THE FIVE WOE ORACLES

6 Won’t all of these take up a taunt against him,i

with mockery and riddles about him?

They will say:

Woe to him who amasses what is not his—

how much longer?—j

and loads himself with goods taken in pledge.”k

7 Won’t your creditors suddenly arise,

and those who disturb you wake up?

Then you will become spoil for them.l

8 Since you have plundered many nations,m

all the peoples who remain will plunder youn—

because of human bloodshed

and violenceo against lands, cities,

and all who live in them.p

9 Woe to him who dishonestly makes

wealth for his houseG,q

to place his nest on high,

to escape the grasp of disaster!r

10 You have planned shame for your house

by wiping out many peoples

and sinning against your own self.

11 For the stones will cry outs from the wall,

and the rafters will answer them

from the woodwork.

12 Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed

and founds a town with injustice!t

13 Is it not from the Lord of Armies

that the peoples labor only to fuel the fire

and countries exhaust themselves for nothing?u

14 For the earth will be filled

with the knowledge of the Lord’s glory,

as the water covers the sea.v