Micah 6

¹Hear now what the LORD says:

“Arise, plead your case before the mountains,

and let the hills hear your voice.

²Hear, O mountains, the LORD’s indictment,

you enduring foundations of the earth.

For the LORD has a case against His people,

and He will argue it against Israel:

³‘My people, what have I done to you?

Testify against Me how I have wearied you!

⁴For I brought you up from the land of Egypt

and redeemed you from the house of slavery.

I sent Moses before you,

as well as Aaron and Miriam.

⁵My people, remember what Balak king of Moab counseled

and what Balaam son of Beor answered.

Remember your journey from Shittim^a to Gilgal,

so that you may acknowledge the righteousness of the LORD.’”

⁶With what shall I come before the LORD

when I bow before the God on high?

Should I come to Him with burnt offerings,

with year-old calves?

⁷Would the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,

with ten thousand rivers of oil?

Shall I present my firstborn for my transgression,

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

⁸He has shown you, O man, what is good.

And what does the LORD require of you

but to act justly, to love mercy,

and to walk humbly with your God?

⁹The voice of the LORD calls out to the city

(and it is sound wisdom to fear Your name):

“Heed the rod

and the One who ordained it.

¹⁰Can I forget any longer,

O house of the wicked,

the treasures of wickedness

and the short ephah, which is accursed?

¹¹Can I excuse dishonest scales

or bags of false weights?

¹²For the wealthy of the city

are full of violence,

and its residents speak lies;

their tongues are deceitful in their mouths.

¹³Therefore I am striking you severely,

to ruin you because of your sins.

¹⁴You will eat but not be satisfied,

and your hunger will remain with you.

What you acquire, you will not preserve;

and what you save, I will give to the sword.

¹⁵You will sow but not reap;

you will press olives but not anoint yourselves with oil;

you will tread grapes but not drink the wine.

¹⁶You have kept the statutes of Omri

and all the practices of Ahab’s house;

you have followed their counsel.

Therefore I will make you a desolation,

and your inhabitants an object of contempt;

you will bear the scorn of the nations.”^a