¹ Hear, I pray you, what, Yahweh, is saying,—arise thou, maintain thy controversy before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice:—

² Hear, ye mountains, the controversy of Yahweh, and ye lasting rocks, the foundations of the earth,—for, a controversy, hath Yahweh, with his people, and, with Israel, will he dispute.

³ O my people! what have I done to thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? Testify thou against me!

⁴ For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and, out of the house of slaves, I ransomed thee,—and I sent before thee, Moses, Aaron and Miriam.

⁵ O my people! remember, I pray you, what Balak king of Moab, counseled, and what Balaam son of Beor, answered him,—from the Acacias as far as Gilgal, that ye may know the righteousness of Yahweh.

⁶ Wherewith, shall I come before Yahweh? bow myself to God on high? Shall I come before him with ascending-sacrifice? with calves of a year old?

⁷ Will Yahweh, be pleased, with thousands of rams? with myriads of torrents of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression? the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

⁸ He hath told thee, O son of earth, what is good,—what then is, Yahweh, seeking of thee, but, to do justice, to delight in lovingkindness, and humbly to walk with thy God?

⁹ The voice of Yahweh, to the city, crieth out, With safety for him who regardeth his name,—Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.

¹⁰ Even yet, are there, in the house of the lawless one, the treasures of lawlessness,—and the scant measure—accurst?

¹¹ Shall I be pure with lawless balances? or with bag of deceitful weights?

¹² For, her rich men, are full of violence, and, her inhabitants, have spoken falsehood,—and, their tongue, is deceitful in their mouth.

¹³ Moreover also, I, have made thee sick with smiting thee,—laying thee waste because of thy sins.

¹⁴ Thou, shalt eat—and not be satisfied, but be shrunk with hunger within thee,—Though thou remove, yet shalt thou not set in safety, and, what thou dost set in safety, to the sword, will I deliver.

¹⁵ Thou, shalt sow, but shalt not reap,—thou, shalt tread the olive, but shalt not anoint thee with oil, also the grape, but shalt not drink the wine.

¹⁶ For strictly observed are the statutes of Omri, and every doing of the house of Ahab, and ye have walked in their counsels,—to the end I may give thee up to desolation, and her inhabitants to hissing, that, the reproach of peoples, ye may bear.