| English Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1Hear what the LORD says: Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. | 1Listen to what the LORD says: "Get up! Defend yourself before the mountains! Present your case before the hills!" |
| 2Hear, 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. | 2Hear the LORD's accusation, you mountains, you enduring foundations of the earth! For the LORD has a case against his people; he has a dispute with Israel! |
| 3“O my people, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me! | 3"My people, how have I wronged you? How have I wearied you? Answer me! |
| 4For 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. | 4In fact, I brought you up from the land of Egypt, I delivered you from that place of slavery. I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to lead you. |
| 5O 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.” | 5My people, recall how King Balak of Moab planned to harm you, how Balaam son of Beor responded to him. Recall how you journeyed from Shittim to Gilgal, so you might acknowledge that the LORD has treated you fairly." |
| 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? | 6With what should I enter the LORD's presence? With what should I bow before the sovereign God? Should I enter his presence with burnt offerings, with year-old calves? |
| 7Will the LORD be pleased with 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?” | 7Will the LORD accept a thousand rams, or ten thousand streams of olive oil? Should I give him my firstborn child as payment for my rebellion, my offspring--my own flesh and blood--for my sin? |
| 8He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? | 8He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the LORD really wants from you: He wants you to promote justice, to be faithful, and to live obediently before your God. |
| 9The 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! | 9Listen! The LORD is calling to the city! It is wise to respect your authority, O LORD! Listen, O nation, and those assembled in the city! |
| 10Can I forget any longer the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is accursed? | 10"I will not overlook, O sinful house, the dishonest gain you have hoarded away, or the smaller-than-standard measure I hate so much. |
| 11Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights? | 11I do not condone the use of rigged scales, or a bag of deceptive weights. |
| 12Your rich men are full of violence; your inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. | 12The city's rich men think nothing of resorting to violence; her inhabitants lie, their tongues speak deceptive words. |
| 13Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow, making you desolate because of your sins. | 13I will strike you brutally and destroy you because of your sin. |
| 14You 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. | 14You will eat, but not be satisfied. Even if you have the strength to overtake some prey, you will not be able to carry it away; if you do happen to carry away something, I will deliver it over to the sword. |
| 15You shall sow, but not reap; you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine. | 15You will plant crops, but will not harvest them; you will squeeze oil from the olives, but you will have no oil to rub on your bodies; you will squeeze juice from the grapes, but you will have no wine to drink. |
| 16For you have kept the statutes of Omri, 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 inhabitants a hissing; so you shall bear the scorn of my people.” | 16You implement the regulations of Omri, and all the practices of Ahab's dynasty; you follow their policies. Therefore I will make you an appalling sight, the city's inhabitants will be taunted derisively, and nations will mock all of you." |
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