1 I will *Isa. 21:8take my stand at my watchpost

and station myself on the tower,

and *Jer. 6:17;Ezek. 33:2look out to see *Ps. 85:8what he will say to me,

and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

2 And the Lord answered me:

*Isa. 8:1;30:8;[Rev. 1:19]"Write the vision;

make it plain on tablets,

so he may run who reads it.

3 For still *[Dan. 10:14]; See Ezek. 7:5-7the vision awaits its appointed time;

it hastens to the end—it will not lie.

If it seems slow, *Zeph. 3:8;See Isa. 8:17wait for it;

*Cited Heb. 10:37;[2 Pet. 3:9]it will surely come; it will not delay.

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

but *Cited Rom. 1:17;Gal. 3:11;Heb. 10:38;[John 3:36]the righteous shall live by his faith.*2:4 Or faithfulness

5 "Moreover, wine*2:5 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll wealth is *ch. 1:13;Isa. 21:2a 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 *[Prov. 27:20] he has never enough.

*Jer. 27:7;[ch. 1:6;Dan. 2:37,38]He gathers for himself all nations

and collects as his own all peoples."

6 Shall not all these *Mic. 2:4;See Num. 23:7take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say,

*ver. 19;Isa. 5:8"Woe to him *[ch. 1:6] who heaps up what is not his own—

for *See Zech. 1:12how long?—

and *[Ezek. 18:7]loads himself with pledges!"

7 *See Isa. 21:5-9Will not your debtors suddenly arise,

and those awake who will make you tremble?

Then you will be spoil for them.

8 *[Isa. 33:1] Because you have plundered many nations,

all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you,

*ver. 17for the blood of man and *[Isa. 33:1] violence to the earth,

to cities and all who dwell in them.

9 *[See ver. 6above] "Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house,

*[Isa. 14:13] to *Jer. 49:16;[Num. 24:21]set his nest on high,

to be safe from the reach of harm!

10 You have devised shame for your house

*[ch. 1:17]by cutting off many peoples;

you have forfeited your life.

11 For *[Luke 19:40]the stone will cry out from the wall,

and the beam from the woodwork respond.

12 *[See ver. 6above] "Woe to him *See Mic. 3:10who builds a town with blood

and founds a city on iniquity!

13 Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts

that *Jer. 51:58peoples labor merely for fire,

and nations weary themselves for nothing?

14 *Isa. 11:9For the earth will be filled

with the knowledge of *Ps. 72:19the glory of the Lord

as the waters cover the sea.

15 *[See ver. 6above] "Woe to him *[ver. 5; Jer. 51:7] who makes his neighbors drink—

you pour out your wrath and make them drunk,

in order to gaze *Lam. 4:21;[Gen. 9:22]at their nakedness!

16 You will have your fill *Nah. 3:5of shame instead of glory.

*Jer. 25:15,26Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision!

*Jer. 25:15,26The cup in the Lord’s right hand

will come around to you,

and *[Nah. 3:6]utter shame will come upon your glory!

17 *ver. 8The violence *[Isa. 14:8;Jer. 22:23]done to Lebanon will overwhelm you,

as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them,

*ver. 8for the blood of man and violence to the earth,

to cities and all who dwell in them.

18 *Isa. 44:10"What profit is an idol

when its maker has shaped it,

a metal image, *Jer. 10:8,14;Zech. 10:2a teacher of lies?

For its maker trusts in his own creation

when he makes *Ps. 115:5;1 Cor. 12:2speechless idols!

19 *ver. 6, 9, 12, 15Woe to him *See 1 Kgs. 18:26,27who says to a wooden thing, Awake;

to a silent stone, Arise!

Can this teach?

Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,

and *Ps. 135:17;Jer. 10:14there is no breath at all in it.

20 But *Ps. 11:4;Mic. 1:2the Lord is in his holy temple;

*[Zeph. 1:7;Zech. 2:13]let all the earth keep silence before him."