1I will take my stand at my watchpost

and station myself on the tower,

and look out to see what he will say to me,

and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

The Righteous Shall Live by His Faith

2And the LORD answered me:

“Write the vision;

make it plain on tablets,

so he may run who reads it.

3For still the vision awaits its appointed time;

it hastens to the end—it will not lie.

If it seems slow, wait for it;

it will surely come; it will not delay.

4“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,

but the righteous shall live by his faith.2:4 Or faithfulness

5“Moreover, wine2:5 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll wealth is a traitor,

an arrogant man who is never at rest.2:5 The meaning of the Hebrew of these two lines is uncertain

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.”

Woe to the Chaldeans

6Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say,

“Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own—

for how long?—

and loads himself with pledges!”

7Will not your debtors suddenly arise,

and those awake who will make you tremble?

Then you will be spoil for them.

8Because you have plundered many nations,

all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you,

for the blood of man and violence to the earth,

to cities and all who dwell in them.

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!

10You have devised shame for your house

by cutting off many peoples;

you have forfeited your life.

11For 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!

13Behold, is it not from the LORD of hosts

that peoples labour merely for fire,

and nations weary themselves for nothing?

14For 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 neighbours drink—

you pour out your wrath and make them drunk,

in order to gaze at their nakedness!

16You will have your fill of shame instead of glory.

Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision!

The cup in the LORD's right hand

will come round to you,

and utter shame will come upon your glory!

17The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you,

as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them,

for the blood of man and violence to the earth,

to cities and all who dwell in them.

18“What profit is an idol

when its maker has shaped it,

a metal image, a teacher of lies?

For its maker trusts in his own creation

when he makes speechless idols!

19Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake;

to a silent stone, Arise!

Can this teach?

Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,

and there is no breath at all in it.

20But the LORD is in his holy temple;

let all the earth keep silence before him.”