1 H ear ye now what Jehovah saith: Arise, contend before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.

2 H ear, ye mountains, Jehovah's controversy, and ye, unchanging foundations of the earth; for Jehovah hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel.

3 O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me.

4 F or I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

5 M y people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, from Shittim unto Gilgal, that ye may know the righteousness of Jehovah.

6 W herewith shall I come before Jehovah, bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old?

7 W ill Jehovah take pleasure in thousands of rams, in ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

8 H e hath shewn thee, O man, what is good: and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with thy God?

9 J ehovah's voice crieth unto the city, and wisdom looketh on thy name. Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.

10 A re there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure abominable?

11 S hall I be pure with the unjust balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?

12 F or her rich men are full of violence, and her inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

13 T herefore also will I make sick in smiting thee; I will make desolate because of thy sins.

14 T hou shalt eat, and not be satisfied, and thine emptiness in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take away, and not save; and what thou savest will I give up to the sword.

15 T hou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and new wine, but shalt not drink wine.

16 F or the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and ye walk in their counsels: that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing; and ye shall bear the reproach of my people.