¹I will stand at my watchpost;

I will station myself on the rampart.

I will look to see what [God] will say through me

and what I will answer when I am reproved.

²Then Adonai answered me; he said,

“Write down the vision clearly on tablets,

so that even a runner can read it.

³For the vision is meant for its appointed time;

it speaks of the end, and it does not lie.

It may take a while, but wait for it;

it will surely come, it will not delay.

⁴“Look at the proud: he is inwardly not upright;

but the righteous will attain life through trusting faithfulness.

⁵Truly, wine is treacherous;

the arrogant will not live at peace

but keeps expanding his desires like Sh’ol;

like death, he can never be satisfied;

he keeps collecting all the nations for himself,

rallying to himself all the peoples.

⁶Won’t all these take up taunting him

and say about him, in mocking riddles,

‘Woe to him who amasses other people’s wealth! —

how long must it go on? —

and to him who adds to himself the weight

of goods taken in pledge!

⁷Won’t your own creditors suddenly stand,

won’t those who make you tremble wake up?

You will become their spoil.

⁸Because you plundered many nations,

all the rest of the peoples will plunder you;

because of the bloodshed and violence done

to the land, the city and all who live there.

⁹“‘Woe to him who seeks unjust gain for his household,

putting his nest on the heights,

in order to be safe from the reach of harm.

¹⁰By scheming to destroy many peoples,

you have brought shame to your house

and forfeited your life.

¹¹For the very stones will cry out from the wall,

and a beam in the framework will answer them.

¹²“‘Woe to him who builds a city with blood

and founds a town on injustice,

¹³so that people toil for what will be burned up,

and nations exhaust themselves to no purpose.

Isn’t all this from Adonai -Tzva’ot ?

¹⁴For the earth will be as full

of the knowledge of Adonai ’s glory

as water covering the sea.

¹⁵“‘Woe to him who has his neighbor drink,

adds his own poison and makes him drunk,

in order to see him naked.

¹⁶You are filled with shame, not glory.

You, drink too, and stagger!

The cup of Adonai ’s right hand

will be turned against you;

your shame will exceed your glory.

¹⁷For the violence done to the L’vanon

will overwhelm you,

and the destruction of the wild animals

will terrify you;

because of the bloodshed and violence done

to the land, the city and all who live there.’”

¹⁸What good is an idol, once its maker has shaped it,

a cast metal image and a teacher of lies,

that its maker puts his trust in it,

and goes on making non-gods, unable to talk?

¹⁹Woe to him who tells a piece of wood, “Wake up!”

or a speechless stone, “Rouse yourself!”

Can this thing teach? Why, it’s covered with gold and silver,

without the slightest breath in it!

²⁰But Adonai is in his holy temple;

let all the earth be silent before him.