¹ Hear ye now what Jehovah says: 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 has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel.

³ O my people, what have I done to thee? And in what 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 to Gilgal, that ye may know the righteous acts of Jehovah.

⁶ With what 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 thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

⁸ He has shown thee, O man, what is good. And what does Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God?

⁹ The voice of Jehovah cries to the city, and the man of wisdom will see thy name. Hear ye the rod, and who has appointed it.

¹⁰ Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and a scant measure that is abominable?

¹¹ Shall I be pure with wicked balances, and with a bag of deceitful weights?

¹² For the rich men of it are full of violence, and the inhabitants of it 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 shall eat, but not be satisfied, and thy humiliation shall be in the midst of thee. And thou shall put away, but shall not save, and that which thou save I will give up to the sword.

¹⁵ Thou shall sow, but shall not reap, thou shall tread the olives, but shall not anoint thee with oil, and the vintage, but shall 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 a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing. And ye shall bear the reproach of my people.