2:6Meaning
Sentence announced and first abuses named Yahweh speaks in a fixed prophetic style: Israel’s repeated offenses have reached a limit, so he will not withdraw the announced punishment. The first examples describe people being “sold” for money: the “righteous” are treated like a commodity for silver, and the “needy” can be traded away for something as small as a pair of sandals. The point is not the market price but the shocking triviality and cruelty of the transaction.
Unit 2 (v. 7a): Crushing the poor and blocking the vulnerable
The next images intensify the social violence. The powerful “pant after” dust on the poor person’s head—language that pictures eager desire to see the poor further shamed, even in their grieving or degraded state. They also “turn aside the way of the humble,” meaning they divert, obstruct, or derail the weak from getting where they need to go—often heard as blocking fair process or access to justice.
Unit 3 (v. 7b): Sexual misuse that dishonors Yahweh’s name
A man and his father go to the same young woman, a practice portrayed as a deliberate affront: it “profanes” Yahweh’s holy name. The text does not pause to specify whether the woman is enslaved, a servant, or otherwise vulnerable, but the arrangement signals exploitation and public disgrace, and it connects the act to Israel’s standing before their God.