worship him who lives forever and ever, and throw their
crowns before the throne, saying,
Rev
4:11 "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, the Holy One, to
receive the glory, the honor, and the power, for you created all
things, and because of your desire they existed, and were created!"
Dec. 22
Revelation
5, 6
Rev 5:1
I saw, in the right hand of him who sat on the throne, a book
written inside and outside, sealed shut with seven seals.
Rev 5:2
I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is
worthy to open the book, and to break its seals?"
Rev 5:3
No one in heaven above, or on the earth, or under the earth, was
able to open the book, or to look in it.
Rev 5:4
And I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open the book,
or to look in it.
Rev 5:5
One of the elders said to me, "Don't weep. Behold, the Lion who
is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome; he who
opens the book and its seven seals."
Rev 5:6
I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures,
and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing, as though it had
been slain, having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven
Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.
Rev 5:7
Then he came, and he took it out of the right hand of him who sat on
the throne.
Rev 5:8
Now when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the
twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one having a harp,
and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the
saints.
Rev 5:9
They sang a new song, saying, "You are worthy to take the book,
and to open its seals: for you were killed, and bought us for God
with your blood, out of every tribe, language, people, and nation,
Rev
5:10 and made us kings and priests to our God, and we will reign on
earth."
Rev
5:11 I saw, and I heard something like a voice of many angels around
the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of
them was ten thousands of ten thousands, and thousands of thousands;
Rev
5:12 saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who has been
killed to receive the power, wealth, wisdom, strength, honor, glory,
and blessing!"
Rev
5:13 I heard every created thing which is in heaven, on the earth,
under the earth, on the sea, and everything in them, saying, "To
him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb be the blessing, the
honor, the glory, and the dominion, forever and ever! Amen!"
Rev
5:14 The four living creatures said, "Amen!" The elders
fell down and worshiped.
Rev 6:1
I saw that the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one
of the four living creatures saying, as with a voice of thunder,
"Come and see!"
Rev 6:2
And behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow. A crown
was given to him, and he came forth conquering, and to conquer.
Rev 6:3
When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature
saying, "Come!"
Rev 6:4
Another came forth, a red horse. To him who sat on it was given
power to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one
another. There was given to him a great sword.
Rev 6:5
When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature
saying, "Come and see!" And behold, a black horse, and he
who sat on it had a balance in his hand.
Rev 6:6
I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, "A
choenix of wheat for a denarius, and three choenix of barley for a
denarius! Don't damage the oil and the wine!"
Rev 6:7
When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the fourth living creature
saying, "Come and see!"
Rev 6:8
And behold, a pale horse, and he who sat on it, his name was Death.
Hades followed with him. Authority over one fourth of the earth, to
kill with the sword, with famine, with death, and by the wild animals
of the earth was given to him.
Rev 6:9
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls
of those who had been killed for the Word of God, and for the
testimony of the Lamb which they had.
Rev
6:10 They cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, Master,
the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who
dwell on the earth?"
Rev
6:11 A long white robe was given to each of them. They were told
that they should rest yet for a while, until their fellow servants
and their brothers, who would also be killed even as they were,
should complete their course.
Rev
6:12 I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great
earthquake. The sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the
whole moon became as blood.
Rev
6:13 The stars of the sky fell to the earth, like a fig tree
dropping its unripe figs when it is shaken by a great wind.
Rev
6:14 The sky was removed like a scroll when it is rolled up. Every
mountain and island were moved out of their places.
Rev
6:15 The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers,
the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves
in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains.
Rev
6:16 They told the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us, and
hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the
wrath of the Lamb,
Rev
6:17 for the great day of his wrath has come; and who is able to
stand?"
