LEB MIC Chapter 6

Yahweh Brings a Charge against Israel

• “Arise! Plead your case with the mountains,
  • and let the hills hear your voice.”
  • 2 Hear, O mountains, the indictment of Yahweh, and you eternal foundations of the earth,
• for Yahweh has an indictment against his people,
  • and against Israel he contends.
  • 3 “O 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 Egypt, and from the house of slavery I redeemed you.
  • And I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam before you.
  • 5 O my people, remember what Balak the king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
• and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
  • so that you might know the righteous acts of Yahweh.”

What Does Yahweh Require?

• 6 With what shall I approach Yahweh, and bow down to God on high?
• Shall I approach him with burnt offerings,
  • with bull calves a year old?
  • 7 Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams, with myriads of rivers of oil?
• Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
  • the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
  • 8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does Yahweh ask from you
• but to do justice, and to love kindness,
  • and to walk humbly with your God?

The Destruction of the Wicked

• 9 The voice of Yahweh calls to the city ( it is sound judgment to fear your name):
• “Hear, O staff![fn] Now who has appointed it?
• 10 Is there any longer a man in the house of the wicked treasures of wickedness,
• and the ephah of scarcity which is accursed?[fn]
• 11 Shall I regard as pure the one with scales of wickedness, and with a bag of deceitful weights?
• 12 Because her rich are full of violence, and her inhabitants speak lies,
• and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
• 13 And I also have made you sick by striking you down ,[fn] making you desolate because of your sins.
• 14 You yourself will eat but not be satisfied; your hunger will be in your midst,
• and you will put away, but you will not save,
  • and what you save I will hand over to the sword.
  • 15 You yourself will sow, but you will not reap; you will tread olives, but you will not anoint yourself with oil;
  • you will tread grapes, but you will not drink wine.
  • 16 For you have observed the regulations of Omri and all the works of the house of Ahab.
• And you have walked in their counsels,
  • so that I am making you a desolation
• and your inhabitants an object of scorn.
  • So you will bear the scorn of my people.