Micah 6

¹Hear what the Lord says : Arise , plead your case before the mountains , and let the hills hear your voice .

²Hear , you mountains , the indictment of the Lord, and you enduring foundations of the earth , for the Lord has an indictment against his people , and he will contend with Israel .

³O my people , what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me!

⁴For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery , and I sent before you Moses , Aaron , and Miriam .

⁵O my people , remember what Balak king of Moab devised , and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal , that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.

⁶With 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 ?

⁷Will 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 ?

⁸He has told you , O man , 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 ?

⁹The voice of the Lord cries to the city — and it is sound wisdom to fear your name : Hear of the rod and of him who appointed it!

¹⁰Can I forget any longer the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked , and the scant measure that is accursed ?

¹¹Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights ?

¹²Your rich men are full of violence ; your inhabitants speak lies , and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth .

¹³Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow , making you desolate because of your sins .

¹⁴You shall eat , but not be satisfied , and there shall be hunger within you ; you shall put away , but not preserve , and what you preserve I will give to the sword .

¹⁵You shall sow , but not reap ; you shall tread olives , but not anoint yourselves with oil ; you shall tread grapes , but not drink wine .

¹⁶For you have kept the statutes of Omri , and all the works of the house of Ahab ; and you have walked in their counsels , that I may make you a desolation , and your inhabitants a hissing ; so you shall bear the scorn of my people .