1: Hear ye now what Jehovah saith: Arise, contend before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. 2: Hear, ye mountains, Jehovah's controversy, and ye, unchanging foundations of the earth; for Jehovah hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel. 3: O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. 4: For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5: My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, from Shittim unto Gilgal, that ye may know the righteousness of Jehovah. 6: Wherewith shall I come before Jehovah, bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old? 7: Will Jehovah take pleasure in thousands of rams, in ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8: He hath shewn thee, O man, what is good: and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with thy God? 9: Jehovah's voice crieth unto the city, and wisdom looketh on thy name. Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it. 10: Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure [which is] abominable? 11: Shall I be pure with the unjust balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights? 12: For her rich men are full of violence, and her inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. 13: Therefore also will I make [thee] sick in smiting thee; I will make [thee] desolate because of thy sins. 14: Thou shalt eat, and not be satisfied, and thine emptiness [shall remain] in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take away, and not save; and what thou savest will I give up to the sword. 15: Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and new wine, but shalt not drink wine. 16: For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and ye walk in their counsels: that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing; and ye shall bear the reproach of my people.
