For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.
Ver. 11. For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it] Here are woeful echoes; screech owls of woe cry aloud from the beams of the oppressors' chambers, and make most hideous noises in the ears of their consciences. So that although none other should dare to mute against them, or accuse them of wrong dealing; yet their very houses, built by rapine and blood, shall testify against them; so shall other creatures that groan under their abuses, Romans 8:19,22. They seem all to say unto us those three words, saith Hugo, Accipe, Redde, Fuge; Accipe beneficium, Redde Officium, Fuge Supplicium (Lib. 2, de Ar. cap. 3). Receive, Return, Flee, Receive the favour, Return the honour, Flee Punishment. Now, if we hearken not to them, but do the contrary, they shall be one day as so many swift witnesses against us.
And the beam out of the timber shall answer it] Tignum e ligno respondet ei. An allusion to responsers, as in choirs and music; and perhaps the prophet here tacitly taxeth the Babylonian luxury in keeping choristers and musicians for their sinful delight. God, saith he, will fit you with other songsters shortly, that shall twit you by turns with your murders and ravages; for the stone shall cry out of the wall, Woe to him that buildeth a town with bloods! and the beam out of the timber shall answer it, And woe to him that stablisheth a city by iniquity!