< Micah 6 >

1 Pay attention to what Yahweh says [to you Israeli people]: “Stand up [in court] and state what you are accusing [me] about. And allow the hills and mountains to hear what you will say.
Hearken ye nowe what the Lord sayth, Arise thou, and contende before the mountaines, and let the hilles heare thy voyce.
2 [But then] you mountains must [also] listen [carefully] [DOU] to what I, Yahweh, am complaining [about my people]. I have something to say about what [DOU] my Israeli people are doing that displeases me.
Heare ye, O mountaynes, the Lordes quarel, and ye mightie foundations of the earth: for the Lord hath a quarell against his people, and he will pleade with Israel.
3 My people, what have I done to [cause trouble for] you [RHQ]? What have I done to cause you to experience difficulties? Answer me!
O my people, what haue I done vnto thee? or wherin haue I grieued thee? testifie against me.
4 I [did great things for your ancestors]; I brought them out of Egypt; I rescued them from that land where they were slaves. I sent Moses to [lead] them, and [his older brother] Aaron and [his older sister] Miriam.
Surely I brought thee vp out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of seruants, and I haue sent before thee, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
5 My people, think about when Balak, the king of Moab, requested Beor’s son Balaam [to curse your ancestors], and think about what Balaam replied. Think about [how your ancestors crossed the Jordan River miraculously while] they were traveling from Acacia to Gilgal. [Think about those things in order] that you may know that [I], Yahweh, do what is right.”
O my people, remember nowe what Balak King of Moab had deuised, and what Balaam the sonne of Beor answered him, from Shittim vnto Gilgal, that ye may knowe the righteousnes of the Lord.
6 [The Israeli people ask, ] “What shall we bring to Yahweh [who lives in] heaven when we come to him and bow down before him? Should we bring calves that are a year-old that will be offerings that will be [killed and] completely burned [on the altar]?
Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bowe my selfe before the hie God? Shall I come before him with burnt offrings, and with calues of a yeere olde?
7 Will Yahweh be pleased [if we offer to him] 1,000 rams and 10,000 streams of [olive] oil? Should we offer our firstborn children [to be sacrifices] to pay for the sins that we have committed [DOU]?”
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand riuers of oyle? shall I giue my first borne for my transgression, euen the fruite of my bodie, for the sinne of my soule?
8 [No, because] he has shown each of us what is good [to do]; he has shown [RHQ] us what he requires each of us [to do]: He wants us to do what is just/fair and to love and to be merciful [to others], and [he wants us] to live humbly [while we fellowship] with him, our God.
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requireth of thee: surely to doe iustly, and to loue mercie, and to humble thy selfe, to walke with thy God.
9 “I am Yahweh, so if you are wise, you should revere me. I am calling out to [you people of] Jerusalem, ‘The armies [MET] that will destroy your city are coming, so pay careful attention to me, the one who is causing them to punish you with my rod.
The Lordes voyce cryeth vnto the citie, and the man of wisedome shall see thy name: Heare the rodde, and who hath appoynted it.
10 Do you think that [RHQ] I should forget that you wicked people filled your homes with valuable things that you acquired by cheating [others]? Do you think that [RHQ] I should forget that you used false measures [when you bought and sold things]? Those are things that I hate.
Are yet the treasures of wickednes in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure, that is abominable?
11 [Do you think] that [RHQ] I should say nothing about people who use scales that do not weigh correctly, and who use weights that are not accurate?
Shall I iustifie the wicked balances, and the bag of deceitfull weightes?
12 The rich people among you always act violently [to get money from poor people]. All of the people [in Jerusalem] are liars, and they [SYN] always deceive people.
For the rich men thereof are full of crueltie, and the inhabitants thereof haue spoken lyes, and their tongue is deceitfull in their mouth.
13 Therefore, I have [already] begun to get rid of you, to ruin you because of the sins that you have committed.
Therefore also will I make thee sicke in smiting thee, and in making thee desolate, because of thy sinnes.
14 [Soon] you will eat food, but you will not have enough to satisfy you; your stomachs will [still feel as though they are] empty. You will try to save up [money], but you will not be able to save anything, because I will send your enemies to take it from you in wars [MTY].
Thou shalt eate and not be satisfied, and thy casting downe shall be in the mids of thee, and thou shalt take holde, but shalt not deliuer: and that which thou deliuerest, will I giue vp to the sworde.
15 You will plant [seeds], but you will not harvest [anything]. You will press olives, but [others], not you, will use the [olive] oil. You will trample on grapes [and make wine from the juice], but [others], not you, will drink the wine.
Thou shalt sowe, but not reape: thou shalt treade the oliues, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oyle, and make sweete wine, but shalt not drinke wine.
16 [Those things will happen to you because] you obey [only] the wicked laws of [King] Omri, and [you do the terrible things that wicked King] Ahab and his descendants commanded. So, I will destroy your [country], and I will cause your people to be despised; people [of other nations] will insult you.’”
For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the maner of the house of Ahab, and ye walke in their counsels, that I should make thee waste, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall beare the reproche of my people.

< Micah 6 >