Old Testament · Micah

Micah 6

The Case against Israel

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

2Hear, O mountains, the contention of the LORD, and the enduring ones, the foundations of the earth; for the LORD has a contention with his people, and with Israel he will dispute.
3My people, what have I done to you? And in what have I wearied you? Testify against me.
4For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and from the house of slaves I redeemed you; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
5My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him; from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the LORD.
6With what shall I come before the LORD, 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 belly for the sin of my soul^a?
8He has told you, O man^b, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do judgment^c, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

The Punishment of Israel

9The voice of the LORD cries to the city — and sound wisdom will see your name — hear the rod, and who has appointed it.
10Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant ephah that is accursed?
11Shall I be pure with wicked balances, and with a bag of deceitful stones?
12For her rich men are full of violence, and her inhabitants speak falsehood, and their tongue is deceit in their mouth.
13And I also have made you sick with smiting you, making you desolate because of your sins.
14You shall eat but not be satisfied, and your emptiness shall be in your midst; and you shall carry off but not deliver, and what you deliver I will give to the sword.
15You shall sow but not reap; you shall tread the olive but not anoint yourself with oil, and the new wine but not drink wine.
16For the statutes^d of Omri are kept, and all the work of the house of Ahab, and you have walked in their counsels; that I may make you a desolation, and her inhabitants a hissing; and you shall bear the reproach of my people.