Micah 6:9-16

God will punish people that are not honest

9 The Lord shouts to the people in the city of Jerusalem.

So it is good for us to listen carefully to what he says.

‘Listen to me, because I have the authority to punish you,’ God says.

10 ‘You bad people still hide valuable things that you have taken from other people.

I will not forget this.

You bad people use false weights to measure the food that you sell.

I hate that.

11 I will not excuse you people who use false weights.

You are not being honest if you weigh things like that.

12 You rich people in the city are very cruel.

Everyone there says things that are not true.

All of them speak false words.

13 So I will make you so sick that you will never get well.

I have begun to destroy you because you have done bad things.

14 You will eat, but you will still feel hungry.

You will store things and you will try to keep them safe.

But you will fail to save them.

I will cause enemies to destroy all your things in the war.

15 You will plant seeds,

but you will not bring in the harvest.

You will crush olives,

but you will not use the olive oil for yourselves.

You will crush grapes,

but you will not drink the wine from them.

16 You have obeyed the rules of King Omri.

You have done what King Ahab and all his people did.

You have copied their wicked ideas.

So I must destroy you and all your things completely.

Then people from other countries will not be kind or polite to you.

Instead, they will make you ashamed.’