< Micha Propheta 6 >

1 [Audite quæ Dominus loquitur: Surge, contende judicio adversum montes, et audiant colles vocem tuam.
Hear now what the Lord is saying: Arise, present your complaint before the mountains, let the hills hear your voice!
2 Audiant montes judicium Domini, et fortia fundamenta terræ; quia judicium Domini cum populo suo, et cum Israël dijudicabitur.
Hear, mountains, the Lord’s accusation, listen, foundations of the earth. For the Lord has a case against his people. He has a dispute with Israel.
3 Popule meus, quid feci tibi? aut quid molestus fui tibi? Responde mihi.
‘My people, what have I done to you. How have I displeased you? Answer me!
4 Quia eduxi te de terra Ægypti, et de domo servientium liberavi te, et misi ante faciem tuam Moysen, et Aaron, et Mariam.
For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, from the land of slavery I redeemed you. I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to lead you.
5 Popule meus, memento, quæso, quid cogitaverit Balach, rex Moab, et quid responderit ei Balaam, filius Beor, de Setim usque ad Galgalam, ut cognosceres justitias Domini.
My people, what did Balak, king of Moab counsel? And how did Balaam, the son of Beor, answer him? Remember now the journey from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you might realise the just deeds of the Lord.’
6 Quid dignum offeram Domino? curvabo genu Deo excelso? Numquid offeram ei holocautomata et vitulos anniculos?
With what should I come before the Lord? Bow myself before the God on high? Should I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves a year old?
7 numquid placari potest Dominus in millibus arietum, aut in multis millibus hircorum pinguium? numquid dabo primogenitum meum pro scelere meo, fructum ventris mei pro peccato animæ meæ?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, With ten thousand streams of oil? Should I give him my firstborn son for my guilt, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 Indicabo tibi, o homo, quid sit bonum, et quid Dominus requirat a te: utique facere judicium, et diligere misericordiam, et sollicitum ambulare cum Deo tuo.
The Lord has told you what is good, what he demands of you: Only to do justice and love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
9 Vox Domini ad civitatem clamat, et salus erit timentibus nomen tuum: audite, tribus, et quis approbabit illud?
Listen! The Lord calls to the city! Listen, tribe and assembly of the city!
10 Adhuc ignis in domo impii thesauri iniquitatis, et mensura minor iræ plena.
‘Can I forget the hoarded treasures in the houses of the wicked, and the accursed scant measure?
11 Numquid justificabo stateram impiam, et saccelli pondera dolosa?
Can I leave her unpunished because of evil scales, and the bag of false weights?
12 In quibus divites ejus repleti sunt iniquitate, et habitantes in ea loquebantur mendacium, et lingua eorum fraudulenta in ore eorum.
Whose rich people are full of violence, her inhabitants liars, whose tongues speak deceit?
13 Et ego ergo cœpi percutere te perditione super peccatis tuis.
‘But I indeed, have begun to punish you, to lay you in ruins because of your sins.
14 Tu comedes, et non saturaberis, et humiliatio tua in medio tui: et apprehendes, et non salvabis, et quos salvaveris, in gladium dabo.
You will eat but not be satisfied, your stomach empty within you. You will store up but lose everything, because whatever you save I will give to the sword.
15 Tu seminabis, et non metes: tu calcabis olivam, et non ungeris oleo; et mustum, et non bibes vinum.
You will sow but not reap. You will tread the olives but have no oil for rubbing, tread grapes but drink no wine!
16 Et custodisti præcepta Amri, et omne opus domus Achab, et ambulasti in voluntatibus eorum: ut darem te in perditionem, et habitantes in ea in sibilum, et opprobrium populi mei portabitis.]
‘For you have followed the commands of Omri, and all the practices of the house of Ahab. You have acted in accord with their counsels, so I will give you up to ruin, the city’s inhabitants to derision. The nations will treat you with contempt!’

< Micha Propheta 6 >