Micah 6

1 Hear now what the Lord is saying: Arise, present your complaint before the mountains, let the hills hear your voice!

Listen to what the Lord says: Rise, contend in judgment against the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.

2 Hear, mountains, the Lord’s accusation, listen, foundations of the earth. For the Lord has a case against his people. He has a dispute with Israel.

Let the mountains listen to the judgment of the Lord, and the strong foundations of the earth. For the judgment of the Lord is with his people, and he will enter into judgment with Israel.

3 ‘My people, what have I done to you. How have I displeased you? Answer me!

My people, what have I done to you, or how have I assailed you? Respond to me.

4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, from the land of slavery I redeemed you. I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to lead you.

For I led you out of the land of Egypt, and I freed you from the house of servitude, and I sent before your face Moses, and Aaron, and Miriam.

5 My people, what did Balak, king of Moab counsel? And how did Balaam, the son of Beor, answer him? Remember now the journey from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you might realise the just deeds of the Lord.’

My people, remember, I ask you, what Balak the king of Moab planned, and how Balaam the son of Beor responded to him, from Shittim even to Gilgal, so that you may know the justice of the Lord.

6 With what should I come before the Lord? Bow myself before the God on high? Should I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves a year old?

What worthy thing might I offer to the Lord, as I bend the knee before God on high? How could I offer holocausts to him, and one year-old calves?

7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, With ten thousand streams of oil? Should I give him my firstborn son for my guilt, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

Would the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with many thousands of fat he-goats? How could I give up my firstborn because of my evil deed, the fruit of my womb because of the sin of my soul?

8 The Lord has told you what is good, what he demands of you: Only to do justice and love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

I will reveal to you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires from you, and how to act with judgment, and to love mercy, and to walk carefully with your God.

9 Listen! The Lord calls to the city! Listen, tribe and assembly of the city!

The voice of the Lord cries out to the city, “Listen, you tribes,” and who will confirm it? And salvation will be for those who fear your name.

10 ‘Can I forget the hoarded treasures in the houses of the wicked, and the accursed scant measure?

Nevertheless, there is a fire in the house of the impious, the treasury of iniquity, and a small measure, filled with wrath.

11 Can I leave her unpunished because of evil scales, and the bag of false weights?

Shall I justify unfaithful balances, and the deceitful weighing of a small bag?

12 Whose rich people are full of violence, her inhabitants liars, whose tongues speak deceit?

By this, her wealthy have been filled with iniquity, and her inhabitants have spoken lies, and their tongue was deceitful in their mouth.

13 ‘But I indeed, have begun to punish you, to lay you in ruins because of your sins.

And I, therefore, began to strike you with perdition because of your sins.

14 You will eat but not be satisfied, your stomach empty within you. You will store up but lose everything, because whatever you save I will give to the sword.

You will consume and not be satisfied, and your humiliation will be in your midst. And you will take hold, and not save, and those whom you will save, I will deliver to the sword.

15 You will sow but not reap. You will tread the olives but have no oil for rubbing, tread grapes but drink no wine!

You will sow, and not reap. You will tread the olives, and not be anointed with oil, and crush the grapes, and not drink the wine.

16 ‘For you have followed the commands of Omri, and all the practices of the house of Ahab. You have acted in accord with their counsels, so I will give you up to ruin, the city’s inhabitants to derision. The nations will treat you with contempt!’

For you have kept the precepts of Omri, and all the works of the house of Ahab. And you have walked according their wills, so that I should give you over to perdition and its hissing inhabitants, and you would carry the disgrace of my people.