December 23: Micah 1–3; John 15:1–17; Psalm 143; Proverbs 30:20

Micah 1–3 (Listen)

1 The word of the LORD that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

The Coming Destruction

2   Hear, you peoples, all of you;¹
    pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it,
  and let the Lord GOD be a witness against you,
    the Lord from his holy temple.
3   For behold, the LORD is coming out of his place,
    and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.
4   And the mountains will melt under him,
    and the valleys will split open,
  like wax before the fire,
    like waters poured down a steep place.
5   All this is for the transgression of Jacob
    and for the sins of the house of Israel.
  What is the transgression of Jacob?
    Is it not Samaria?
  And what is the high place of Judah?
    Is it not Jerusalem?
6   Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the open country,
    a place for planting vineyards,
  and I will pour down her stones into the valley
    and uncover her foundations.
7   All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces,
    all her wages shall be burned with fire,
    and all her idols I will lay waste,
  for from the fee of a prostitute she gathered them,
    and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.
8   For this I will lament and wail;
    I will go stripped and naked;
  I will make lamentation like the jackals,
    and mourning like the ostriches.
9   For her wound is incurable,
    and it has come to Judah;
  it has reached to the gate of my people,
    to Jerusalem.
10   Tell it not in Gath;
    weep not at all;
  in Beth-le-aphrah
    roll yourselves in the dust.
11   Pass on your way,
    inhabitants of Shaphir,
    in nakedness and shame;
  the inhabitants of Zaanan
    do not come out;
  the lamentation of Beth-ezel
    shall take away from you its standing place.
12   For the inhabitants of Maroth
    wait anxiously for good,
  because disaster has come down from the LORD
    to the gate of Jerusalem.
13   Harness the steeds to the chariots,
    inhabitants of Lachish;
  it was the beginning of sin
    to the daughter of Zion,
  for in you were found
    the transgressions of Israel.
14   Therefore you shall give parting gifts²
    to Moresheth-gath;
  the houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful thing
    to the kings of Israel.
15   I will again bring a conqueror to you,
    inhabitants of Mareshah;
  the glory of Israel
    shall come to Adullam.
16   Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair,
    for the children of your delight;
  make yourselves as bald as the eagle,
    for they shall go from you into exile.

Woe to the Oppressors

2   Woe to those who devise wickedness
    and work evil on their beds!
  When the morning dawns, they perform it,
    because it is in the power of their hand.
2   They covet fields and seize them,
    and houses, and take them away;
  they oppress a man and his house,
    a man and his inheritance.
3   Therefore thus says the LORD:
  behold, against this family I am devising disaster,³
    from which you cannot remove your necks,
  and you shall not walk haughtily,
    for it will be a time of disaster.
4   In that day they shall take up a taunt song against you
    and moan bitterly,
  and say, “We are utterly ruined;
    he changes the portion of my people;
  how he removes it from me!
    To an apostate he allots our fields.”
5   Therefore you will have none to cast the line by lot
    in the assembly of the LORD.
6   “Do not preach”—thus they preach—
    “one should not preach of such things;
    disgrace will not overtake us.”
7   Should this be said, O house of Jacob?
    Has the LORD grown impatient?⁴
    Are these his deeds?
  Do not my words do good
    to him who walks uprightly?
8   But lately my people have risen up as an enemy;
  you strip the rich robe from those who pass by trustingly
    with no thought of war.⁵
9   The women of my people you drive out
    from their delightful houses;
  from their young children you take away
    my splendor forever.
10   Arise and go,
    for this is no place to rest,
  because of uncleanness that destroys
    with a grievous destruction.
11   If a man should go about and utter wind and lies,
    saying, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,”
    he would be the preacher for this people!
12   I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob;
    I will gather the remnant of Israel;
  I will set them together
    like sheep in a fold,
  like a flock in its pasture,
    a noisy multitude of men.
13   He who opens the breach goes up before them;
    they break through and pass the gate,
    going out by it.
  Their king passes on before them,
    the LORD at their head.

Rulers and Prophets Denounced

3   And I said:
  Hear, you heads of Jacob
    and rulers of the house of Israel!
  Is it not for you to know justice?—
2     you who hate the good and love the evil,
  who tear the skin from off my people⁶
    and their flesh from off their bones,
3   who eat the flesh of my people,
    and flay their skin from off them,
  and break their bones in pieces
    and chop them up like meat in a pot,
    like flesh in a cauldron.
4   Then they will cry to the LORD,
    but he will not answer them;
  he will hide his face from them at that time,
    because they have made their deeds evil.
5   Thus says the LORD concerning the prophets
    who lead my people astray,
  who cry “Peace”
    when they have something to eat,
  but declare war against him
    who puts nothing into their mouths.
6   Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision,
    and darkness to you, without divination.
  The sun shall go down on the prophets,
    and the day shall be black over them;
7   the seers shall be disgraced,
    and the diviners put to shame;
  they shall all cover their lips,
    for there is no answer from God.
8   But as for me, I am filled with power,
    with the Spirit of the LORD,
    and with justice and might,
  to declare to Jacob his transgression
    and to Israel his sin.
9   Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob
    and rulers of the house of Israel,
  who detest justice
    and make crooked all that is straight,
10   who build Zion with blood
    and Jerusalem with iniquity.
11   Its heads give judgment for a bribe;
    its priests teach for a price;
    its prophets practice divination for money;
  yet they lean on the LORD and say,
    “Is not the LORD in the midst of us?
    No disaster shall come upon us.”
12   Therefore because of you
    Zion shall be plowed as a field;
  Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,
    and the mountain of the house a wooded height.

(ESV)

John 15:1–17 (Listen)

I Am the True Vine

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.15 No longer do I call you servants,¹ for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

(ESV)

Psalm 143 (Listen)

My Soul Thirsts for You

A Psalm of David.

143   Hear my prayer, O LORD;
    give ear to my pleas for mercy!
    In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!
2   Enter not into judgment with your servant,
    for no one living is righteous before you.
3   For the enemy has pursued my soul;
    he has crushed my life to the ground;
    he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.
4   Therefore my spirit faints within me;
    my heart within me is appalled.
5   I remember the days of old;
    I meditate on all that you have done;
    I ponder the work of your hands.
6   I stretch out my hands to you;
    my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah
7   Answer me quickly, O LORD!
    My spirit fails!
  Hide not your face from me,
    lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
8   Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,
    for in you I trust.
  Make me know the way I should go,
    for to you I lift up my soul.
9   Deliver me from my enemies, O LORD!
    I have fled to you for refuge.¹
10   Teach me to do your will,
    for you are my God!
  Let your good Spirit lead me
    on level ground!
11   For your name’s sake, O LORD, preserve my life!
    In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!
12   And in your steadfast love you will cut off my enemies,
    and you will destroy all the adversaries of my soul,
    for I am your servant.

(ESV)

Proverbs 30:20 (Listen)

20   This is the way of an adulteress:
    she eats and wipes her mouth
    and says, “I have done no wrong.”

(ESV)