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⁴For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt,

And redeemed thee out of the house of bondage,

And I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

⁵O My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised,

And what Balaam the son of Beor answered him;

From Shittim unto Gilgal,

That ye may know the righteous acts of the Lord.

⁶'Wherewith shall I come before the Lord,

And bow myself before God on high?

Shall I come before Him with burnt-offerings,

With calves of a year old?

⁷Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,

With ten thousands of rivers of oil?

Shall I give my first-born for my transgression,

The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?'

⁸It hath been told thee, O man, what is good,

And what the Lord doth require of thee:

Only to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.

 

⁹Hark! the Lord crieth unto the city—

And it is wisdom to have regard for Thy name—

Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.

¹⁰Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked,

And the scant measure that is abominable?

¹¹'Shall I be pure with wicked balances,

And with a bag of deceitful weights?'

¹²For the rich men thereof are full of violence,

And the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies,

And their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

¹³Therefore I also do smite thee with a grievous wound;

I do make thee desolate because of thy sins.

¹⁴Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied;

And thy sickness shall be in thine inward parts.

And thou shalt conceive, but shalt not bring forth;

And whomsoever thou bringest forth will I give up to the sword.

¹⁵Thou shalt sow, but shalt not reap;

Thou shalt tread the olives, but shalt not anoint thee with oil,

And the vintage, but shalt not drink the wine.

¹⁶For the statutes of Omri are kept,

And all the works of the house of Ahab,

And ye walk in their counsels;

That I may make thee an astonishment,

And the inhabitants thereof a hissing,

And ye shall bear the reproach of My people.

 

7Woe is me! for I am as the last of the summer fruits,

As the grape gleanings of the vintage;

There is no cluster to eat;

Nor first-ripe fig which my soul desireth.

²The godly man is perished out of the earth,

And the upright among men is no more;

They all lie in wait for blood;

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