The Case against Israel

1Hear ye what the Lord saith: Arise, contend thou in judgment against the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.

2Let the mountains hear the judgment of the Lord, and the strong foundations of the earth: for the Lord will enter into judgment with his people, and he will plead against Israel.

3O my people, what have I done to thee, or in what have I molested thee? answer thou me.

4For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and delivered thee out of the house of slaves: and I sent before thy face Moses, and Aaron, and Mary.

5O my people, remember, I pray thee, what Balach, the king of Moab, purposed: and what Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him, from Setim to Galgal, that thou mightest know the justice of the Lord.

6What shall I offer to the Lord that is worthy? wherewith shall I kneel before the high God? shall I offer holocausts unto him, and calves of a year old?

7May the Lord be appeased with thousands of rams, or with many thousands of fat he goats? shall I give my firstborn for my wickedness, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

8I will shew thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requireth of thee: Verily to do judgment, and to love mercy, and to walk solicitous with thy God.

The Punishment of Israel

9The voice of the Lord crieth to the city, and salvation shall be to them that fear thy name: hear O ye tribes, and who shall approve it?

10As yet there is a fire in the house of the wicked, the treasures of iniquity, and a scant measure full of wrath.

11Shall I justify wicked balances, and the deceitful weights of the bag?

12By which her rich men were filled with iniquity, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue was deceitful in their mouth.

13And I therefore began to strike thee with desolation for thy sins.

14Thou shalt eat, but shalt not be filled: and thy humiliation shall be in the midst of thee: and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not save: and those whom thou shalt save, I will give up to the sword.

15Thou shalt sow, but shalt not reap: thou shalt tread the olives, but shalt not be anointed with oil: and the new wine, but shalt not drink the wine.

16For thou hast kept the statutes of Amri, and all the works of the house of Achab: and thou hast walked according their wills, that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing, and you shall bear the reproach of my people.