[1] I will take my stand to watch, and station myself on the tower, and
look forth to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning
my complaint. [2] And the LORD answered me: "Write the vision; make it
plain upon tablets, so he may run who reads it. [3] For still the vision
awaits its time; it hastens to the end--it will not lie. If it seem slow,
wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay. [4] Behold, he whose
soul is not upright in him shall fail, but the righteous shall live by his
faith. [5] Moreover, wine is treacherous; the arrogant man shall not abide.
His greed is as wide as Sheol; like death he has never enough. He gathers
for himself all nations, and collects as his own all peoples." [6] Shall
not all these take up their taunt against him, in scoffing derision of him,
and say, "Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own--for how long?--and
loads himself with pledges!" [7] Will not your debtors suddenly arise, and
those awake who will make you tremble? Then you will be booty for them. [8]
Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples
shall plunder you, for the blood of men and violence to the earth, to
cities and all who dwell therein. [9] Woe to him who gets evil gain for his
house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm! [10] You
have devised shame to your house by cutting off many peoples; you have
forfeited your life. [11] For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the
beam from the woodwork respond. [12] Woe to him who builds a town with
blood, and founds a city on iniquity! [13] Behold, is it not from the LORD
of hosts that peoples labor only for fire, and nations weary themselves for
nought? [14] For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory
of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. [15] Woe to him who makes his
neighbors drink of the cup of his wrath, and makes them drunk, to gaze on
their shame! [16] You will be sated with contempt instead of glory. Drink,
yourself, and stagger! The cup in the LORD's right hand will come around to
you, and shame will come upon your glory! [17] The violence done to Lebanon
will overwhelm you; the destruction of the beasts will terrify you, for the
blood of men and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell
therein. [18] What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal
image, a teacher of lies? For the workman trusts in his own creation when
he makes dumb idols! [19] Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake; to
a dumb stone, Arise! Can this give revelation? Behold, it is overlaid with
gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it. [20] But the LORD is
in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.
