⁵ “Assemble before me, my saints,
    who have entered into my covenant by sacrifice.”

⁶ The heavens revealed his justice,
    for God is himself the judge.
Interlude

⁷ “Listen, my people,
    for I am making a pronouncement:
        Israel, I, God, your God, am testifying against you.
⁸ I do not rebuke you because of your sacrifices;
    indeed, your burnt offerings are continuously before me.
⁹ I will no longer accept a sacrificial^[c] bull from your household;
    nor goats from your pens.
¹⁰ Indeed, every animal of the forest is mine,
    even the cattle on a thousand hills.
¹¹ I know all the birds in the mountains;
    indeed, everything that moves in the field is mine.
¹² “If I were hungry, I would not tell you;
    for the world is mine along with everything in it.
¹³ Why should I eat the flesh of oxen
    or drink the blood of goats?
¹⁴ Offer to God a thanksgiving praise;
    pay your vows to the Most High.
¹⁵ Call on me in the day of distress;
    I will deliver you, and you will glorify me.”

¹⁶ As for the wicked, God says,

“How dare you recite my statutes
    or speak about my covenant with your lips!
¹⁷ You hate instruction
    and toss my words behind you.
¹⁸ When you see a thief, you befriend him,
    and you keep company with adulterers.
¹⁹ You give your mouth free reign for evil,
    and your tongue devises deceit.
²⁰ You sit and speak against your brother;
    you slander your own mother’s son.
²¹ These things you did, and I kept silent,
    because you assumed that I was like you.
But now I am going to rebuke you,
    and I will set forth my case before your very own eyes.”

²² Consider this, you who have forgotten God—
    Otherwise, I will tear you in pieces
        and there will be no deliverer:
²³ Whoever offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifies me,
    and I will reveal the salvation of God
        to whomever continues in my way.”^[d]