1 So listen now to whatAdonaisays:
“Stand up and state your case to the mountains,
let the hills hear what you have to say.”
2 Listen, mountains, toAdonai’s case;
also you enduring rocks that support the earth!
Adonaihas a case against his people;
he wants to argue it out with Isra’el:
3 “My people, what have I done to you?
How have I wearied you? Answer me!
4 I brought you up from the land of Egypt.
I redeemed you from a life of slavery.
I sent Moshe, Aharon
and Miryam to lead you.
5 My people, just remember what Balak
the king of Mo’av had planned,
what Bil‘am the son of B‘or answered him,
[and what happened] between Sheetim and Gilgal —
so that you will understand
the saving deeds ofAdonai.”
6 “With what can I come beforeAdonai
to bow down before God on high?
Should I come before him with burnt offerings?
with calves in their first year?
7 WouldAdonaitake delight in thousands of rams
with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Could I give my firstborn to pay for my crimes,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
8 Human being, you have already been told
what is good, whatAdonaidemands of you —
no more than to act justly, love grace
and walk in purity with your God.
9 The voice ofAdonai! He calls to the city —
and it is wisdom to fear your name —
“Listen to the rod and to him who commissioned it.
10 Are there still ill-gotten gains in the house of the wicked?
still the detestable shorteifah-measure?
11 Should I declare innocent wicked scales
and a bag of fraudulent weights?
12 The rich men there are full of violence,
the inhabitants tell lies,
with tongues of deceit in their mouths.
13 “Therefore, I am starting to strike you down,
to destroy you because of your sins.
14 You will eat but not be satisfied,
with hunger gnawing inside you.
You will conceive but not give birth;
if you do give birth, I will give him to the sword.
15 You will sow but will not reap,
you will press olives but not rub yourself with oil,
likewise you will press grapes but not drink the wine.
16 For you keep the regulations of ‘Omri
and all the practices of the house of Ach’av,
modeling yourselves on their advice.
Therefore I will make you an object of horror,
the inhabitants of this city a cause for contempt;
you will suffer the insults aimed at my people.”