1: Listen now to what Yahweh says: "Arise, plead your case before the mountains, And let the hills hear what you have to say. 2: Hear, you mountains, Yahweh's controversy, And you enduring foundations of the earth; For Yahweh has a controversy with his people, And he will contend with Israel. 3: My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me! 4: For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, And redeemed you out of the house of bondage. I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5: My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, And what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim to Gilgal, That you may know the righteous acts of Yahweh." 6: How shall I come before Yahweh, And bow myself before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, With calves a year old? 7: Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams? With tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my disobedience? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8: He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, To love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? 9: Yahweh's voice calls to the city, And wisdom sees your name: "Listen to the rod, And he who appointed it. 10: Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, And a short ephah that is accursed? 11: Shall I be pure with dishonest scales, And with a bag of deceitful weights? 12: Her rich men are full of violence, Her inhabitants speak lies, And their tongue is deceitful in their speech. 13: Therefore I also have struck you with a grievous wound. I have made you desolate because of your sins. 14: You shall eat, but not be satisfied. Your humiliation will be in your midst. You will store up, but not save; And that which you save I will give up to the sword. 15: You will sow, but won't reap. You will tread the olives, but won't anoint yourself with oil; And crush grapes, but won't drink the wine. 16: For the statutes of Omri are kept, And all the works of the house of Ahab. You walk in their counsels, That I may make you a ruin, And her inhabitants a hissing; And you will bear the reproach of my people."
