The Case against Israel

1Hearken ye nowe what the Lord sayth, Arise thou, and contende before the mountaines, and let the hilles heare thy voyce.

2Heare ye, O mountaynes, the Lordes quarel, and ye mightie foundations of the earth: for the Lord hath a quarell against his people, and he will pleade with Israel.

3O my people, what haue I done vnto thee? or wherin haue I grieued thee? testifie against me.

4Surely I brought thee vp out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of seruants, & I haue sent before thee, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

5O my people, remember nowe what Balak King of Moab had deuised, and what Balaam the sonne of Beor answered him, from Shittim vnto Gilgal, that ye may knowe the righteousnes of the Lorde.

6Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bowe my selfe before the hie God? Shall I come before him with burnt offrings, and with calues of a yeere olde?

7Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand riuers of oyle? shall I giue my first borne for my transgression, euen the fruite of my bodie, for the sinne of my soule?

8He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requireth of thee: surely to doe iustly, and to loue mercie, and to humble thy selfe, to walke with thy God.

The Punishment of Israel

9The Lordes voyce cryeth vnto the citie, and the man of wisedome shall see thy name: Heare the rodde, and who hath appoynted it.

10Are yet the treasures of wickednes in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure, that is abominable?

11Shall I iustifie the wicked balances, and the bag of deceitfull weightes?

12For the rich men thereof are full of crueltie, & the inhabitants thereof haue spoken lyes, and their tongue is deceitfull in their mouth.

13Therefore also will I make thee sicke in smiting thee, and in making thee desolate, because of thy sinnes.

14Thou shalt eate and not be satisfied, and thy casting downe shall be in the mids of thee, and thou shalt take holde, but shalt not deliuer: and that which thou deliuerest, will I giue vp to the sworde.

15Thou shalt sowe, but not reape: thou shalt treade the oliues, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oyle, and make sweete wine, but shalt not drinke wine.

16For the statutes of Omri are kept, & all the maner of the house of Ahab, and ye walke in their counsels, that I should make thee waste, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall beare the reproche of my people.