As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.
The verse exposes that wicked men are found among God's people. They are coworkers of Satan, working to pull down those whom God would lift up. They lie in wait as snare-setters, laying snares and traps to catch men and catch people.
Their houses are stocked full with fraud and deceit, like a cage crowded with birds. By that fraud they become great and powerful and grow rich and wealthy. Their iniquities turn away blessing and their sins withhold good things. False prophesying by prophets, self-serving rule by priests who bear rule by their own means, and the people's love of having it so mark the alarming condition of the churches. God will fulfill His word to cast out those who will not hear, will not see, and refuse the light He sends, raising the searching question of what will be done in the end thereof.
The verse exposes that wicked men are found among God's people. They are coworkers of Satan, working to pull down those whom God would lift up. They lie in wait as snare-setters, laying snares and traps to catch men and catch people.
Their houses are stocked full with fraud and deceit, like a cage crowded with birds. By that fraud they become great and powerful and grow rich and wealthy. Their iniquities turn away blessing and their sins withhold good things. False prophesying by prophets, self-serving rule by priests who bear rule by their own means, and the people's love of having it so mark the alarming condition of the churches. God will fulfill His word to cast out those who will not hear, will not see, and refuse the light He sends, raising the searching question of what will be done in the end thereof.