Pharaoh’s slave drivers had placed Israelite foremen in charge of the people. The slave drivers beat the foremen and said, “You didn’t finish all the bricks you were ordered to make yesterday or today. Why didn’t you make as many as you used to?”
A certain kind of person, whose teeth are like swords and whose jaws are ⌞like⌟ knives, devours oppressed people from the earth and people from among humanity.
Godless fools speak foolishness, and their minds plan evil in order to do ungodly things. They speak falsely about the Lord. They let people go hungry and withhold water from thirsty people.
The vineyard of the Lord of Armies is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the garden of his delight. He hoped for justice but saw only slaughter, for righteousness but heard only cries of distress.