For the sun rises and, together with the scorching wind, dries up the grass; its flower falls off, and its beautiful appearance perishes. In the same way, the rich person will wither away while pursuing his activities.
but he will judge the poor righteously and execute justice for the oppressed of the land. He will strike the land with a sceptre from his mouth, and he will kill the wicked with a command from his lips.
Their inhabitants have become powerless, dismayed, and ashamed. They are plants of the field, tender grass, grass on the rooftops, blasted by the east wind.
They are barely planted, barely sown, their stem hardly takes root in the ground when he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.
‘You expected much, but then it amounted to little. When you brought the harvest to your house, I ruined it. Why? ’ This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies. ‘Because my house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.