Micah 1

Psalm 119c

GIMEL. Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word. Open thou my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me. My soul breaks for the longing that it has unto thy judgments at all times. Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments. Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies. Princes also did sit and speak against me: but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes. Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors.

DALETH. My soul cleaves unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word. I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes. Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works. My soul melts for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word. Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously. I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me. I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O LORD, put me not to shame. I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.

Micah 1

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

Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord GOD be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. For, behold, the LORD cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place. For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem? Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof. And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot. Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls. For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.

Declare ye it not at Gath, weep ye not at all: in the house of Aphrah roll thyself in the dust. Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Saphir, having thy shame naked: the inhabitant of Zaanan came not forth in the mourning of Bethezel; he shall receive of you his standing. For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem. O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to the swift beast: she is the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zion: for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee. Therefore shalt thou give presents to Moreshethgath: the houses of Achzib shall be a lie to the kings of Israel. Yet will I bring an heir unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah: he shall come unto Adullam the glory of Israel. Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate children; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle; for they are gone into captivity from thee.

Proverbs 17

Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than a house full of sacrifices with strife.

A wise servant shall have rule over a son that causes shame, and shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren.

The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD tries the hearts.

A wicked doer gives heed to false lips; and a liar gives ear to a naughty tongue.

Whoso mocks the poor reproaches his Maker: and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.

Children’s children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.

Excellent speech becomes not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince.

A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that has it: whithersoever it turns, it prospers.

He that covers a transgression seeks love; but he that repeats a matter separates very friends.

A reproof enters more into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool.

An evil man seeks only rebellion: therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.

Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.

Whoso rewards evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.

The beginning of strife is as when one lets out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with.

He that justifies the wicked, and he that condemns the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.

Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he has no heart to it?

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

A man void of understanding strikes hands, and becomes surety in the presence of his friend.

He loves transgression that loves strife: and he that exalts his gate seeks destruction.

He that has a froward heart finds no good: and he that has a perverse tongue falls into mischief.

He that begets a fool does it to his sorrow: and the father of a fool has no joy.

A merry heart does good like a medicine: but a broken spirit dries the bones.

A wicked man takes a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.

Wisdom is before him that has understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth.

A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bore him.

Also to punish the just is not good, nor to strike princes for equity.

He that has knowledge spares his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.

Even a fool, when he holds his peace, is counted wise: and he that shuts his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.