דאכלן ולא עבדן. וכתיב: ״הכיתי אתכם בשדפון ובירקון הרבות גנותיכם וכרמיכם ותאניכם וזיתיכם יאכל הגזם״, וכתיב: ״יתר הגזם אכל הארבה ויתר הארבה אכל הילק ויתר הילק אכל החסיל״. וכתיב: ״ויגזור על ימין ורעב ויאכל על שמאל ולא שבעו איש בשר זרועו יאכלו״, אל תקרי ״בשר זרועו״ אלא ״בשר זרעו״.
who eat and do nothing to support themselves, and cause their husbands to commit the sin of theft. And it is written: “I have smitten you with blight and mildew; the multitude of your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees has the palmerworm devoured” (Amos 4:9). And it is written: “That which the palmerworm has left the locust has eaten; and that which the locust has left the cankerworm has eaten; and that which the cankerworm has left the caterpillar has eaten” (Joel 1:4). And it is written: “And one snatches on the right hand, and is hungry; and he eats on the left hand, and is not satisfied; they eat every man the flesh of his own arm [besar 0’o]” (Isaiah 9:19). Do not read it: The flesh of his own arm [besar 0’o]; rather, the flesh of his own offspring [besar zaro]. All the punishments for theft listed above were explicitly mentioned in the verses.
בעון עינוי הדין, ועיוות הדין, וקלקול הדין, וביטול תורה — חרב וביזה רבה, ודבר ובצורת בא, ובני אדם אוכלין ואינן שבעין, ואוכלין לחמם במשקל. דכתיב: ״והבאתי עליכם חרב נוקמת נקם ברית וגו׳״. ואין ״ברית״ אלא תורה, שנאמר: ״אם לא בריתי יומם ולילה וגו׳״, וכתיב: ״בשברי לכם מטה לחם ואפו עשר נשים וגו׳״, וכתיב: ״יען וביען במשפטי מאסו״.
Furthermore, the rabbis said that due to the sin of delay of justice, i.e., judges delay issuing their rulings due to personal considerations, and for distortion of justice, i.e., judges intentionally distort their verdicts, and for miscarriage of justice that results from negligence, and for dereliction in the study of Torah, violence and looting abound in the world, and pestilence and famine come, and people eat and are not sated, and they eat their bread measured by weight. As it is written: “And I will bring a sword upon you, that should execute the vengeance of the covenant; and you should be gathered together within your cities; and I will send the pestilence among you; and you should be delivered into the hand of the enemy” (Leviticus 26:25). And covenant means nothing other than Torah, as it is stated: “If My covenant be not with day and night, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth” (Jeremiah 33:25). The study of Torah is the mitzva practiced both day and night. And it is written with regard to this punishment: “When I break your staff of bread, 10 women should bake your bread in one oven, and they should deliver your bread again by weight; and ye should eat, and not be satisfied” (Leviticus 26:26). And it is written: “Even because they rejected My ordinances, and their soul abhorred My statutes” (Leviticus 26:43). All of these punishments result from breaching the covenant of the Torah and the perversion of justice.