The Indictment of the Lord
1 1Hear what the LORD says: Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.
2
2Hear, you mountains,
3the indictment of the LORD, and you enduring foundations of the earth, for the LORD has an indictment against his people, and he will contend with Israel.
3
"O my people,
4what have I done to you?
5How have I wearied you? Answer me!
4
For
6I brought you up from the land of Egypt and
7redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and
8Miriam.
5
O my people, remember
9what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, and what happened from
10Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know
11the saving acts of the LORD."
What Does the Lord Require?
6 12"With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before
13God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
7
14Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
15Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?"
8
He has told you, O man, what is good; and
16what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to
17walk humbly with your God?
Destruction of the Wicked
9 The voice of the LORD cries to the city-- and it is sound wisdom to fear
18your name: "Hear of
19the rod and of him who appointed it!
10
Can I forget any longer the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is accursed?
11
Shall I acquit the man
20with wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights?
12
Your rich men are
21full of violence; your inhabitants
22speak lies, and
23their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
13
Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow,
24making you desolate because of your sins.
14
25You shall eat, but not be satisfied, and there shall be hunger within you; you shall put away, but not preserve, and what you preserve I will give to the sword.
15
26You shall sow, but not reap; you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine.
16
For you have kept the statutes of
27Omri, and all the works of the house of
28Ahab; and you have walked in their counsels, that I may make you
29a desolation, and your inhabitants
30a hissing; so you shall bear
31the scorn of my people."