9. This was accompanied with _injustice_ in all its forms. Thus all the prophets testify against them, _The Lord looked for_ judgment, _but behold_ oppression; _for righteousness, but behold a cry_, (Isaiah v. 7.) _Thou hast taken_ usury _and increase; thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbour by_ extortion――_Behold, I have smitten my hand, at thy_ dishonest gain _which thou hast made_, (Ezekiel xxii. 12, 13.) _The balances of deceit are in Jacob’s hand; he loveth to_ oppress, (Hosea xii. 7.) _Are there not yet the_ scant measure _that is abominable; the wicked_ balances, _and the bag of_ deceitful weights? (Micah vi. 10, 11.) _He that departeth from evil, maketh himself a prey_, (Isaiah lix. 15.) _And the Lord saw it, and it displeased him, that there was no judgment. The wicked devoureth the man, that is more righteous than he. They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag_, (Habakkuk i. 13, 14, 15.) _They covet fields and take them by_ violence, _and houses, and take them away_, (Micah ii. 2.) _They pull off the robe with the garment, from them that pass by securely_, (verse 8.) _They have dealt by oppression with the stranger; they have vexed the fatherless and the widow_, (Ezekiel xxii. 7.) _The people of the land have used_ oppression _and exercised_ robbery; _and have vexed the poor and needy, yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully_, (verse 29.) _Their works are works of iniquity, and the act of_ violence _is in their hands_, (Isaiah lix. 6.) Judgment _is turned away backward, and_ justice _standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter_, (verse 14.)
10. _Truth_ indeed was fallen, as well as justice. _Every mouth_, saith _Isaiah, speaketh folly_, (chapter ix. 17.) _This is a rebellious people_, lying _children_, (chapter xxx. 9.) _Their lips have spoken_ lies _and muttered perverseness. None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for_ truth; _they trust in vanity and speak lies_, (chapter lix. 3, 4.) This occasioned that caution of _Jeremiah_, _Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders. And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity_, (chapter ix. 4, 5.)
11. And even those who abstained from these gross outward sins, were still inwardly corrupt and abominable. _The whole head was sick, and the whole heart was faint; yea, from the sole of the foot even unto the head there was no soundness, but wounds and bruises, and putrifying sores_, (Isaiah i. 5, 6.) _All these nations_ (saith God) _are uncircumcised; and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart_, (Jeremiah ix. 26.) _Their heart is divided_, (Hosea x. 2.) _They have set up their idols in their heart; they are all estranged from me thro’ their idols_, (Ezekiel xiv. 3, 4.)
Their soul still _clave unto the dust_. They _laid up treasures upon earth. From the least of them_, saith _Jeremiah_, _even unto the greatest, every one is given to_ ♦covetousness, (chapter vi. 13.) _They panted after the dust of the earth_, (Amos ii. 7.) _They laded themselves with thick clay_, (Habakkuk iii. 6.) _They joined house to house_, and _laid field to field, until there was no place_, (Isaiah v. 8.) Yea, they _enlarged their desires as hell_: They were _as death and could not be satisfied_, (Habakkuk ii. 5.)
♦ “coveteousness” replaced with “covetousness”
12. And not only for their covetousness, but for their _pride_ of heart were they an abomination to the Lord. _The_ pride _of Israel_, saith _Hosea_, _doth testify to his face_, (chapter vii. 10.) _Hear ye, give ear_, saith _Jeremiah_, _be not proud――――Give glory to the Lord your God_, (chapter xiii. 15.) But they would not be reproved; they were still _wise in their own eyes_, and _prudent in their own sight_, (Isaiah v. 21.) and continually saying to their neighbour, _Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou_! (Isaiah lxv. 5.)
They added _hypocrisy_ to their pride. _This people_, saith God himself, _draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their hearts far from me_, (Isaiah xxix. 13.) _They have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds_, (Hosea vii. 14.) _They return, but not to the Most High; they are like a deceitful bow_, (verse 16.) _They did but flatter him with their mouth, and dissemble with him in their tongue_, (Psalms lxxviii. 36.) So that herein they only _prophaned the holiness of the Lord. And this have ye done again_, saith _Malachi_, _covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more_, (chapter ii. 11, 13.)