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The Indictment of the LORD

1  Hear what the LORD says:
Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
    and let the hills hear your voice.
2  Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the LORD,
    and you enduring foundations of the earth,
for the LORD has an indictment against his people,
    and he will contend with Israel.

3  “O my people, what have I done to you?
    How have I wearied you? Answer me!
4  For I brought you up from the land of Egypt
    and redeemed you from the house of slavery,
and I sent before you Moses,
    Aaron, and Miriam.
5  O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised,
    and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
    that you may know the righteous acts of the LORD.”

What Does the LORD Require?

6  “With what shall I come before the LORD,
    and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
7  Will the LORD be pleased with ^{1 6:7 Or Will the LORD accept} thousands of rams,
    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 has told you, O man, what is good;
    and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness, ^{2 6:8 Or steadfast love}
    and to walk humbly with your God?

Destruction of the Wicked

9  The voice of the LORD cries to the city—
    and it is sound wisdom to fear your name:
“Hear of the rod and of him who appointed it! ^{3 6:9 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain}
10      Can I forget any longer the treasures ^{4 6:10 Or Are there still treasures} of wickedness in the house of the wicked,
    and the scant measure that is accursed?
11  Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales
    and with a bag of deceitful weights?
12  Your ^{5 6:12 Hebrew whose} rich men are full of violence;
    your inhabitants speak lies,
    and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
13  Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow,
    making you desolate because of your sins.
14  You shall eat, but not be satisfied,
    and there shall be hunger within you;
you shall put away, but not preserve,
    and what you preserve I will give to the sword.
15  You shall sow, but not reap;
    you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;
    you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine.
16  For you have kept the statutes of Omri, ^{6 6:16 Hebrew For the statutes of Omri are kept}
    and all the works of the house of Ahab;
    and you have walked in their counsels,
that I may make you a desolation, and your ^{7 6:16 Hebrew its} inhabitants a hissing;
    so you shall bear the scorn of my people.”

Wait for the God of Salvation

1  Woe is me! For I have become
    as when the summer fruit has been gathered,
    as when the grapes have been gleaned:
there is no cluster to eat,
    no first-ripe fig that my soul desires.
2  The godly has perished from the earth,
    and there is no one upright among mankind;
they all lie in wait for blood,
    and each hunts the other with a net.
3  Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well;
    the prince and the judge ask for a bribe,
and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul;
    thus they weave it together.
4  The best of them is like a brier,
    the most upright of them a thorn hedge.
The day of your watchmen, of your punishment, has come;
    now their confusion is at hand.
5  Put no trust in a neighbor;
    have no confidence in a friend;
guard the doors of your mouth
    from her who lies in your arms; ^{8 7:5 Hebrew bosom}
6  for the son treats the father with contempt,
    the daughter rises up against her mother,
the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
    a man's enemies are the men of his own house.
7  But as for me, I will look to the LORD;
    I will wait for the God of my salvation;
    my God will hear me.

8  Rejoice not over me, O my enemy;
    when I fall, I shall rise;
when I sit in darkness,
    the LORD will be a light to me.
9  I will bear the indignation of the LORD
    because I have sinned against him,
until he pleads my cause
    and executes judgment for me.
He will bring me out to the light;
    I shall look upon his vindication.
10  Then my enemy will see,
    and shame will cover her who said to me,
    “Where is the LORD your God?”
My eyes will look upon her;
    now she will be trampled down
    like the mire of the streets.

11  A day for the building of your walls!
    In that day the boundary shall be far extended.
12  In that day they ^{9 7:12 Hebrew he} will come to you,
    from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,
and from Egypt to the River, ^{10 7:12 That is, the Euphrates}
    from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.
13  But the earth will be desolate
    because of its inhabitants,
    for the fruit of their deeds.

14  Shepherd your people with your staff,
    the flock of your inheritance,
who dwell alone in a forest
    in the midst of a garden land; ^{11 7:14 Hebrew of Carmel}
let them graze in Bashan and Gilead
    as in the days of old.
15  As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
    I will show them ^{12 7:15 Hebrew him} marvelous things.
16  The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might;
they shall lay their hands on their mouths;
    their ears shall be deaf;
17  they shall lick the dust like a serpent,
    like the crawling things of the earth;
they shall come trembling out of their strongholds;
    they shall turn in dread to the LORD our God,
    and they shall be in fear of you.

God's Steadfast Love and Compassion

18  Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
    and passing over transgression
    for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger forever,
    because he delights in steadfast love.
19  He will again have compassion on us;
    he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our ^{13 7:19 Hebrew their} sins
    into the depths of the sea.
20  You will show faithfulness to Jacob
    and steadfast love to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our fathers
    from the days of old.