6 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 ^[a]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 ^[b]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 ^[c]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 ^[d]a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing: and ye shall bear the reproach of my people.