The problem is a lack of social justice. Such a situation could have existed almost any time in the history of Israel. The next division (1:5–11) seems to be a direct answer from Yahweh to the prophet’s complaint in the form of an oracle (1:2–4). Yahweh says that the wicked will be punished by a new nation then on the rise. That new nation will be the Chaldean, or Neo-Babylonian nation. A new cycle in the dialogue between the prophet and Yahweh begins with the prophet’s second lament (1:12–17). This
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