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?

Jesus Denounces Pharisees and Lawyers

³⁷ While he was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him; so he went in and took his place at the table.³⁸The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner.³⁹Then the Lord said to him, ‘Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.⁴⁰You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also?⁴¹So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you. ⁴² ‘But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practised, without neglecting the others.⁴³Woe to you Pharisees! For you love to have the seat of honour in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the market-places.⁴⁴Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it.’