Woes on the Wicked

• 8 Ah! Those who join[fn] house with house, they join field together with field
• until there is no place[fn]
  • and you are caused to dwell alone in the midst of the land.
• 9 Yahweh of hosts said in my ears:Surely[fn] many houses shall become a desolation,
  • large and beautiful ones without inhabitant.
• 10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath,[fn] and the seed of a homer will yield an ephah.[fn]
  • 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 deeds[fn] of Yahweh,
  • and they do not see the work of his hands.
• 13 Therefore my people will go into exile without knowledge, and their[fn] nobles[fn] will be men of hunger,
• and their[fn] multitude is parched with thirst.
  • 14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat, and it has opened wide its mouth without limit,
• and her[fn] nobles[fn] 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, kids[fn] will eat among the sites of ruins.[fn]
  • 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 ![fn]
  • 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[fn] against his people, and he stretched out his hand against them[fn] and struck them,[fn]
• and the mountains quaked,
  • and their corpses[fn] were like refuse in the middle of the streets.