1: Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. 2: Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD'S controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel. 3: O my people, what have I done to thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me, 4: For I brought thee out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee from the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5: O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim to Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the LORD. 6: Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, [and] bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old? 7: Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, [or] with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my first-born [for] my transgression, the fruit of my body [for] the sin of my soul? 8: He hath shown thee, O man, what [is] good; and what the LORD doth require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? 9: The LORD'S voice crieth to the city, and [the man of] wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it. 10: Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure [that is] abominable? 11: Shall I count [them] pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights? 12: For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue [is] deceitful in their mouth. 13: Therefore also will I make [thee] sick in smiting thee, in making [thee] desolate because of thy sins. 14: Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down [shall be] in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver; and [that] which thou deliverest 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 sweet 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 an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.
