Chapter 6

¹Listen now to what Yahweh says:

“Arise, plead your case before the mountains,

And let the hills hear what you have to say.

²Hear, you mountains, Yahweh’s controversy,

And you enduring foundations of the earth;

For Yahweh has a controversy with his people,

And he will contend with Israel.

³My people, what have I done to you?

How have I burdened you?

Answer me!

⁴For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt,

And redeemed you out of the house of bondage.

I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

⁵My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised,

And what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim to Gilgal,

That you may know the righteous acts of Yahweh.”

⁶How shall I come before Yahweh,

And bow myself before the exalted God?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,

With calves a year old?

⁷Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams?

With tens of thousands of rivers of oil?

Shall I give my firstborn for my disobedience?

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

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

What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly,

To love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

⁹Yahweh’s voice calls to the city,

And wisdom sees your name:

“Listen to the rod,

And he who appointed it.

¹⁰Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked,

And a short ephah⁷⁶⁷⁶An ephah is a measure of volume, and a short ephah is made smaller than a full ephah for the purpose of cheating customers. that is accursed?

¹¹Shall I be pure with dishonest scales,

And with a bag of deceitful weights?

¹²Her rich men are full of violence,

Her inhabitants speak lies,

And their tongue is deceitful in their speech.

¹³Therefore I also have struck you with a grievous wound.

I have made you desolate because of your sins.

¹⁴You shall eat, but not be satisfied.

Your humiliation will be in your midst.

You will store up, but not save;

And that which you save I will give up to the sword.

¹⁵You will sow, but won’t reap.

You will tread the olives, but won’t anoint yourself with oil;

And crush grapes, but won’t drink the wine.

¹⁶For the statutes of Omri are kept,

And all the works of the house of Ahab.

You walk in their counsels,

That I may make you a ruin,

And her inhabitants a hissing;

And you will bear the reproach of my people.”