“Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
And let the hills hear your voice.
^2 (A)Hear, O you mountains, ^(B)the Lord’s complaint,
And you strong foundations of the earth;
For ^(C)the Lord has a complaint against His people,
And He will ^[a]contend with Israel.

³ “O My people, what ^(D)have I done to you?
And how have I ^(E)wearied you?
Testify against Me.
^4 (F)For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
I redeemed you from the house of bondage;
And I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
⁵ O My people, remember now
What ^(G)Balak king of Moab counseled,
And what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
From ^[b]Acacia Grove to Gilgal,
That you may know ^(H)the righteousness of the Lord.”

⁶ With what shall I come before the Lord,
And bow myself before the High God?
Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings,
With calves a year old?
^7 (I)Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
Ten thousand ^(J)rivers of oil?
^(K)Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
^[c]The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

⁸ He has ^(L)shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But ^(M)to do justly,
To love ^[d]mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?

“Hear the rod!
Who has appointed it?
¹⁰ Are there yet the treasures of wickedness
In the house of the wicked,
And the short measure that is an abomination?
¹¹ Shall I count pure those with ^(N)the wicked scales,
And with the bag of deceitful weights?
¹² For her rich men are full of ^(O)violence,
Her inhabitants have spoken lies,
And ^(P)their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

¹³ “Therefore I will also ^(Q)make you sick by striking you,
By making you desolate because of your sins.
^14 (R)You shall eat, but not be satisfied;
^[e]Hunger shall be in your midst.
You may carry some away,^[f] but shall not save them;
And what you do rescue I will give over to the sword.

¹⁵ “You shall ^(S)sow, but not reap;
You shall tread the olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;
And make sweet wine, but not drink wine.
¹⁶ For the statutes of ^(T)Omri are ^(U)kept;
All the works of Ahab’s house are done;
And you walk in their counsels,
That I may make you a ^[g]desolation,
And your inhabitants a hissing.
Therefore you shall bear the ^(V)reproach of ^[h]My people.”

³ That they may successfully do evil with both hands—
The prince asks for gifts,
The judge seeks a ^(AA)bribe,
And the great man utters his evil desire;
So they scheme together.
⁴ The best of them is ^(AB)like a brier;
The most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge;
The day of your watchman and your punishment comes;
Now shall be their perplexity.

^5 (AC)Do not trust in a friend;
Do not put your confidence in a companion;
Guard the doors of your mouth
From her who lies in your ^(AD)bosom.
⁶ For ^(AE)son dishonors father,
Daughter rises against her mother,
Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
A man’s enemies are the men of his own household.
⁷ Therefore I will look to the Lord;
I will ^(AF)wait for the God of my salvation;
My God will hear me.

¹¹ In the day when your ^(AM)walls are to be built,
In that day ^[j]the decree shall go far and wide.
¹² In that day ^(AN)they^[k] shall come to you
From Assyria and the ^[l]fortified cities,
From the ^[m]fortress to ^[n]the River,
From sea to sea,
And mountain to mountain.
¹³ Yet the land shall be desolate
Because of those who dwell in it,
And ^(AO)for the fruit of their deeds.

¹⁵ “As^(AQ) in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
I will show ^[p]them ^(AR)wonders.”

¹⁶ The nations ^(AS)shall see and be ashamed of all their might;
^(AT)They shall put their hand over their mouth;
Their ears shall be deaf.
¹⁷ They shall lick the ^(AU)dust like a serpent;
^(AV)They shall crawl from their holes like ^[q]snakes of the earth.
^(AW)They shall be afraid of the Lord our God,
And shall fear because of You.
^18 (AX)Who is a God like You,
^(AY)Pardoning iniquity
And passing over the transgression of ^(AZ)the remnant of His heritage?

^(BA)He does not retain His anger forever,
Because He delights in ^(BB)mercy.^[r]
19 He will again have compassion on us,
And will subdue our iniquities.

You will cast all ^[s]our sins
Into the depths of the sea.
^20 (BC)You will give truth to Jacob
And ^[t]mercy to Abraham,
^(BD)Which You have sworn to our fathers
From days of old.

^(E)The Lord has His way
In the whirlwind and in the storm,
And the clouds are the dust of His feet.
^4 (F)He rebukes the sea and makes it dry,
And dries up all the rivers.
^(G)Bashan and Carmel wither,
And the flower of Lebanon wilts.
⁵ The mountains quake before Him,
The hills melt,
And the earth ^[b]heaves at His presence,
Yes, the world and all who dwell in it.

⁶ Who can stand before His indignation?
And ^(H)who can endure the fierceness of His anger?
His fury is poured out like fire,
And the rocks are thrown down by Him.

^7 (I)The Lord is good,
A stronghold in the day of trouble;
And ^(J)He knows those who trust in Him.
⁸ But with an overflowing flood
He will make an utter end of its place,
And darkness will pursue His enemies.

^9 (K)What do you ^[c]conspire against the Lord?
^(L)He will make an utter end of it.
Affliction will not rise up a second time.
¹⁰ For while tangled ^(M)like thorns,
^(N)And while drunken like drunkards,
^(O)They shall be devoured like stubble fully dried.
¹¹ From you comes forth one
Who plots evil against the Lord,
A ^[d]wicked counselor.

“Though they are ^[e]safe, and likewise many,
Yet in this manner they will be ^(P)cut down
When he passes through.
Though I have afflicted you,
I will afflict you no more;
¹³ For now I will break off his yoke from you,
And burst your bonds apart.”

¹⁴ The Lord has given a command concerning you:
^[f]“Your name shall be perpetuated no longer.
Out of the house of your gods
I will cut off the carved image and the molded image.
I will dig your ^(Q)grave,
For you are ^(R)vile.”^[g]

¹⁵ Behold, on the mountains
The ^(S)feet of him who brings good tidings,
Who proclaims peace!
O Judah, keep your appointed feasts,
Perform your vows.
For the ^[h]wicked one shall no more pass through you;
He is ^(T)utterly cut off.

² For the Lord will restore the excellence of Jacob
Like the excellence of Israel,
For the emptiers have emptied them out
And ruined their vine branches.

³ The shields of his mighty men are made red,
The valiant men are in scarlet.
The chariots come with flaming torches
In the day of his preparation,
And ^[j]the spears are brandished.
⁴ The chariots rage in the streets,
They jostle one another in the broad roads;
They seem like torches,
They run like lightning.

⁵ He remembers his nobles;
They stumble in their walk;
They make haste to her walls,
And the defense is prepared.
⁶ The gates of the rivers are opened,
And the palace is dissolved.
^7 [k]It is decreed:
She shall be led away captive,
She shall be brought up;
And her maidservants shall lead her as with the voice of doves,
Beating their breasts.

⁸ Though Nineveh of old was like a pool of water,
Now they flee away.
^[l]“Halt! Halt!” they cry;
But no one turns back.
^9 [m]Take spoil of silver!
Take spoil of ^(U)gold!
There is no end of treasure,
Or wealth of every desirable prize.
¹⁰ She is empty, desolate, and waste!
The heart melts, and the knees shake;
Much pain is in every side,
And all their faces ^[n]are drained of color.

¹¹ Where is the dwelling of the ^(V)lions,
And the feeding place of the young lions,
Where the lion walked, the lioness and lion’s cub,
And no one made them afraid?
¹² The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs,
^[o]Killed for his lionesses,
^(W)Filled his caves with prey,
And his dens with ^[p]flesh.

⁵ “Behold, I am ^(AB)against you,” says the Lord of hosts;
^(AC)“I will lift your skirts over your face,
I will show the nations your nakedness,
And the kingdoms your shame.
⁶ I will cast abominable filth upon you,
Make you ^(AD)vile,^[v]
And make you ^(AE)a spectacle.
⁷ It shall come to pass that all who look upon you
^(AF)Will flee from you, and say,
^(AG)‘Nineveh is laid waste!
^(AH)Who will bemoan her?’
Where shall I seek comforters for you?”

^8 (AI)Are you better than ^(AJ)No^[w] Amon
That was situated by the ^[x]River,
That had the waters around her,
Whose rampart was the sea,
Whose wall was the sea?
⁹ Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength,
And it was boundless;
^(AK)Put and Lubim were ^[y]your helpers.
¹⁰ Yet she was carried away,
She went into captivity;
^(AL)Her young children also were dashed to pieces
^(AM)At the head of every street;
They ^(AN)cast lots for her honorable men,
And all her great men were bound in chains.
¹¹ You also will be ^(AO)drunk;
You will be hidden;
You also will seek refuge from the enemy.

¹² All your strongholds are ^(AP)fig trees with ripened figs:
If they are shaken,
They fall into the mouth of the eater.
¹³ Surely, ^(AQ)your people in your midst are women!
The gates of your land are wide open for your enemies;
Fire shall devour the ^(AR)bars of your gates.

¹⁴ Draw your water for the siege!
^(AS)Fortify your strongholds!
Go into the clay and tread the mortar!
Make strong the brick kiln!
¹⁵ There the fire will devour you,
The sword will cut you off;
It will eat you up like a ^(AT)locust.

Make yourself many—like the locust!
Make yourself many—like the swarming locusts!
¹⁶ You have multiplied your ^(AU)merchants more than the stars of heaven.
The locust plunders and flies away.
^17 (AV)Your commanders are like swarming locusts,
And your generals like great grasshoppers,
Which camp in the hedges on a cold day;
When the sun rises they flee away,
And the place where they are is not known.

^18 (AW)Your shepherds slumber, O ^(AX)king of Assyria;
Your nobles rest in the dust.
Your people are ^(AY)scattered on the mountains,
And no one gathers them.
¹⁹ Your injury has no healing,
^(AZ)Your wound is severe.
^(BA)All who hear news of you
Will clap their hands over you,
For upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually?