The Case against Israel

1Hear now what YHWH is saying:

“Arise, dispute with the mountains,

and let the hills hear your voice.

2Hear, O mountains, the dispute of YHWH,

and you enduring foundations of the earth,

for a dispute is unto YHWH against His people,

and He will argue against Israel.

3‘My people, what have I done to you,

and how have I wearied you?

Answer Me!

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

from the house of slavery;

I redeemed you

and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

5My people, remember, please, what Balak king of Moab counseled,

and what Balaam son of Beor answered him—

from Shittim† unto Gilgal,

so that you may know the righteous acts of YHWH!’”

6With what will I come before YHWH

and bow myself before God Most High?

Will I come before Him with burnt offerings,

with calves, sons of a year?

7Will YHWH be pleased with thousands of rams,

with myriad rivers of oil?

Will I give my firstborn for my transgression,

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

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

And what does YHWH seek from you,

but to do justice and to love kindness,

and to be humble to walk with your God?

The Punishment of Israel

9The voice of YHWH calls to the city,

and wisdom fears Your name:

“Heed the rod,

and the One who has appointed it!

10Are there Yet,

O house of the wicked,

the treasures of wickedness,

and the ephah of leanness, which is accursed?

11Shall I count pure the one with scales of wickedness,

and with a bag of weights of deceit?

12How her rich men

are full of violence,

and her dwellers have spoken deception,

and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth!

13So also I will be severe in striking you,

to make you desolate over your sins!

14You will eat, and you will not be satisfied,

your emptiness is in your entrails;

you will put away, and you will not save,

and what you save, I will give to the sword.

15You will sow, and you will not reap;

you will tread the olives, and you will not anoint yourselves with oil,

and new wine, and you will not drink the wine.

16And the statutes of Omri are kept,

and all the works of the house of Ahab,

and you⁺ walk by their counsels.

Therefore I will give you to desolation,

and your dwellers to hissing,

and you⁺ will bear the scorn of the nations.†”