The Lord's Challenge to His People
1 The Lord said to his people:
Come and present your case
to the hills and mountains.
2 Israel, I am bringing charges
against you—
I call upon the mountains
and the earth's firm foundation
to be my witnesses.
3 My people, have I wronged you
in any way at all?
Please tell me.
4 I rescued you from Egypt,
where you were slaves.
I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam
to be your leaders.
5 Don't forget the evil plans
of King Balak of Moab
or what Balaam son of Beor
said to him.
Remember how I, the Lord,
saved you many times
on your way from Acacia
to Gilgal.
True Obedience
6 What offering should I bring
when I bow down to worship
the Lord God Most High?
Should I try to please him
by sacrificing
calves a year old?
7 Will thousands of sheep
or rivers of olive oil
make God satisfied with me?
Should I sacrifice to the Lord
my first-born child as payment
for my terrible sins?
8 The Lord God has told us
what is right
and what he demands:
“See that justice is done,
let mercy be your first concern,
and humbly obey your God.”
Cheating and Violence
9 I am the Lord,
and you are wise to respect
my power to punish.
So listen to my message
for the city of Jerusalem:
10 You store up stolen treasures
and use dishonest scales.
11 But I, the Lord, will punish you
for cheating with weights
and with measures.
12 You rich people are violent,
and everyone tells lies.
13 Because of your sins,
I will wound you and leave you
ruined and defenseless.
14 You will eat,
but still be hungry;
you will store up goods,
but lose everything—
I, the Lord, will let it all
be captured in war.
15 You won't harvest what you plant
or use the oil
from your olive trees
or drink the wine
from grapes you grow.
16 Jerusalem, this will happen
because you followed
the sinful example
of kings Omri and Ahab.
Now I will destroy you
and your property.
Then the people of every nation
will make fun and insult you.
1 Hearken ye nowe what the Lord sayth, Arise thou, and contende before the mountaines, and let the hilles heare thy voyce. 2 Heare ye, O mountaynes, the Lordes quarel, and ye mightie foundations of the earth: for the Lord hath a quarell against his people, and he will pleade with Israel. 3 O my people, what haue I done vnto thee? or wherin haue I grieued thee? testifie against me. 4 Surely I brought thee vp out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of seruants, and I haue sent before thee, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5 O my people, remember nowe what Balak King of Moab had deuised, and what Balaam the sonne of Beor answered him, from Shittim vnto Gilgal, that ye may knowe the righteousnes of the Lord. 6 Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bowe my selfe before the hie God? Shall I come before him with burnt offrings, and with calues of a yeere olde? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand riuers of oyle? shall I giue my first borne for my transgression, euen the fruite of my bodie, for the sinne of my soule? 8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requireth of thee: surely to doe iustly, and to loue mercie, and to humble thy selfe, to walke with thy God. 9 The Lordes voyce cryeth vnto the citie, and the man of wisedome shall see thy name: Heare the rodde, and who hath appoynted it. 10 Are yet the treasures of wickednes in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure, that is abominable? 11 Shall I iustifie the wicked balances, and the bag of deceitfull weightes? 12 For the rich men thereof are full of crueltie, and the inhabitants thereof haue spoken lyes, and their tongue is deceitfull in their mouth. 13 Therefore also will I make thee sicke in smiting thee, and in making thee desolate, because of thy sinnes. 14 Thou shalt eate and not be satisfied, and thy casting downe shall be in the mids of thee, and thou shalt take holde, but shalt not deliuer: and that which thou deliuerest, will I giue vp to the sworde. 15 Thou shalt sowe, but not reape: thou shalt treade the oliues, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oyle, and make sweete wine, but shalt not drinke wine. 16 For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the maner of the house of Ahab, and ye walke in their counsels, that I should make thee waste, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall beare the reproche of my people.