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*1
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.�
1 An ephah is a measure of volume, and a short ephah
is made smaller than a full ephah for the purpose of cheating customers.
World English Bible - Public Domain