1. Hear ye now what the LORD saith: Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.
2. Hear, O ye mountains, the LORD'S controversy, and ye enduring foundations of the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel.
3. O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me.
4. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
5. O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him; remember from Shittim unto Gilgal, that ye may know the righteous acts of the LORD.
6. Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?
7. will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or 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 hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
9. The voice of the LORD crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom will see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.
10. Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable?
11. Shall I be pure with wicked balances, and with a bag of deceitful weights?
12. For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
13. Therefore I also have smitten thee with a grievous wound; I have made thee desolate because of thy sins.