Like a cage full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit; therefore they have become great and grown rich.

They have grown fat, they gleam. Yes, they surpass the deeds of the wicked; they do not plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may get rich; and they do not judge the right of the needy.

Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness and his upper rooms without justice; his neighbor serves without pay, and is given nothing for his work;

But your eyes and your heart are for nothing but your unjust gain, and for shedding innocent blood, and for oppression, and to do violence.

And they lie in wait for their own blood; they lurk secretly for their own souls.

So are the ways of everyone who gets unjust gain; it takes away the soul of its master.

Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished, but he who gathers with the labor of his hands shall increase.

He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house, but he who hates bribes shall live.

The acquisition of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity driven about by those who seek death.

He who increases his wealth by interest and usury, gathers it for him who will pity the poor.

A ruler lacking understanding is abundant in extortions; he who hates unjust gain shall prolong his days.

A faithful man shall abound with blessings, but he who makes haste to be rich shall not be found innocent.

He who hastens to be rich has an evil eye, and does not recognize that poverty will come upon him.

Your rulers are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe, and pursues rewards. They do not judge for the orphan, nor does the cause of the widow come before them.

Therefore says the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah! I will be eased of My adversaries, and avenge Myself of My enemies.

In you they take bribes to shed blood; you take usury and increase; you have made profit from your neighbors by extortion, and have forgotten Me, declares the Lord Jehovah.

Behold, therefore, I have clapped My hands at the unjust gain which you have made, and at the blood which has been in your midst.

He is a merchant; the scales of deceit are in his hand; he loves to oppress.

And Ephraim said, I am rich; I have found much wealth for myself. In all my labors they shall find no iniquity in me that is sin.

For they do not know to do right, declares Jehovah, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.

Hear this, you who swallow up the needy, and make the poor of the land to fail,

in order to buy the poor with silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals, and sell the refuse of the wheat?

Woe to those who devise wickedness and do evil on their beds! In the morning light they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand.

And they covet and seize fields and houses, and carry them away. And they oppress a man and his household, even a man and his inheritance.

You have thrown the women of My people out from their pleasant houses; you have taken away My honor forever from their children.

Are there yet in the house of the wicked the treasures of wickedness, and the abominable short ephah?

For her rich ones are full of violence, and her inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

Both hands are on evil, to do it well. Both the ruler and the judge ask for a bribe. And the great one speaks the lust of his soul; and they weave it together.

Shall not all of these take up a parable against him, and a mocking riddle against him, and say, Woe to him who increases what is not his! How long, then, shall he load himself with many pledges?

Because you have plundered many nations, all the rest of the people shall plunder you, because of the blood of men and the violence of the land, and the city, and all those dwelling in it.

You have advised shame for your house, to cut off many peoples, and have sinned in your soul.

Woe to him who builds a town with blood and establishes a city by iniquity.

And I will punish all those who leap on the threshold in that day, who fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit.

And I will bring it forth, says Jehovah of Hosts. And it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of the one who swears falsely by My name. And it shall remain in the midst of his house and shall make an end to it, and its timber, and its stones.

Thus says Jehovah of Hosts, saying, Judge true justice, and show goodness and compassion, everyone to his brother.

But they refused to heed, and gave a stubborn shoulder, and they made their ears heavy that they might not hear.

Therefore it has come to pass that, just as He called, and they would not hear; so they called, and I did not hear, says Jehovah of Hosts.

And I will come near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against those swearing to a lie; and against those who defraud the hired laborer of his pay, and turn away the widow, and the fatherless, and the alien; and who do not fear Me, says Jehovah of Hosts.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive more abundant condemnation.

But those who purpose to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which plunge people into ruin and destruction.

whose mouths must be stopped, who overturn whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain.

Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.

You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.

By covetousness they will exploit you with well-turned words; whose judgment of old is not idle, and their destruction does not slumber.

having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls; having a heart exercised in covetousness; accursed children.

But You, O God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction; bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in You.

Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away like an eagle into the heavens.

There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun: riches kept for their owners to their hurt.

As he came forth from his mother's womb, naked he shall return, to go as he came. And from his labor he shall take away nothing that he may carry in his hand.

But God said to him, Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have prepared?