God expostulates with the Jews for their ingratitude and sins: for which they shall be punished.

¹ Listen to what the Lord says: Rise, contend in judgment against the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.¹

1. 6:1The mountains, etc: That is, the great ones, the princes of the people.(Challoner)

² 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, or how have I assailed you? Respond to me.

⁴ 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.¹²

1. 6:4‘The house of servitude’ could also be translated as ‘the house of slavery.’(Conte)
2. 6:4In the Latin, this verse usually ends with a question mark, not because the assertions of the verse are in doubt, but because it is a continuation of the previous verse’s question. A question mark is not needed at the end of this verse.(Conte)

⁵ 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.¹

1. 6:5From Setim to Galgal: He puts them in mind of the favour he did them, in not suffering them to be quite destroyed by the evil purpose of Balach, and the wicked counsel of Balaam: and then gives them a hint of the wonders he wrought, in order to bring them into the land of Promise, by stopping the course of the Jordan, in their march from Setim to Galgal.(Challoner)

⁶ 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?¹

1. 6:6What shall I offer, etc: This is spoken in the person of the people, desiring to be informed what they are to do to please God.(Challoner)

⁷ 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?¹

1. 6:7Or, ‘Shall I give my first born for my wickedness, the fruit of my womb for the sin of my soul?’(Conte)

⁸ 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 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.¹

1. 6:9Or, ‘safe will be those fearing your name.’(Conte)

¹⁰ Nevertheless, there is a fire in the house of the impious, the treasury of iniquity, and a small measure, filled with wrath.¹

1. 6:10Full of wrath, etc: That is, highly provoking in the sight of God.(Challoner)

¹¹ Shall I justify unfaithful balances, and the deceitful weighing of a small bag?

¹² By this, her wealthy have been filled with iniquity, and her inhabitants have spoken lies, and their tongue was deceitful in their mouth.

¹³ And I, therefore, began to strike you with perdition because of your sins.

¹⁴ 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, and not reap. You will tread the olives, and not be anointed with oil, and crush the grapes, and not drink the wine.¹

1. 6:15The word ‘mustum’ refers to partially fermented wine, but in this context it refers to grapes that have partially completed the process of making wine, i.e. grapes that have been crushed.(Conte)

¹⁶ 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.¹²

1. 6:16The word ‘perditionem’ here refers to Hell, with its hissing inhabitants, not merely to destruction or ruin.(Conte)
2. 6:16The statutes of Amri, etc: The wicked ways of Amri and Achab, idolatrous kings.(Challoner)