MIḴAH 6

1 Hear now what 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 is saying, “Arise, strive with the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.

2 “Hear, O you mountains, the controversy of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, and you everlasting foundations of the earth! For 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 has a controversy with His people and He shall reprove Yisra’ĕl.

3 “My people, what have I done to you? And how have I wearied you? Answer Me,

4 for I brought you up from the land of Mitsrayim, and I ransomed you from the house of bondage. And I sent Mosheh, Aharon, and Miryam before you.

5 “My people, remember, please, what Balaq sovereign of Mo’aḇ counselled, and what Bil’am son of Be’or answered him, from Shittim to Gilgal, in order to know the righteousness of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄.”

6 With what shall I come before 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, bow myself before the high Elohim? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?

7 Is 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 pleased with thousands of rams or ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my being?

8 He has declared to you, O man, what is good. And what does 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 require of you but to do right, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your Elohim?

9 The voice of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 cries to the city – and let sound wisdom see Your Name! “Hear the Rod and Him who appointed it!

10 “Are there still treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the short measure that is an abomination?”

11 Would I be innocent with wicked scales, and with a bag of false weights?

12 “For her rich men are filled with cruel unrighteousness, and her inhabitants have spoken falsehood, and their tongue is deceit in their mouth.

13 “So I also, I shall smite you with a grievous wound, to lay you waste because of your sins:

14 “You shall eat but not be satisfied, and your inside be empty. And you shall store up but not save, and what you save I shall give to the sword.

15 “You shall sow but not reap, you shall tread the olives but not anoint yourselves with oil, and make sweet wine but not drink wine.

16 “For the laws of Omri are strictly observed, and all the works of the house of Aḥaḇ, and you walk in their counsels. Therefore I give you for a ruin, and your inhabitants for a hissing, and let you bear the reproach of My people.”