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They covet fields and seize them,
    houses and take them away;
they oppress householder and house,
    people and their inheritance.(A)

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They covet fields(A) and seize them,(B)
    and houses, and take them.
They defraud(C) people of their homes,
    they rob them of their inheritance.(D)

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Social Injustice Denounced

Woe to those who join house to house,
    who add field to field,
until there is room for no one,
    and you are left to live alone
    in the midst of the land!(A)

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Woes and Judgments

Woe(A) to you who add house to house
    and join field to field(B)
till no space is left
    and you live alone in the land.

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Hear this, you who trample on the needy,
    and bring to ruin the poor of the land,(A)

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Hear this, you who trample the needy
    and do away with the poor(A) of the land,(B)

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17 But your eyes and heart
    are only on your dishonest gain,
for shedding innocent blood,
    and for practicing oppression and violence.(A)

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17 “But your eyes and your heart
    are set only on dishonest gain,(A)
on shedding innocent blood(B)
    and on oppression and extortion.”(C)

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12 oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore the pledge, lifts up his eyes to the idols, commits abomination,(A)

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12 He oppresses the poor(A) and needy.
He commits robbery.
He does not return what he took in pledge.(B)
He looks to the idols.
He does detestable things.(C)

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10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

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10 For the love of money(A) is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith(B) and pierced themselves with many griefs.(C)

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13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and when others are going in you stop them.[a](A)

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Footnotes

  1. 23.13 Other authorities add 23.14 here (or after 23.12): Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for the sake of appearance you make long prayers; therefore you will receive the greater condemnation

Seven Woes on the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees

13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!(A) You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.(B)

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Then I will draw near to you for judgment; I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow, and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.(A)

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“So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers,(A) adulterers(B) and perjurers,(C) against those who defraud laborers of their wages,(D) who oppress the widows(E) and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners(F) among you of justice, but do not fear(G) me,” says the Lord Almighty.

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Hear this, you rulers of the house of Jacob
    and chiefs of the house of Israel,
who abhor justice
    and pervert all equity,(A)

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Hear this, you leaders of Jacob,
    you rulers of Israel,
who despise justice
    and distort all that is right;(A)

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12 In you, they take bribes to shed blood; you take both advance interest and accrued interest and make gain of your neighbors by extortion, and you have forgotten me, says the Lord God.(A)

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12 In you are people who accept bribes(A) to shed blood; you take interest(B) and make a profit from the poor. You extort unjust gain from your neighbors.(C) And you have forgotten(D) me, declares the Sovereign Lord.(E)

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38 “If my land has cried out against me
    and its furrows have wept together,(A)

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38 “if my land cries out against me(A)
    and all its furrows are wet(B) with tears,

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The wicked[a] remove landmarks;
    they seize flocks and pasture them.(A)
They drive away the donkey of the orphan;
    they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.(B)
They thrust the needy off the road;
    the poor of the earth all hide themselves.(C)
Like wild asses in the desert
    they go out to their toil,
scavenging in the wasteland
    food for their young.(D)
They reap in a field not their own,
    and they glean in the vineyard of the wicked.
They lie all night naked, without clothing,
    and have no covering in the cold.(E)
They are wet with the rain of the mountains
    and cling to the rock for want of shelter.(F)

“There are those who snatch the orphan child from the breast
    and take as a pledge the infant of the poor.(G)
10 They go about naked, without clothing;
    though hungry, they carry the sheaves;
11 between their terraces[b] they press out oil;
    they tread the winepresses but suffer thirst.
12 From the city the dying groan,
    and the throat of the wounded cries for help;
    yet God pays no attention to their prayer.(H)

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Footnotes

  1. 24.2 Gk: Heb they
  2. 24.11 Meaning of Heb uncertain

There are those who move boundary stones;(A)
    they pasture flocks they have stolen.(B)
They drive away the orphan’s donkey
    and take the widow’s ox in pledge.(C)
They thrust the needy(D) from the path
    and force all the poor(E) of the land into hiding.(F)
Like wild donkeys(G) in the desert,
    the poor go about their labor(H) of foraging food;
    the wasteland(I) provides food for their children.
They gather fodder(J) in the fields
    and glean in the vineyards(K) of the wicked.(L)
Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked;
    they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold.(M)
They are drenched(N) by mountain rains
    and hug(O) the rocks for lack of shelter.(P)
The fatherless(Q) child is snatched(R) from the breast;
    the infant of the poor is seized(S) for a debt.(T)
10 Lacking clothes, they go about naked;(U)
    they carry the sheaves,(V) but still go hungry.
11 They crush olives among the terraces[a];
    they tread the winepresses,(W) yet suffer thirst.(X)
12 The groans of the dying rise from the city,
    and the souls of the wounded cry out for help.(Y)
    But God charges no one with wrongdoing.(Z)

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Footnotes

  1. Job 24:11 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.

Nehemiah Deals with Oppression

Now there was a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish kin.(A) For there were those who said, “With our sons and our daughters, we are many; we must get grain, so that we may eat and stay alive.” There were also those who said, “We are having to pledge our fields, our vineyards, and our houses in order to get grain during the famine.” And there were those who said, “We are having to borrow money on our fields and vineyards to pay the king’s tax.(B) Now our flesh is the same as that of our kindred; our children are the same as their children; and yet we are forcing our sons and daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been ravished; we are powerless, and our fields and vineyards now belong to others.”(C)

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Nehemiah Helps the Poor

Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their fellow Jews. Some were saying, “We and our sons and daughters are numerous; in order for us to eat and stay alive, we must get grain.”

Others were saying, “We are mortgaging our fields,(A) our vineyards and our homes to get grain during the famine.”(B)

Still others were saying, “We have had to borrow money to pay the king’s tax(C) on our fields and vineyards. Although we are of the same flesh and blood(D) as our fellow Jews and though our children are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery.(E) Some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others.”(F)

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