2
1 I
will stand at
my watch and
set myself on
the ramparts, and
will look out
to see what
he will say
to me, and
what I will
answer concerning
my complaint.
2 The
LORD answered me,
“Write the vision,
and make it plain
on tablets, that
he who runs
may read it.
3 For
the vision is
yet for the
appointed time,
and it hurries toward
the end, and won’t
prove false.
Though it takes
time, wait for
it, because it
will surely come.
It won’t delay.
4 Behold,
his soul is puffed
up. It is
not upright in
him, but the
righteous will
live by his faith.
5 Yes,
moreover, wine
is treacherous: an arrogant
man who doesn’t
stay at home,
who enlarges his
desire as
Sheol;
he is like
death and can’t
be satisfied, but
gathers to himself
all nations
and heaps to
himself all
peoples.
6 Won’t all
these take up
a parable against
him, and a
taunting proverb
against him,
and say, ‘Woe to
him who increases
that which is
not his, and
who enriches himself
by extortion! How
long?’
7 Won’t
your debtors rise
up suddenly, and
wake up those
who make you
tremble, and you
will be
their victim?
8 Because
you have plundered
many nations, all
the remnant of
the peoples will
plunder you
because of men’s
blood, and for
the violence done
to the land, to
the city and
to all who
dwell in it.
9 Woe
to him who
gets an evil
gain for his
house, that he
may set his
nest on high,
that he may
be delivered from
the hand of
evil!
10 You
have devised shame
to your house
by cutting off
many peoples, and
have sinned
against your soul.
11 For
the stone will cry
out of the
wall, and the beam
out of the woodwork
will answer it.
12 Woe
to him who
builds a town
with blood, and
establishes a city
by iniquity!
13 Behold,
isn’t it from the
LORD of Armies
that the peoples
labor for the fire,
and the nations
weary themselves for
vanity?
14 For
the earth will be
filled with the
knowledge of the
LORD’s glory, as
the waters cover
the sea.
15 “Woe
to him who gives
his neighbor drink,
pouring your inflaming wine until
they are drunk, so
that you may
gaze at their naked
bodies!
16 You
are filled with
shame, and not
glory. You will
also drink and
be exposed! The
cup of the
LORD’s right hand
will come around
to you, and
disgrace will cover
your glory.
17 For
the violence done
to Lebanon will
overwhelm you, and
the destruction of
the animals will
terrify you,
because of men’s
blood and for
the violence done
to the land, to
every city and
to those who
dwell in them.
18 “What
value does
the engraved image
have, that its
maker has engraved
it; the molten
image, even the
teacher of lies,
that he who
fashions its
form trusts in it,
to make mute idols?
19 Woe
to him who
says to the
wood, ‘Awake!’ or
to the mute stone,
‘Arise!’ Shall
this teach? Behold,
it is overlaid
with gold and
silver, and there
is no breath
at all within
it.
20 But
the LORD is
in his holy
temple. Let all
the earth be
silent before him!”