1*Hear, then, what the Lord says:

Arise, plead your case before the mountains,

and let the hills hear your voice!a

2Hear, O mountains, the Lord’s case,

pay attention, O foundations of the earth!

For the Lord has a case against his people;

he enters into trial with Israel.

3My people, what have I done to you?

how have I wearied you? Answer me!b

4I brought you up from the land of Egypt,

from the place of slavery I ransomed you;

And I sent before you Moses,

Aaron, and Miriam.c

5*My people, remember what Moab’s King Balak planned,

and how Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him.

Recall the passage from Shittim to Gilgal,

that you may know the just deeds of the Lord.d

6*With what shall I come before the Lord,

and bow before God most high?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,

with calves a year old?e

7Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,

with myriad streams of oil?

* Shall I give my firstborn for my crime,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

8*You have been told, O mortal, what is good,

and what the Lord requires of you:

Only to do justice and to love goodness,

and to walk humbly with your God.f

9*The Lord cries aloud to the city

(It is prudent to fear your name!):

Hear, O tribe and city assembly,

10Am I to bear criminal hoarding

and the accursed short ephah?*

11Shall I acquit crooked scales,

bags of false weights?

12You whose wealthy are full of violence,

whose inhabitants speak falsehood

with deceitful tongues in their mouths!

13I have begun to strike you

with devastation because of your sins.

14You shall eat, without being satisfied,

food that will leave you empty;

What you acquire, you cannot save;

what you do save, I will deliver up to the sword.g

15You shall sow, yet not reap,

tread out the olive, yet pour no oil,

crush the grapes, yet drink no wine.h

16You have kept the decrees of Omri,

and all the works of the house of Ahab,

and you have walked in their counsels;

Therefore I will deliver you up to ruin,

and your citizens to derision;

and you shall bear the reproach of the nations.