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Oracles of Reproach[a]

[b]Ah! Those who join house to house,
    who connect field with field,
Until no space remains, and you alone dwell
    in the midst of the land!(A)
In my hearing the Lord of hosts has sworn:(B)
    Many houses shall be in ruins,
    houses large and fine, with nobody living there.(C)
10 Ten acres of vineyard
    shall yield but one bath,[c]
And a homer of seed
    shall yield but an ephah.

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Footnotes

  1. 5:8–24 These verses contain a series of short oracles introduced by the Hebrew particle hoy (“Ah!”), an emphatic exclamation, sometimes translated “Woe!”
  2. 5:8–10 An oracle against land-grabbers (v. 8); they will be impoverished instead of enriched (vv. 9–10).
  3. 5:10 Ten acres: a field with ten times the surface area a yoke of oxen could plow in one day. Bath: a liquid measure equal to about twelve gallons. Homer: a dry measure equal to what a donkey can carry, calculated to be about ten bushels. Ephah: a dry measure of about one bushel. So small a harvest is the fruit of the land-grabbers’ greed.