 1 Hear now what the Lord says: Arise, contend with the mountains and let the hills hear your voice. 2 Mountains, hear the Lord's case, and the constant foundations of the earth. For the Lord has a quarrel with His people, and He will plead His case with Israel. 3 My people, what have I done to you? And in what have I made you weary? Testify against me. 4 For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of slaves. And I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam before you. 5 My people, remember now what King Balak of Moab planned and what Balaam the son of Beor answered from Acacia to Gilgal so that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord. 6 With what shall I come before the Lord, to bow myself before God the most high? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? 7 Will 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? 8 He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God? 9 The Lord's voice cries to the city. In sound wisdom one will see your name. Hear the rod and Him who has appointed it. 10 Are the treasures of wickedness still in the house of the wicked, and the short measure that is hateful? 11 Shall I count those with wicked scales pure, and those with the bag of deceitful weights? 12 For its rich men are full of violence. Its people have spoken lies. Their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. 13 Therefore I also have made you sick by striking you, laying you waste because of your sins. 14 You will eat but not be satisfied. Your casting down will be in your midst. You will take hold but will not deliver. What you deliver, I will give up to the sword. 15 You will sow but you will not reap. You will tread the olives but you will not anoint yourself with oil. You will make sweet wine but will not drink wine. 16 For the statutes of Omri are kept and all the works of the house of Ahab. You walk in their counsels, so that I should make you a ruin and its people a hissing. Therefore you will bear the shame of my people.
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