Bible in a Year.

On day 182, we studied Judah's trajectory under the reign of Ahaz in 2 Kings 16, marked by political alliances and risky gambles. Micah 1-4 brings messages of judgment and hope, warning of injustice and promising restoration. Psalm 139 exalts God's omniscience and constant presence, reminding us that nothing escapes His notice.

1. In the seventeenth year of Phacee the son of Romelia reigned Achaz the son of Joatham king of Juda.

2. Achaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: he did not that which was pleasing in the sight of the Lord his Cod, as David his father.

3. But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel: moreover he consecrated also his son, making him pass through the fire according to the idols of the nations: which the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.

4. He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places and on the hills, and under every green tree.

5. Then Basin king of Syria, and Phacee son of Romelia king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to fight: and they besieged Achaz, but were not able to overcome him.

6. At that time Rasin king of Syria restored Aila to Syria, and drove the men of Juda out of Aila: and the Edomites came into Aila, and dwelt there unto this day.

7. And Achaz sent messengers to Theglathphalasar king of the Assyrians, saying: I am thy servant, and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, who are risen up together against me.

8. And when he had gathered together the silver and gold that could be found in the house of the Lord, and in the king's treasures, he sent it for a present to the king of the Assyrians.

9. And he agreed to his desire: for the king of the Assyrians went up against Damascus, and laid it waste: and he carried away the inhabitants thereof to Cyrene, but Basin he slew.

10. And king Achaz went to Damascus to meet Theglathphalasar king of the Assyrians, end when he had seen the altar of Damascus, king Achaz sent to Urias the priest a pattern of it, and its likeness according to all the work thereof.

11. And Urias the priest built an altar according to all that king Achaz had commanded from Damascus, so did Urias the priest, until king Achaz came from Damascus.

12. And when the king was come from Damascus, he saw the altar and worshipped it: and went up and offered holocausts, and his own sacrifice.

13. And offered libations and poured the blood of the peace offerings, which he had offered upon the altar.

14. But the altar of brass that was before the Lord, he removed from the face of the temple, and from the place of the altar, and from the place of the temple of the Lord: and he set it at the side of the altar toward the north.

15. And king Achaz commanded Urias the priest saying: Upon the great altar offer the morning holocaust, and the evening sacrifice, and the king's holocaust, and his sacrifice, and the holocaust of the whole people of the land, and their sacrifices, and their libations: and all the blood of the holocaust, and all the blood of the victim thou shalt pour out upon it: but the altar of brass shall be ready at my pleasure.

16. So Urias the priest did according to all that king Achaz had commanded him.

17. And king Achaz took away the graven bases, and the laver that was upon them: and he took down the sea from the brazen oxen that held it up, and put it upon a pavement of stone.

18. The Musach also for the sabbath, which he had built in the temple: and the king's entry from without he turned into the temple of the Lord, because of the king of the Assyrians.

19. Now the rest of the acts of Achaz, which he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda?

20. And Achaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the city of David, and Ezechias his son reigned in his stead.

Chapter 1

1. The word of the Lord that came to Micheas the Morasthite, in the days of Joathan, Achaz, and Ezechias, kings of Juda: which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

2. Hear, all ye people: and let the earth give ear, and all that is therein: and let the Lord God be a witness to you, the Lord from his holy temple.

3. For behold the Lord will come forth out of his place: and he will come down, and will tread upon the high places of the earth.

4. And the mountains shall be melted under him: and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as waters that run down a steep place.

5. For the wickedness of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the wickedness of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Juda? are they not Jerusalem ?

6. And I will make Samaria as a heap of stones in the field when a vineyard is planted: and I will bring down the stones thereof into the valley, and will lay her foundations bare.

7. And all her graven things shall be cut in pieces, and all her wages shall be burnt with fire, and I will bring to destruction all her idols: for they were gathered together of the hire of a harlot, and unto the hire of a harlot they shall return.

8. Therefore will I lament and howl: I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and a mourning like the ostriches.

9. Because her wound is desperate, because it is come even to Juda, it hath touched the gate of my people even to Jerusalem.

10. Declare ye it not in Geth, weep ya not with tears: in the house of Dust sprinkle yourselves with dust.

11. And pass away, O thou that dwellest in the Beautiful place, covered with thy shame: she went not forth that dwelleth in the confines: the House adjoining shall receive mourning from you, which stood by herself.

12. For she is become weak unto good that dwelleth in bitterness: for evil is come down from the Lord into the gate of Jerusalem.

13. A tumult of chariots hath astonished the inhabitants of Lachis: it is the beginning of sin to the daughter of Sion, for in thee were found the crimes of Israel.

14. Therefore shall she send messengers to the inheritance of Geth : the houses of lying to deceive the kings of Israel.

15. Yet will I bring an heir to thee that dwellest in Maresa: even to Odollam shall the glory of Israel come.

16. Make thee bald, and be polled for thy delicate children: enlarge thy baldness as the eagle: for they are carried into captivity from thee.

Chapter 2

1. Woe to you that devise that which is unprofitable, and work evil in your beds: in the morning light they execute it, because their hand is against God.

2. And they have coveted fields, and taken them by violence, and houses they have forcibly taken away: and oppressed a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.

3. Therefore thus saith the Lord : Behold, I devise an evil against this family: from which you shall not withdraw your necks, and you shall not walk haughtily, for this is a very evil time.

4. In that day a parable shall be taken up upon you, and a song shall be sung with melody by them that say: We are laid waste and spoiled: the portion of my people is changed: how shall he depart from me, whereas he is returning that will divide our land?

5. Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast the cord of a lot in the assembly of the Lord.

6. Speak ye not, saying: It shall not drop upon these, confusion shall not take them.

7. The house of Jacob saith: Is the spirit of the Lord straitened, or are these his thoughts? Are not my words good to him that walketh uprightly?

8. But my people, on the contrary, are risen up as an enemy: you have taken away the cloak off from the coat: and them that passed harmless you have turned to war.

9. You have cast out the women of my people from their houses, in which they took delight: you have taken my praise for ever from their children.

10. Arise ye, and depart, for there is no rest here for you. For that uncleanness of the land, it shall be corrupted with a grievous corruption.

11. Would God I were not a man that hath the spirit, and that I rather spoke a lie: I will let drop to thee of wine, and of drunkenness: and it shall be this people upon whom it shall drop.

12. I will assemble and gather together all of thee, O Jacob: I will bring together the remnant of Israel, I will put them together as a flock in the fold, as the sheep in the midst of the sheepcotes, they shall make a tumult by reason of the multitude of men.

13. For he shall go up that shall open the way before them: they shall divide, and pass through the gate, and shall come in by it: and their king shall pass before them, and the Lord at the head of them.

Chapter 3

1. And I said: Hear, O ye princes of Jacob, and ye chiefs of the house of Israel: Is it not your part to know judgment,

2. You that hate good, and love evil: that violently pluck off their skins from them, and their flesh from their bones?

3. Who have eaten the flesh of my people, and have flayed their skin from off them: and have broken, and chopped their bones as for the kettle, and as flesh in the midst of the pot.

4. Then shall they cry to the Lord, and he will not hear them: and he will hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved wickedly in their devices.

5. Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that make my people err: that bite with their teeth, and preach peace: and if a man give not something into their mouth, they prepare war against him.

6. Therefore night shall be to you instead of vision, and darkness to you instead of divination; and the sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be darkened over them.

7. And they shall be confounded that see visions, and the diviners shall be confounded: and they shall all cover their faces, because there is no answer of God.

8. But yet I am filled with the strength of the spirit of the Lord, with judgment, and power: to declare unto Jacob his wickedness, and to Israel his sin.

9. Hear this, ye princes of the house of Jacob, and ye judges of the house of Israel: you that abhor judgment, and pervert all that is right.

10. You that build up Sion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.

11. Her princes have judged for bribes, and her priests have taught for hire, and her prophets divined for money: and they leaned upon the Lord, saying: Is not the Lord in the midst of us? no evil shall come upon us.

12. Therefore, because of you, Sion shall be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall be as a heap of stones, and the mountain of the temple as the high places of the forests.

Chapter 4

1. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared in the top of mountains, and high above the hills: and people shall flow to it.

2. And many nations shall come in haste, and say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, 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 the law shall go forth out of Sion, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem.

3. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into spades: nation shall not take sword against nation: neither shall they learn war any more.

4. And every man shall sit under his vine, and under his fig tree, and there shall be none to make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken.

5. For all people will walk every one in the name of his god: but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.

6. In that day, saith the Lord, I will gather up her that halteth: and her that I had cast out, I will gather up: and her whom I had afflicted.

7. And I will make her that halted, a remnant: and her that hath been afflicted, a mighty nation: and the Lord will reign over them in mount Sion, from this time now and for ever.

8. And thou, O cloudy tower of the flock, of the daughter of Sion, unto thee shall it come: yea the first power shall come, the kingdom to the daughter of Jerusalem.

9. Now, why art thou drawn together with grief? Hast thou no king in thee, or is thy counsellor perished, because sorrow hath taken thee as a woman in labour?

10. Be in pain and labour, O daughter of Sion, as a woman that bringeth forth: for now shalt thou go out of the city, and shalt dwell in the country, and shalt come even to Babylon, there thou shalt be delivered: there the Lord will redeem thee out of the hand of thy enemies.

11. And now many nations are gathered together against thee, and they say: Let her be stoned: and let our eye look upon Sion.

12. But they have not known the thoughts of the Lord, and have not understood his counsel: because he hath gathered them together as the hay of the floor.

13. Arise, and tread, O daughter of Sion: for I will make thy horn iron, and thy hoofs I will make brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many peoples, and shalt immolate the spoils of them to the Lord, and their strength to the Lord of the whole earth.

1. Lord, thou hast proved me, and known me:

2. thou hast know my sitting down, and my rising up.

3. Thou hast understood my thoughts afar off: my path and my line thou hast searched out.

4. And thou hast foreseen all my ways: for there is no speech in my tongue.

5. Behold, O Lord, thou hast known all things, the last and those of old: thou hast formed me, and hast laid thy hand upon me.

6. Thy knowledge is become wonderful to me: it is high, and I cannot reach to it.

7. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy face?

8. If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I descend into hell, thou art present.

9. If I take my wings early in the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea:

10. Even there also shall thy hand lead me: and thy right hand shall hold me.

11. And I said: Perhaps darkness shall cover me: and night shall be my light in my pleasures.

12. But darkness shall not be dark to thee, and night shall be light as day: the darkness thereof, and the light thereof are alike to thee.

13. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast protected me from my mother's womb.

14. I will praise thee, for thou art fearfully magnified: wonderful are thy works, and my soul knoweth right well.

15. My bone is not hidden from thee, which thou hast made in secret: and my substance in the lower parts of the earth.

16. Thy eyes did see my imperfect being, and in thy book all shall be written: days shall be formed, and no one in them.

17. But to me thy friends, O God, are made exceedingly honourable: their principality is exceedingly strengthened.

18. I will number them, and they shall be multiplied above the sand: I rose up and am still with thee.

19. If thou wilt kill the wicked, O God: ye men of blood, depart from me:

20. Because you say in thought: They shall receive thy cities in vain.

21. Have I not hated them, O Lord, that hated thee: and pine away because of thy enemies?

22. I have hated them with a perfect hatred: and they are become enemies to me.

23. Prove me, O God, and know my heart: examine me, and know my paths.

24. And see if there be in me the way of iniquity: and lead me in the eternal way.