THE PROPHET MICAH

MICAH VI

Wherewith shall I come before the Lord,
And bow myself before the high God?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
With calves a year old?

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of

rams,

Or with ten thousands of rivers of oil?

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good;
And what doth the Lord require of thee,

But to do justly, and to love mercy,
And to walk humbly with thy God?

THE PROPHET HABAKKUK

HABAKKUK I, II

Nahum

O Lord, how long shall I cry,

And thou wilt not hear?

Even cry out unto thee of violence,
And thou wilt not hear?

Why dost thou shew me iniquity,

And cause me to behold grievance?

For destruction and violence are before me;
And there is strife, and contention riseth up.
Therefore the law is slacked,

And justice goeth not forth unto victory:
For the wicked doth compass about the right-

eous;

Therefore justice is perverted.

O thou that art of purer eyes than to behold evil, And that canst not look on iniquity,

Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously,

And holdest thy peace when the wicked devoureth the righteous?

I will stand upon my watch,

And set me upon the tower,

And will look forth to see what he will say unto

me,

And what answer he will give to my complaint.

And the Lord answered me, and said:

Write the vision, and make it plain upon tablets,

That he may run that readeth it.

For the vision is yet for the appointed time, And it hasteth toward the end, and shall not lie: Though it tarry, wait for it;

Because it will surely come, it will not fail. Behold, if his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him;

But the righteous shall live by his faith.

For the Lord is slow to anger, and great in

power,

And will by no means acquit the guilty.

The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of P trouble;

And he knoweth them that take refuge in him. What do ye devise against the Lord?

He will make an utter end of wickedness:

For the earth shall be filled

With the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, As the waters cover the sea.

HABAKKUK III

O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: Art thou displeased against the rivers, O Lord? Is thine anger against the watercourses,

Or thy wrath against the sea,

That thou cleavest the rivers into dry land?
The mountains see thee, they tremble,

And the everlasting mountains are cleft asunder,

The perpetual hills do bow;

The rainflood of waters passeth on;

The deep uttereth his voice,

And lifteth up his hands on high.

When I heard, my heart failed me;
My lips quivered at the voice:

Rottenness entereth into my bones, and I tremble where I stand,

Lest for myself I should find no rest in the day of trouble.

Yet though the fig tree shall not blossom,
Neither shall fruit be in the vines;

The labour of the olive shall fail,

And the fields shall yield no meat;

Though the flock shall be cut off from the fold, And there shall be no herd in the stalls:

Yet will I rejoice in the Lord,

Yea, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

THE PROPHETS

HAGGAI AND ZECHARIAH

HAGGAI, ZECHARIAH

Isaiah xxviii. Proverbs xxiv

Thus saith the Lord:

Behold, I lay for a foundation a stone,

A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.

Salvation will I appoint for walls and bulwarks; Justice will I make the line,

And righteousness the plummet.

Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, And, behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand.

Then said I, Whither goest thou?

And he said unto me, To measure the house,
To see what is the breadth thereof,

And what is the length thereof.
For here shall my house be builded,
And a line stretched forth upon it.
Who art thou, O great mountain?

Before the builders thou shalt become a plain: And they shall bring forth the cornerstone therefrom with joy,

Crying, Grace, grace unto it!

And thou shalt rejoice to see the plummet in the hands of the builders.

Their hands have laid the foundations of this

house;