God

I will root out the Asherah poles from your midst and demolish your cities.

I will take vengeance in anger and wrath upon the nations that have not obeyed Me.”

Hear now what the LORD says: “Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.

Hear, O mountains, the LORD’s indictment, you enduring foundations of the earth. For the LORD has a case against His people, and He will argue it against Israel:

‘My people, what have I done to you? Testify against Me how I have wearied you!

For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery. I sent Moses before you, as well as Aaron and Miriam.

My people, remember what Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you may acknowledge the righteousness of the LORD.’”

With what shall I come before the LORD when I bow before the God on high? Should I come to Him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves?

Would the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

The voice of the LORD calls out to the city (and it is sound wisdom to fear Your name): “Heed the rod and the One who ordained it.

Can I excuse dishonest scales or bags of false weights?

Therefore I am striking you severely, to ruin you because of your sins.

You will eat but not be satisfied, and your hunger will remain with you. What you acquire, you will not preserve; and what you save, I will give to the sword.

You have kept the statutes of Omri and all the practices of Ahab’s house; you have followed their counsel. Therefore I will make you a desolation, and your inhabitants an object of contempt; you will bear the scorn of the nations.”

But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.

Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will arise; though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.

Because I have sinned against Him, I must endure the rage of the LORD, until He argues my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me into the light; I will see His righteousness.

Then my enemy will see and will be covered with shame— she who said to me, “Where is the LORD your God?” My eyes will see her; at that time she will be trampled like mud in the streets.

Shepherd with Your staff Your people, the flock of Your inheritance. They live alone in a woodland, surrounded by pastures. Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.

As in the days when you came out of Egypt, I will show My wonders.

They will lick the dust like a snake, like reptiles slithering on the ground. They will crawl from their holes in the presence of the LORD our God; they will tremble in fear of You.

Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance— who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?

He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast out all our sins into the depths of the sea.

You will show faithfulness to Jacob and loving devotion to Abraham, as You swore to our fathers from the days of old.