Micah 6

The Case against Israel

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

² Hear, O mountains, the LORD’s indictment, you enduring foundations of the earth. For the LORD has a case against His people, and He will argue it against Israel:

³ ‘My people, what have I done to you? Testify against Me how I have wearied you!

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

⁵ My people, remember what Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember your journey from Shittim ¹ to Gilgal, so that you may acknowledge the righteousness of the LORD.’”

⁶ With what shall I come before the LORD when I bow before the God on high? Should I come to Him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves?

⁷ Would the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present 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 act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

The Punishment of Israel

⁹ The voice of the LORD calls out to the city (and it is sound wisdom to fear Your name): “Heed the rod and the One who ordained it.

¹⁰ Can I forget any longer, O house of the wicked, the treasures of wickedness and the short ephah, which is accursed?

¹¹ Can I excuse dishonest scales or bags of false weights?

¹² For the wealthy of the city are full of violence, and its residents speak lies; their tongues are deceitful in their mouths.

¹³ Therefore I am striking you severely, to ruin you because of your sins.

¹⁴ You will eat but not be satisfied, and your hunger will remain with you. What you acquire, you will not preserve; and what you save, I will give to the sword.

¹⁵ You will sow but not reap; you will press olives but not anoint yourselves with oil; you will tread grapes but not drink the wine.

¹⁶ You have kept the statutes of Omri and all the practices of Ahab’s house; you have followed their counsel. Therefore I will make you a desolation, and your inhabitants an object of contempt; you will bear the scorn of the nations.²”