- 1
- I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will look out to see what He will speak by me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.
- 2
- And the LORD answered me, and said: "Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that a man may read it swiftly.
- 3
- For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it declareth of the end, and doth not lie;
though it tarry, wait for it;
because it will surely come, it will not delay."
- 4
- Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him;
but the righteous shall live by his faith.
- 5
- Yea, moreover, wine is a treacherous dealer;
the haughty man abideth not;
he who enlargeth his desire as the nether-world, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all peoples.
- 6
- Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting riddle against him, and say: "Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his!
how long?
and that ladeth himself with many pledges!"
- 7
- Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall exact interest of thee, and awake that shall violently shake thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them?
- 8
- Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall spoil thee;
because of men"s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all that dwell therein.
- 9
- Woe to him that gaineth evil gains for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil!
- 10
- Thou hast devised shame to thy house, by cutting off many peoples, and hast forfeited thy life.
- 11
- For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.
- 12
- Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and establisheth a city by iniquity!
- 13
- Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the peoples labour for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?
- 14
- For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
- 15
- Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy venom thereto, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!
- 16
- Thou art filled with shame instead of glory, drink thou also, and be uncovered;
the cup of the LORD"S right hand shall be turned unto thee, and filthiness shall be upon thy glory.
- 17
- For the violence done to Lebanon shall cover thee, and the destruction of the beasts, which made them afraid;
because of men"s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all that dwell therein.
- 18
- What profiteth the graven image, that the maker thereof hath graven it, even the molten image, and the teacher of lies;
that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?
- 19
- Woe unto him that saith to the wood: "Awake", to the dumb stone: "Arise!" Can this teach?
Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.
- 20
- But the LORD is in His holy temple;
let all the earth keep silence before Him.
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