¹ Hear ye now what Jehovah saith: Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills Hear thy voice.

² Hear, O ye mountains, Jehovah's controversy, and ye enduring foundations of the earth; for Jehovah hath a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel.

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

⁴ For 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 O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him; [remember] from Shittim unto Gilgal, that ye may know the righteous acts of Jehovah.

⁶ Wherewith shall I come before Jehovah, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves a year old?

⁷ will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, [or] with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

⁸ He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God?

⁹ The voice of Jehovah crieth unto the city, and [the man of] wisdom will see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.

¹⁰ Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and a scant measure that is abominable?

¹¹ Shall I be pure with wicked balances, and with a bag of deceitful weights?

¹² For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

¹³ Therefore I also have smitten thee with a grievous wound; I have made thee desolate because of thy sins.

¹⁴ Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy humiliation shall be in the midst of thee: and thou shalt put away, but shalt not save; and that which thou savest will I give up to the sword.

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

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