1Give ear now to the words of the Lord: Up! put forward your cause before the mountains, let your voice be sounding among the hills.
2Give ear, O you mountains, to the Lord's cause, and take note, you bases of the earth: for the Lord has a cause against his people, and he will take it up with Israel.
3O my people, what have I done to you? how have I been a weariness to you? give answer against me.
4For I took you up out of the land of Egypt and made you free from the prison-house; I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
5O my people, keep in mind now what was designed by Balak, king of Moab, and the answer which Balaam, son of Beor, gave him; the events, from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you may be certain of the upright acts of the Lord.
6With what am I to come before the Lord and go with bent head before the high God? am I to come before him with burned offerings, with young oxen a year old?
7Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of sheep or with ten thousand rivers of oil? am I to give my first child for my wrongdoing, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
