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  • Micah 6:1-8

    God’s dispute with Israel

    Hear what the Lord is saying:
    Arise, lay out the lawsuit before the mountains;
            let the hills hear your voice!
    Hear, mountains, the lawsuit of the Lord!
            Hear, eternal foundations of the earth!
    The Lord has a lawsuit against his people;
            with Israel he will argue.
    “My people, what did I ever do to you?
            How have I wearied you? Answer me!
    I brought you up out of the land of Egypt;
            I redeemed you from the house of slavery.
            I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam before you.
    My people, remember what Moab’s King Balak had planned,
            and how Balaam, Beor’s son, answered him!
            Remember everything from Shittim to Gilgal,
            that you might learn to recognize the righteous acts of the Lord!”

    What does the Lord require?

    With what should I approach the Lord
            and bow down before God on high?
    Should I come before him with entirely burned offerings,
            with year-old calves?
    Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
            with many torrents of oil?
    Should I give my oldest child for my crime;
            the fruit of my body for the sin of my spirit?
    He has told you, human one, what is good and
            what the Lord requires from you:
                to do justice, embrace faithful love, and walk humbly with your God.