Social Injustice Denounced

8 Ah, you who join house to house,

who add field to field,

until there is room for no one but you,

and you are left to live alone

in the midst of the land!

9 The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:

Surely many houses shall be desolate,

large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.

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

and a homer of seed shall yield a mere ephah.a

11 Ah, you who rise early in the morning

in pursuit of strong drink,

who linger in the evening

to be inflamed by wine,

12 whose feasts consist of lyre and harp,

tambourine and flute and wine,

but who do not regard the deeds of the Lord,

or see the work of his hands!

13 Therefore my people go into exile without knowledge;

their nobles are dying of hunger,

and their multitude is parched with thirst.

14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite

and opened its mouth beyond measure;

the nobility of Jerusalemb and her multitude go down,

her throng and all who exult in her.

15 People are bowed down, everyone is brought low,

and the eyes of the haughty are humbled.

16 But the Lord of hosts is exalted by justice,

and the Holy God shows himself holy by righteousness.

17 Then the lambs shall graze as in their pasture,

fatlings and kidsc shall feed among the ruins.

18 Ah, you who drag iniquity along with cords of falsehood,

who drag sin along as with cart ropes,

19 who say, “Let him make haste,

let him speed his work

that we may see it;

let the plan of the Holy One of Israel hasten to fulfillment,

that we may know it!”

20 Ah, you who call evil good

and good evil,

who put darkness for light

and light for darkness,

who put bitter for sweet

and sweet for bitter!

21 Ah, you who are wise in your own eyes,

and shrewd in your own sight!

22 Ah, you who are heroes in drinking wine

and valiant at mixing drink,

23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe,

and deprive the innocent of their rights!