Greed

Isaiah pronounces a woe against those who “add house to house and join field to field” (5:8). He imagines someone building house after house, walls or roof lines touching each other (the verb “add” actually means “touch”). He imagines someone buying the property next door, and then the property next door to that, and on and on.

Isaiah’s concern, though, is not that the wealthy have “too much.” The focus is rather on the social effects of their greed. Because they join house to house and field to field, they end up being alone in the middle of a vast estate. Their greed and wealth keep others at a distance. The problem is not that the greedy gain too much, but that they end with too little.