¹I will htake my stand at my watchpost

and station myself on the tower,

and ilook out to see jwhat he will say to me,

and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

The Righteous Shall Live by His Faith

²And the Lord answered me:

k“Write the vision;

make it plain on tablets,

so he may run who reads it.

³For still lthe vision awaits its appointed time;

it hastens to the end—it will not lie.

If it seems slow, mwait for it;

nit will surely come; it will not delay.

⁴“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,

but othe righteous shall live by his faith.1

⁵“Moreover, wine2 is pa traitor,

an arrogant man who is never at rest.3

His greed is as wide as Sheol;

like death qhe has never enough.

rHe gathers for himself all nations

and collects as his own all peoples.”

Woe to the Chaldeans

⁶Shall not all these stake up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say,

t“Woe to him uwho heaps up what is not his own—

for vhow long?—

and wloads himself with pledges!”

⁷xWill not your debtors suddenly arise,

and those awake who will make you tremble?

Then you will be spoil for them.

⁸yBecause you have plundered many nations,

all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you,

zfor the blood of man and yviolence to the earth,

to cities and all who dwell in them.

⁹t“Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house,

ato bset his nest on high,

to be safe from the reach of harm!

¹⁰You have devised shame for your house

cby cutting off many peoples;

you have forfeited your life.

¹¹For dthe stone will cry out from the wall,

and the beam from the woodwork respond.

¹²t“Woe to him ewho builds a town with blood

and founds a city on iniquity!

¹³Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts

that fpeoples labor merely for fire,

and nations weary themselves for nothing?

¹⁴gFor the earth will be filled

with the knowledge of hthe glory of the Lord

as the waters cover the sea.

¹⁵t“Woe to him iwho makes his neighbors drink—

you pour out your wrath and make them drunk,

in order to gaze jat their nakedness!

¹⁶You will have your fill kof shame instead of glory.

lDrink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision!

lThe cup in the Lord's right hand

will come around to you,

and mutter shame will come upon your glory!

¹⁷nThe violence odone to Lebanon will overwhelm you,

as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them,

nfor the blood of man and violence to the earth,

to cities and all who dwell in them.

¹⁸p“What profit is an idol

when its maker has shaped it,

a metal image, qa teacher of lies?

For its maker trusts in his own creation

when he makes rspeechless idols!

¹⁹sWoe to him twho says to a wooden thing, Awake;

to a silent stone, Arise!

Can this teach?

Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,

and uthere is no breath at all in it.

²⁰But vthe Lord is in his holy temple;

wlet all the earth keep silence before him.”