Ezekiel 23:29

“The people of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery, yes they have vexed the poor and needy, and have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.”

The ‘worthy citizens' of the land had been no better. In their turn they had oppressed and swindled those beneath them. The people of the land were the landed gentry, and the full citizens, men of worth and repute. But they deserved to be called neither for they took advantage of the poor and needy, grabbed their land, made them bondsmen, and took advantage of aliens in their midst.

Under all these pressures life was hard for those at the bottom of the ladder, princes no doubt oppressed nobles, and nobles some of the landed gentry, but the poor suffered under them all. And God had noted it and was angry.