{Mic 6:1-7:20; 2Ch 32:1-8; 2Ki 18:13-18; Isa 36:1-3 ^**}

    ^6:1 Hear now what Jehovah says: Arise, contend before the mountains and let the hills hear your voice. ^6:2 Hear, O you^* mountains, Jehovah's controversy and you^* enduring foundations of the earth, for Jehovah has a controversy with his people and he will contend with Israel.

    ^6:3 O my people, what have I done to you? And in what have I wearied you? Testify against me. ^6:4For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of bondage. And I sent before you Moses, Aaron and Miriam.

    ^6:5 O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him. Remember from Shittim to Gilgal, that you^* may know the righteous acts of Jehovah.

    ^6:6 With what shall I come before Jehovah and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves a year old? ^6:7 Will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

    ^6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does Jehovah require of you, but to do justly and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?

    ^6:9 The voice of Jehovah cries to the city and the man of wisdom will see your name. Hear the rod and who has appointed it. ^6:10 Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked and a scant measure that is indignant? ^6:11 Shall I be pure with wicked balances and with a bag of deceitful weights? ^6:12 For the rich men of it are full of violence and the inhabitants of it have spoken lies and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

    ^6:13 Therefore I also have struck you with a grievous wound, I have made you desolate because of your sins. ^6:14 You will eat, but not be satisfied and your humiliation will be in the midst of you. And you will put away, but will not save and what you save I will give up to the sword. ^6:15 You will sow, but will not reap, you will tread the olives, but will not anoint you with oil and the vintage, but will not drink the wine.

    ^6:16 For the statutes of Omri are kept and all the works of the house of Ahab and you^* walk in their counsels, that I may make you a desolation and the inhabitants of it a hissing. And you^* will bear the reproach of my people.