Micah 6:6-16

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

⁶ “With what shall I come before the Lord
    and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
⁷ Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”^(A)
8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good,
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice and to love kindness
    and to walk humbly with your God?^(B)

⁹ The voice of the Lord cries to the city
    (and he shall save those who fear his name^[a]):
Hear, O tribe and assembly of the city!^[b]
10     Can I forget^[c] the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked
    and the despicable false measure?^(C)
11 Can I tolerate wicked scales
    and a bag of dishonest weights?^(D)
12 Your^[d] wealthy are full of violence;
    your^[e] inhabitants speak lies
    with tongues of deceit in their mouths.
¹³ Therefore I have begun^[f] to strike you down,
    making you desolate because of your sins.^(E)
14 You shall eat but not be satisfied,
    and there shall be a gnawing hunger within you;
you shall put away but not save,
    and what you save, I will hand over to the sword.^(F)
15 You shall sow but not reap;
    you shall tread olives but not anoint yourselves with oil;
    you shall tread grapes but not drink wine.^(G)
16 For you have kept the statutes of Omri^[g]
    and all the works of the house of Ahab,
    and you have followed their counsels.
Therefore I will make you a desolation and your^[h] inhabitants an object of hissing,
    so you shall bear the scorn of my people.^(H)