God expostulates with the Jews for their ingratitude and sins: for
which they shall be punished.
6:1. Hear ye what the Lord saith: Arise, contend thou in judgment
against the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.
The mountains, etc. . .That is, the great ones, the princes of the
people.
6:2. Let the mountains hear the judgment of the Lord, and the strong
foundations of the earth: for the Lord will enter into judgment with
his people, and he will plead against Israel.
6:3. O my people, what have I done to thee, or in what have I molested
thee? answer thou me.
6:4. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and delivered thee
out of the house of slaves: and I sent before thy face Moses, and
Aaron, and Mary.
6:5. O my people, remember, I pray thee, what Balach, the king of Moab,
purposed: and what Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him, from Setim to
Galgal, that thou mightest know the justice of the Lord.
From Setim to Galgal. . .He puts them in mind of the favour he did them,
in not suffering them to be quite destroyed by the evil purpose of
Balach, and the wicked counsel of Balaam: and then gives them a hint of
the wonders he wrought, in order to bring them into the land of
Promise, by stopping the course of the Jordan, in their march from
Setim to Galgal.
6:6. What shall I offer to the Lord that is worthy? wherewith shall I
kneel before the high God? shall I offer holocausts unto him, and
calves of a year old?
What shall I offer, etc. . .This is spoken in the person of the people,
desiring to be informed what they are to do to please God.
6:7. May the Lord be appeased with thousands of rams, or with many
thousands of fat he goats? shall I give my firstborn for my wickedness,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
6:8. I will shew thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requireth
of thee: Verily to do judgment, and to love mercy, and to walk
solicitous with thy God.
6:9. The voice of the Lord crieth to the city, and salvation shall be
to them that fear thy name: hear O ye tribes, and who shall approve it?
6:10. As yet there is a fire in the house of the wicked, the treasures
of iniquity, and a scant measure full of wrath.
Full of wrath, etc. . .That is, highly provoking in the sight of God.
6:11. Shall I justify wicked balances, and the deceitful weights of the
bag?
6:12. By which her rich men were filled with iniquity, and the
inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue was deceitful in
their mouth.
6:13. And I therefore began to strike thee with desolation for thy
sins.
6:14. Thou shalt eat, but shalt not be filled: and thy humiliation
shall be in the midst of thee: and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not
save: and those whom thou shalt save, I will give up to the sword.
6:15. Thou shalt sow, but shalt not reap: thou shalt tread the olives,
but shalt not be anointed with oil: and the new wine, but shalt not
drink the wine.
6:16. For thou hast kept the statutes of Amri, and all the works of the
house of Achab: and thou hast walked according their wills, that I
should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing,
and you shall bear the reproach of my people.
The statutes of Amri, etc. . .The wicked ways of Amri and Achab,
idolatrous kings.