Hear ye, O mountains. Insensate nature is called upon as a witness. (For similar appeals, comp. Deuteronomy 4:26; Deuteronomy 32:1; Isaiah 1:2; Jeremiah 22:29.) The Lord's controversy. So God calls his pleading with his people to show them their sin and thankless unbelief; as he says in Isaiah 1:18, "Come, and let us reason together" (comp.
Hosea 4:1; Hosea 12:2). Ye strong (enduring) foundations of the earth. The mountains are called everlasting (Genesis 49:26; Deuteronomy 33:15), as being firm, unchangeable, and as compared with man's life and doings, which are but transitory.
The LXX. offers an interpretation as well as a translation, αἱ φάραγγες θεμέλια τῆς γῆς, "Ye valleys, the foundations of the earth." With his people. It is because Israel is God's people that her sin is so heinous, and that God condescends to plead with her.
He would thus touch her conscience by recalling his benefits. So in the following verses.