1  ^qHear what the Lord says:

Arise, plead your case before the mountains,

and let the hills hear your voice.

2  ^rHear, you mountains, ^sthe 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, ^twhat have I done to you?

^uHow have I wearied you? Answer me!

4  For ^vI brought you up from the land of Egypt

and ^wredeemed you from the house of slavery,

and I sent before you Moses,

Aaron, and ^xMiriam.

5  O my people, remember ^ywhat Balak king of Moab devised,

and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,

and what happened from ^zShittim to Gilgal,

that you may know ^athe righteous acts of the Lord.”

6  ^b“With what shall I come before the Lord,

and bow myself before ^cGod on high?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,

with calves a year old?

7  ^dWill the Lord be pleased with¹ thousands of rams,

with ten thousands of rivers of oil?

^eShall 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 ^fwhat does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,²

and to ^gwalk humbly with your God?

9  The voice of the Lord cries to the city—

and it is sound wisdom to fear ^hyour name:

“Hear of ⁱthe rod and of him who appointed it!³

10  Can I forget any longer the treasures⁴ of wickedness in the house of the wicked,

and the scant measure that is accursed?

11  Shall I acquit the man ^jwith wicked scales

and with a bag of deceitful weights?

12  Your⁵ rich men are ^kfull of violence;

your inhabitants ^lspeak lies,

and ^mtheir tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

13  Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow,

ⁿmaking you desolate because of your sins.

14  ^oYou 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  ^pYou 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 ^qOmri,⁶

and all the works of the house of ^rAhab;

and you have walked in their counsels,

that I may make you ^sa desolation, and your⁷ inhabitants ^sa hissing;

so you shall bear ^tthe scorn of my people.”

1  Woe is me! For I have become

^uas when the summer fruit has been gathered,

as when the grapes have been gleaned:

there is no cluster to eat,

no ^vfirst-ripe fig that my soul desires.

2  ^wThe godly has perished from the earth,

and ^xthere is no one upright among mankind;

^ythey all lie in wait for blood,

and ^zeach hunts the other with a net.

3  ^aTheir hands are on what is evil, to do it well;

^bthe prince and ^cthe 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 ^dlike a brier,

the most upright of them a thorn hedge.

The day of ^eyour watchmen, of your punishment, has come;

^fnow their confusion is at hand.

5  ^gPut no trust in a neighbor;

have no confidence in a friend;

guard ^hthe doors of your mouth

from her who lies in your arms;⁸

6  for ⁱthe son treats the father with contempt,

the daughter rises up against her mother,

the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;

^ja man’s enemies are the men of his own house.

7  But as for me, I will look to the Lord;

^kI will wait for the God of my salvation;

my God will hear me.

8  ^lRejoice not over me, O ^mmy enemy;

ⁿwhen I fall, I shall rise;

^owhen I sit in darkness,

the Lord will be a light to me.

9  ^pI will bear the indignation of the Lord

because I have sinned against him,

until ^qhe pleads my cause

and executes judgment for me.

^rHe will bring me out to the light;

I shall look upon his vindication.

10  Then ^smy enemy will see,

and shame will cover her who ^tsaid to me,

“Where is the Lord your God?”

^uMy eyes will look upon her;

now she will be trampled down

^vlike the mire of the streets.

11  ^wA day for the building of your walls!

In that day the boundary shall be far extended.

12  In that day they⁹ will come to you,

^yfrom Assyria and the cities of Egypt,

and from Egypt to ^zthe River,¹⁰

^afrom sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.

13  But ^bthe earth will be desolate

because of its inhabitants,

for the fruit of their deeds.

14  ^cShepherd your people ^dwith your staff,

the flock of your inheritance,

who dwell alone in a forest

^ein the midst of ^fa garden land;¹¹

let them graze in Bashan and Gilead

as in the days of old.

15  ^gAs in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,

I will show them¹² marvelous things.

16  ^hThe nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might;

ⁱthey shall lay their hands on their mouths;

their ears shall be deaf;

17  ^jthey shall lick the dust like a serpent,

like the crawling things of the earth;

^kthey shall come trembling out of their strongholds;

^lthey shall turn in dread to the Lord our God,

and they shall be in fear of you.

18  ^mWho is a God like you, ⁿpardoning iniquity

and passing over transgression

ⁿfor the remnant of his inheritance?

^oHe does not retain his anger forever,

because he delights in steadfast love.

19  He will ^pagain have compassion on us;

^qhe will tread our iniquities underfoot.

^rYou will cast all our¹³ sins

into the depths of the sea.

20  ^sYou will show faithfulness to Jacob

and steadfast love to Abraham,

^tas you have sworn to our fathers

from the days of old.