1
I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what he will say to me,
and what answer I am to give to this complaint.
2
Then the LORD replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain
on tablets so that a herald may run with it.
3
For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end
and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly
come and will not delay.
4
"See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright - but the righteous
will live by his faith -
5
6
7
Will not your debtors suddenly arise?
Will they not wake up and make you tremble?
Then you will become their victim.
8
9
"Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain to set his nest on high,
to escape the clutches of ruin!
10
You have plotted the ruin of many peoples,
shaming your own house and forfeiting your life.
11
The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it.
12
"Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain to set his nest on high,
to escape the clutches of ruin!
13
Has not the LORD Almighty determined that the people's labor is only
fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing?
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 gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the
wineskin till they are drunk, so that he can gaze on their naked bodies.
16
17
18
"Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it?
Or an image that teaches lies?
For he who makes it trusts in his own creation;
he makes idols that cannot speak.
19
Woe to him who says to wood, 'Come to life!' Or to lifeless stone,
'Wake up! Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver;
there is no breath in it.
20
But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him."
