Micah 6
Open in the reader1Hear now what He-Who-Is says: “Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.
2Hear, O mountains, He-Who-Is’s indictment, you enduring foundations of the earth. For He-Who-Is has a case against His people, and He will argue it against Strives-with-God:
3‘My people, what have I done to you? Testify against Me how I have wearied you!
4For I brought you up from the land of Two-Straits and redeemed you from the house of slavery. I sent Drawn-Out before you, as well as Aaron and Bitter.
5My people, remember what Devastator king of From-the-Father counseled and what Not-of-the-People son of Burning answered. Remember your journey from Acacia-Grove to The-Rolling, so that you may acknowledge the righteousness of He-Who-Is.’”
6With what shall I come before He-Who-Is when I bow before the God on high? Should I come to Him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves?
7Would He-Who-Is 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?
8He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does He-Who-Is require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
9The voice of He-Who-Is calls out to the city (and it is sound wisdom to fear Your name): “Heed the rod and the One who ordained it.
10Can I forget any longer, O house of the wicked, the treasures of wickedness and the short ephah, which is accursed?
11Can I excuse dishonest scales or bags of false weights?
12For the wealthy of the city are full of violence, and its residents speak lies; their tongues are deceitful in their mouths.
13Therefore I am striking you severely, to ruin you because of your sins.
14You 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.
15You will sow but not reap; you will press olives but not anoint yourselves with oil; you will tread grapes but not drink the wine.
16You have kept the statutes of Sheaf-Gatherer and all the practices of Father's-Brother’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.”