Chapter 2
1 I will stand at my guard post,
and station myself upon the rampart;(A)
I will keep watch to see what he will say to me,
and what answer he will give to my complaint.
God’s Response
2 Then the Lord answered me and said:
Write down the vision;(B)
Make it plain upon tablets,
so that the one who reads it may run.
3 For the vision is a witness for the appointed time,
a testimony to the end; it will not disappoint.
If it delays, wait for it,
it will surely come, it will not be late.
4 See, the rash have no integrity;
but the just one who is righteous because of faith shall live.(C)
Sayings Against Tyrants
5 Indeed wealth is treacherous;
a proud man does not succeed.
He who opens wide his throat like Sheol,
and is insatiable as death,
Who gathers to himself all the nations,
and collects for himself all the peoples—
6 Shall not all these take up a taunt against him,(D)
and make a riddle about him, saying:
Ah! you who store up what is not yours
—how long can it last!—
you who load yourself down with collateral.
7 Will your debtors not rise suddenly?
Will they not awake, those who make you tremble?
You will become their spoil!
8 Because you plundered many nations,
the remaining peoples shall plunder you;
Because of the shedding of human blood,
and violence done to the land,
to the city and to all who live in it.
9 Ah! you who pursue evil gain for your household,
setting your nest on high
to escape the reach of misfortune!
10 You have devised shame for your household,
cutting off many peoples, forfeiting your own life;
11 For the stone in the wall shall cry out,
and the beam in the frame shall answer it!
12 Ah! you who build a city by bloodshed,
and who establish a town with injustice!(E)
13 Is this not from the Lord of hosts:
peoples toil for what the flames consume,
and nations grow weary for nothing!
14 But the earth shall be filled
with the knowledge of the Lord’s glory,
just as the water covers the sea.(F)
15 Ah! you who give your neighbors
the cup of your wrath to drink, and make them drunk,
until their nakedness is seen!(G)
16 You are filled with shame instead of glory;
drink, you too, and stagger!
The cup from the Lord’s right hand shall come around to you,
and utter shame shall cover your glory.
17 For the violence done to Lebanon shall cover you,(H)
and the destruction of the animals shall terrify you;
Because of the shedding of human blood,
and violence done to the land,
to the city and to all who live in it.
18 Of what use is the carved image,
that its maker should carve it?
Or the molten image, the lying oracle,
that its very maker should trust in it,
and make mute idols?
19 Ah! you who say to wood, “Awake!”
to silent stone, “Arise!”
Can any such thing give oracles?(I)
It is only overlaid with gold and silver,
there is no breath in it at all.
20 But the Lord is in his holy temple;
silence before him, all the earth!(J)
Footnotes
- 2:2
- 2:4
- 2:5
- 2:7
- 2:11–12
- 2:13
- 2:17
- 2:18–20
Cross references
- 2:1 : Is 21:8.
- 2:2 : Is 30:8.
- 2:4 : Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Hb 10:38.
- 2:6 : Is 14:4.
- 2:12 : Ez 24:6; Mi 3:10; Na 3:1.
- 2:14 : Is 11:9.
- 2:15 : Jer 51:7; Lam 4:21.
- 2:17 : Is 14:8.
- 2:19 : Is 44:18–19.
- 2:20 : Ps 11:4.
