This chapter falls into three divisions:
(a) a description of the sins committed within the city (verses 1-16);
(b) the certainty of judgment (verses 17-22); and
(c) an indictment of all classes of the community (verses 23-31).
- Group the sins enumerated in verses 1-12 under the following two heads:
(a) religious, and
(b) social. Notice how, with the loss of a true conception of far are the sins mentioned here prevalent among us today? - What four classes are mentioned in verses 24-29, and what charges are made against them?
What is the saddest feature of the situation, as stated in verse 30?
Cf. verse 19 (‘all become dross’) and Jer. 5:1-5.
Notes
- Verse 4. ‘Your days to a close’: i.e., to the day of your judgment.
- Verse 13. Striking the hands was an expression of horror. Cf. 21:14, 17.
- Verse 30. ‘Build up the wall’ i.e., act as a bastion against the inroads of wickedness.