Woe to the Oppressor (2:6-20). 

        These five woes are a taunt-song (ver. 6; cf. Isa. 14:4 and p. 51) taken up by the nations against the Chaldeans, though it should be obvious that the last is suitable only if spoken by the prophet himself. As in Amos 1:3-2:3 the woes are pronounced against acts that contravene man’s sense of the fitness of things.

        1. ver. 6ff condemn the lust of conquest, which sheds blood for the sheer love of conquering.

        2. ver. 9ff take up the rapacity of the Chaldeans.

        3. ver. 12ff develop the previous woe. The squeezing of the conquered peoples was particularly for the rebuilding of Babylon, which Nebuchadnezzar transformed into one of the wonders of the ancient world (cf. Dan. 4:30),

        4. ver. 15ff condemn the wanton humiliation of the con­quered; the picture of making them drunk is probably meta­phorical Ps. 137:3 may refer to these wanton insults and cf. Dan. 5; 2.

        5. ver. 18ff — here it is the prophet that mocks Chaldean idolatry. Nebuchadnezzar was a very devout man. It is part of God’s irony that Babylon fell to Cyrus partially at least through the treachery of the priests of Merodach.