[1] Hear ye now what the LORD saith: Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.
[2] Hear, O ye mountains, the LORD’S controversy, and ye enduring 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 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] O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him; remember from Shittim unto Gilgal, that ye may know the righteous acts 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 firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
[8] He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
[9] The voice of the LORD crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom will 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 be pure with wicked balances, and with a 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 I also have smitten thee with a grievous wound; I have made thee desolate because of thy sins.
[14] Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy humiliation shall be in the midst of thee: and thou shalt remove, but shalt not carry away safe; and that which thou carriest away will I give up to the sword.
[15] Thou shalt sow, but shalt not reap: thou shalt tread the olives, but shalt not anoint thee with oil; and the vintage, but shalt not drink the 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; and ye shall bear the reproach of my people.