Micah
Chapter 6
1 Listen to what God says; stand up, argue your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear what you say.
2 Listen, mountains, to God’s argument, and you solid grounds of the earth: for God has a dispute with his people, and he will speak to Israel about it.
3 My people, what have I done to you? How have I tired you? Tell me.
4 I brought you out of Egypt and saved you from slavery; and I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam ahead of you.
5 My people, remember what King Balak of Moab planned and what Balaam son of Beor told him from Shittim to Gilgal; so you understand the goodness of God.
6 How should I come before God and bow down to the High God? Should I come to Him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves?
7 Will God be happy with thousands of sheep, or with ten thousand gallons of oil? Should I offer my first child for my wrongs, the child of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 God has shown you, person, what is good. What does God ask of you but to act fairly, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God?
9 God’s voice calls out to the city, and the wise person will recognize your name: listen to the punishment, and the one who has sent it.
10 Are there still stolen riches in the house of the bad person, and the dishonest short measure that is hated?
11 Can I consider them honest when they use unfair scales and bags of false weights?
12 The rich people there are very violent, the people living there tell lies, and their speech is full of trickery.
13 I will make you sick by striking you and make you empty because of your sins.
14 You will eat but not be full; you will be thrown down within yourself; you will try to save, but you will not succeed; and what you do save, I will let be destroyed by the sword.
15 You will plant seeds, but you will not harvest crops; you will press olives, but you will not use the oil; you will make sweet wine, but you will not drink it.
16 You follow Omri’s laws and Ahab’s family’s deeds, and take their advice; so I will make you a wasteland, and your people will be mocked; therefore, you will suffer the shame of my people.