Chapter 2

God Answers the Prophet

1 I will astand on my guard post

And station myself on the rampart;

And I will bkeep watch to see cwhat He will speak to me,

And how I may reply 1when I am reproved.

2 Then the Lord answered me and said,

“aRecord the vision

And inscribe it on tablets,

That 1the one who 2reads it may run.

3 “For the vision is yet for the aappointed time;

It 1hastens toward the goal and it will not 2fail.

Though it tarries, bwait for it;

For it will certainly come, it cwill not delay.

4 “Behold, as for the aproud one,

His soul is not right within him;

But the brighteous will live by his 1faith.

5 “Furthermore, awine betrays the bhaughty man,

So that he does not cstay at home.

He denlarges his appetite like Sheol,

And he is like death, never satisfied.

He also gathers to himself all nations

And collects to himself all peoples.

6 “Will not all of these atake up a taunt-song against him,

Even mockery and insinuations against him

And say, ‘bWoe to him who increases what is not his—

For how long—

And makes himself 1rich with loans?’

7 “Will not 1your creditors arise up suddenly,

And those who 2collect from you awaken?

Indeed, you will become plunder for them.

8 “Because you have alooted many nations,

All the remainder of the peoples will loot you—

Because of human bloodshed and violence 1done to the land,

To the town and all its inhabitants.

9 “Woe to him who gets aevil gain for his house

To bput his nest on high,

To be delivered from the hand of calamity!

10 “You have devised a ashameful thing for your house

By cutting off many peoples;

So you are bsinning against yourself.

11 “Surely the astone will cry out from the wall,

And the rafter will answer it from the 1framework.

12 “Woe to him who abuilds a city with bloodshed

And founds a town with 1violence!

13 “Is it not indeed from the Lord of hosts

That peoples atoil for fire,

And nations grow weary for nothing?

14 “For the earth will be afilled

With the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,

As the waters cover the sea.

15 “Woe to you who make 1your neighbors drink,

Who mix in your venom even to make them drunk

So as to look on their nakedness!

16 “You will be filled with disgrace rather than honor.

Now you yourself adrink and 1expose your own nakedness.

The bcup in the Lord’s right hand will come around to you,

And cutter disgrace will come upon your glory.

17 “For the aviolence 1done to Lebanon will 2overwhelm you,

And the devastation of its beasts 3by which you terrified them,

bBecause of human bloodshed and cviolence 4done to the land,

To the town and all its inhabitants.

18 “What aprofit is the 1idol when its maker has carved it,

Or 2an image, a bteacher of falsehood?

For its maker ctrusts in his own handiwork

When he fashions speechless idols.

19 “Woe to him who asays to a piece of wood, ‘bAwake!’

To a mute stone, ‘Arise!’

And that is your teacher?

Behold, it is overlaid with cgold and silver,

And there is dno breath at all inside it.

20 “But the aLord is in His holy temple.

1Let all the earth bbe silent before Him.”