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and station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what He will say to me,
and what answer I should give about my complaint.
2 Then the Lord answered me:
“Write down this vision;
make it plain on tablets
so that a herald can run with it.
3 For the vision is yet for the appointed time;
it speaks of the end
and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
it will certainly come, it will not delay.
4 “Look at the one filled with ego—
his soul is not upright within him.
But the righteous man will live by his faith.
5 Moreover, wine betrays the proud;
he is arrogant and never at rest.
He is ever-craving and as greedy as Sheol,
and like Death, he is never satisfied.
He gathers to himself all the nations;
he takes captive all the peoples for himself.
6 “Will not all these take up a taunt against him? With ridicule and scorn, they will say,
‘Woe to him who heaps up what he has stolen—
how long must this continue?
He enriches himself with goods extorted through pledges!’
7 Will not your own creditors suddenly arise?
Will they not suddenly make you wake up to yourself and tremble?
Then you in turn will become booty for them.
8 Because you have plundered many nations,
all the peoples who remain will plunder you—
because of human bloodshed,
and violence against the lands and the cities,
and against all who lived in them.
9 “Woe to him who builds his house with dishonest gain,
setting his nest on high
to escape from the clutches of disaster!
10 You have devised the ruin of many peoples,
and brought shame to your own house;
thus you have sinned against your own soul.
11 For the very stones will cry out from the walls,
and the beams of the rafters will answer.
12 “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed,
and establishes a town by crime!
13 Has not the Lord of Hosts determined
that the people’s labour is only fuel for the fire,
and the nations weary 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 neighbour,
pouring out his wineskin until they are drunk,
so he can gaze on their nakedness!
16 You will be filled with shame instead of glory.
Now, you drink also, and expose your own uncircumcision!
The cup in the Lord’s right hand is coming around to you,
and utter disgrace will cover your glory.
17 The violence you have committed against Lebanon will overwhelm you;
your destruction of the animals will terrify you—
because of human bloodshed,
and violence against the lands and the cities,
and against all who lived in them.
18 “Of what value is an idol,
after its craftsman finishes casting it?
It is only a moulded metal image,
a teacher of lies.
For the one who made it trusts in it,
though the idols he makes cannot speak.
19 Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Wake up!’
or to mute stone, ‘Come to life!’
Can it provide guidance?
Behold, though it is overlaid with gold and silver,
yet there is no breath in it at all.
20 But the Lord is in His holy temple;
let all the earth be silent before Him!”