God Challenges Israel

⁶Hear what the ^Lord says:   Rise, plead your case before the mountains,   and let the hills hear your voice.² Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the ^Lord,   and you enduring foundations of the earth;for the ^Lord has a controversy with his people,   and he will contend with Israel. ³ ‘O my people, what have I done to you?   In what have I wearied you? Answer me!⁴ For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,   and redeemed you from the house of slavery;and I sent before you Moses,   Aaron, and Miriam.⁵ O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised,   what Balaam son of Beor answered him,and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,   that you may know the saving acts of the ^Lord.’

What God Requires

⁶ ‘With what shall I come before the ^Lord,   and bow myself before God on high?Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings,   with calves a year old?⁷ Will the ^Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,   with tens of thousands of rivers of oil?Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,   the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’⁸ He has told you, O mortal, what is good;   and what does the ^Lord require of youbut to do justice, and to love kindness,   and to walk humbly with your God?

The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth

¹⁶ When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read,¹⁷and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:¹⁸ ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,   because he has anointed me     to bring good news to the poor.He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives   and recovery of sight to the blind,     to let the oppressed go free,¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’²⁰And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.