Afternoon high paced Spirit Wars! Then I said, “Listen, you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel. Should you not know justice, Mi. 3:2 you who hate good and love evil; who tear the skin from my people and the flesh from their bones; Mi. 3:3 who eat my people’s flesh, strip off their skin and break their bones in pieces; who chop them up like meat for the pan, like flesh for the pot.” Mi. 3:4 Then they will cry out to the LORD, but he will not answer them. At that time he will hide his face from them because of the evil they have done. Mi. 3:5 This is what the LORD says: “As for the prophets who lead my people astray, if one feeds them, they proclaim ‘peace’; if he does not, they prepare to wage war against him. Mi. 3:6 Therefore night will come over you, without visions, and darkness, without divination. The sun will set for the prophets, and the day will go dark for them. Mi. 3:7 The seers will be ashamed and the diviners disgraced. They will all cover their faces because there is no answer from God.” Mi. 3:8 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, to Israel his sin. Mi. 3:9 Hear this, you leaders of the house of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel, who despise justice and distort all that is right; Mi. 3:10 who build Zion with bloodshed, and Jerusalem with wickedness. Mi. 3:11 Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money. Yet they lean upon the LORD and say, “Is not the LORD among us? No disaster will come upon us.” Mi. 3:12 Therefore because of you, Zion will be ploughed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets. CHAPTER 4 Mi. 4:1 In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. Mi. 4:2 Many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. Mi. 4:3 He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more. Mi. 4:4 Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own figtree, and no-one will make them afraid, for the LORD Almighty has spoken. Mi. 4:5 All the nations may walk in the name of their gods; we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever. Mi. 4:6 “In that day,” declares the LORD, “I will gather the lame; I will assemble the exiles and those I have brought to grief. Mi. 4:7 I will make the lame a remnant, those driven away a strong nation. The LORD will rule over them in Mount Zion from that day and for ever. Mi. 4:8 As for you, O watchtower of the flock, O stronghold [Or hill] of the Daughter of Zion, the former dominion will be restored to you; kingship will come to the Daughter of Jerusalem.” Mi. 4:9 Why do you now cry aloud - have you no king? Has your counsellor perished, that pain seizes you like that of a woman in labour? Mi. 4:10 Writhe in agony, O Daughter of Zion, like a woman in labour, for now you must leave the city to camp in the open field. You will go to Babylon; there you will be rescued. There the LORD will redeem you out of the hand of your enemies. Mi. 4:11 But now many nations are gathered against you. They say, “Let her be defiled, let our eyes gloat over Zion!” Mi. 4:12 But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD; they do not understand his plan, he who gathers them like sheaves to the threshing-floor. Mi. 4:13 “Rise and thresh, O Daughter of Zion, for I will give you horns of iron; I will give you hoofs of bronze and you will break to pieces many nations.” You will devote their illgotten gains to the LORD, their wealth to the Lord of all the earth. CHAPTER 5 Mi. 5:1 Marshal your troops, O city of troops, [Or Strengthen your walls, O walled city] for a siege is laid against us. They will strike Israel’s ruler on the cheek with a rod. Mi. 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans [Or rulers] of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins [Hebrew goings out] are from of old, from ancient times.” [Or from days of eternity] Mi. 5:3 Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labour gives birth and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites. Mi. 5:4 He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. Mi. 5:5 And he will be their peace. When the Assyrian invades our land and mar
