6 Hear what the Lord says:
Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
    and let the hills hear your voice.
² Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the Lord,
    and you enduring foundations of the earth;
for the Lord has a controversy with his people,
    and he will contend with Israel.

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 thousands of rams,
    with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my first-born for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
⁸ He has showed you, O man, what is good;
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,^[a]
    and to walk humbly with your God?

⁹ The voice of the Lord cries to the city—
    and it is sound wisdom to fear thy name:
“Hear, O tribe and assembly of the city!^[b]
10 Can I forget^[c] the 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^[d] rich men are full of violence;
    your^[e] inhabitants speak lies,
    and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
¹³ Therefore I have begun^[f] to smite you,
    making you desolate because of your sins.
¹⁴ You shall eat, but not be satisfied,
    and there shall be hunger in your inward parts;
you shall put away, but not save,
    and what you save 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,^[g]
    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^[h] inhabitants a hissing;
    so you shall bear the scorn of the peoples.”^[i]