Woe to Oppressors
1 Woe (judgment is coming) to those who devise wickedness And plot evil on their beds! When morning comes, they practice evil Because it is in the power of their hands.
2 They covet fields and seize them, And houses, and take them away. They oppress and rob a man and his house, A man and his inheritance. [Is 5:8; Ex 20:17; Lev 25:23ff.]
3 Therefore, thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am planning against this family a disaster (exile) [Like a noose] from which you cannot remove your necks; Nor will you be able to walk haughtily and erect, For it will be an evil time [of subjugation to the invaders].
4 “On that day they shall take up a [taunting, deriding] parable against you And wail with a doleful and bitter song of mourning and say, ‘We are completely destroyed! God exchanges the inheritance of my people; How He removes it from me! He divides our fields to the rebellious [our captors].’
5 “Therefore, you will have no one stretching a measuring line [dividing the common land] For you by lot in the assembly of the Lord. [Rev 21:27]
6 ‘Do not speak out,’ so they speak out. But if they do not speak out concerning these things, Reproaches will not be turned back.
7 “Is it being said, O house of Jacob: ‘Is the Spirit of the Lord impatient? Or are these [prophesied judgments] His doings?’ Do not My words do good To the one walking uprightly?
8 “But lately My people have stood up as an enemy [and have made Me their antagonist]. You strip the ornaments off the garment Of those unsuspecting passers-by, Like those returned from war.
9 “You evict the women (widows) of My people, Each one from her pleasant house; From her [young, fatherless] children you take away My splendor and blessing forever [by putting them among the pagans, away from Me].
10 “Arise and depart [because the captivity is inevitable], For this [land] is not the place of rest Because of the defilement that brings destruction, A painful and terrible destruction.
11 “If a man walking in a false spirit [spouting deception] Should lie and say, ‘I will prophesy to you [O Israel] of wine and liquor (greed, sensual pleasure),’ He would be the acceptable spokesman of this people. [Jer 5:31]
12 “I shall most certainly assemble all of you, O Jacob; I shall surely gather the remnant of Israel. I shall bring them together like sheep in the fold [multiplying the nation]; Like a flock in the midst of its pasture. The place will swarm with many people and hum loudly with noise.
13 “The breaker [the Messiah, who opens the way] shall go up before them [liberating them]. They will break out, pass through the gate and go out; So their King goes on before them, The Lord at their head.” [Ex 23:20, 21; 33:14; Is 63:8, 9; Hos 3:5; Amos 9:11]