Woes on the Wicked

8 Ah! Those who ⌊join⌋m house with house,

they join field together with field

until ⌊there is no place⌋n

and you are caused to dwell alone in the midst of the land.

9 Yahweh of hosts said in my ears:

⌊Surely⌋o many houses shall become a desolation,

large and beautiful ones without inhabitant.

10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath,p

and the seed of a homer will yield an ephah.q

11 Ah! Those who rise early in the morning,

they pursue strong drink.

Those who linger in the evening,

wine inflames them.

12 And there will be lyre and harp,

tambourine and flute,

and wine at their feasts,

but they do not look at the deedsr of Yahweh,

and they do not see the work of his hands.

13 Therefore my people will go into exile without knowledge,

and theirs noblest will be men of hunger,

and theiru multitude is parched with thirst.

14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat,

and it has opened wide its mouth without limit,

and herv noblesw will go down, and her multitude,

her tumult and those who revel in her.

15 And humankind is bowed down,

and man is brought low,

and the eyes of the haughty are humiliated.

16 But Yahweh of hosts is exalted by justice,

and the holy God shows himself holy by righteousness.

17 And then the lambs will graze as in their pasture,

and ⌊fatlings, kidsx will eat among the sites of ruins.⌋y

18 Ah! Those who drag iniquity along with the cords of falsehood

and sin as with rope of the cart,

19 those who say,

“Let him make haste;

let him hurry his work

so that we may see it

and let it draw near

and let the plan of the holy one of Israel come

so that we may know it!”

20 Ah! Those who call evil good and good evil,

those who put darkness for light and light for darkness,

those who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

21 Ah! Those who are wise in their own eyes

and have understanding ⌊in their view⌋!z

22 Ah! Heroes at drinking wine,

and men of capability at mixing strong drink!

23 Those who acquit the guilty because of a bribe

and remove the justice of the innocent from him.

24 Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,

and dry grass sinks down in the flame,

so their root will become like the stench,

and their blossom will go up like the dust.

For they have rejected the instruction of Yahweh of hosts,

and they have treated the word of the holy one of Israel with contempt.

25 Therefore ⌊Yahweh’s wrath was kindled⌋a against his people,

and he stretched out his hand against themb and struck them,c

and the mountains quaked,

and their corpsesd were like refuse in the middle of the streets.

Yahweh’s Outstretched Hand

In all of this his anger has not turned back,

and still his hand is stretched out.

26 And he will raise a signal for a natione from afar,

and he will whistle for it from the end of the earth.

And look! It comes quickly, swiftly!

27 None is weary,

and none among him stumbles;

none slumbers and none sleeps.

And no loincloth on his waist is opened,

and no thong of his sandals is drawn away.

28 Whose arrows are sharp,

and all of his bows are bent.

The hoofs of his horses are reckoned like flint,

and his wheels like the storm wind.

29 His roaring is like the lion,

and he roars like young lions.

And he growls and seizes his prey,

and he carries it off,

and not one can rescue it.

30 And he will roar over him on that day

like the roaring of the sea,

and if one looks to the land, look! Darkness! Distress!

And the light grows dark with itsf clouds.