WORDS for your PSYCHE - Part I

Old Testament: Books of Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” (Micah 5:2 / NIV ®)

OBADIAH

“You should not look down on your brother in the day of his misfortune....” (Obadiah 1:12 / NIV ®)

“You should not march through the gates of my people in the day of their disaster, nor look down on them in their calamity in the day of their disaster, nor seize their wealth in the day of their disaster.” (Obadiah 1:13 / NIV ®)

JONAH

“From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. He said: ’In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help and you listened to my cry.’” (Jonah 2:1-2 / NIV ®)

MICAH

“Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it. They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them. They defraud a man of his home, a fellow-man of his inheritance.” (Micah 2:1-2 / NIV ®)

“Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more. Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig-tree, and no-one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has spoken.” (Micah 4:3-4 / NIV ®)

“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.” (Micah 5:4 / NIV ®)

NAHUM

“The Lord is slow to anger and great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.” (Nahum 1:3 / NIV ®)

“The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him....” (Nahum 1:7 / NIV ®)

HABAKKUK

“How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, ’Violence!’ but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice?” (Habakkuk 1:2-3 / NIV ®)

“Though the fig-tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour.” (Habakkuk 3:17-18 / NIV ®)

ZEPHANIAH

“Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord’s anger.” (Zephaniah 2:3 / NIV ®)

HAGGAI

“Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: ’Give careful thoughts to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.’” (Haggai 1:5-6 / NIV ®)

ZECHARIAH

“This is what the Lord Almighty says: ’Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.’” (Zechariah 7:9-10 / NIV ®)

MALACHI

“Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honoured his name. ’They will be mine,’ says the Lord Almighty, ’in the day when I make up my treasured possession.’” (Malachi 3:16-17 / NIV ®)