2:1 I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will look forth to see what he will speak with me, and what I shall answer concerning my complaint.
2:2 And Jehovah answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tablets, that he may run that readeth it.
2:3 For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hasteth toward the end, and shall not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not delay.
2:4 Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him; but the righteous shall live by his faith.
2:5 Yea, moreover, wine is treacherous, a haughty man, that keepeth not at home; who enlargeth his desire as Sheol, and he is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all peoples.
2:6 Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and that ladeth himself with pledges!
2:7 Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booty unto them?
2:8 Because thou hast plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder thee, because of men`s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all that dwell therein.
2:9 Woe to him that getteth an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!
2:10 Thou hast devised shame to thy house, by cutting off many peoples, and hast sinned against thy soul.
2:11 For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.
2:12 Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and establisheth a city by iniquity!
2:13 Behold, is it not of Jehovah of hosts that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?
2:14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.
2:15 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, [to thee] that addest thy venom, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!
2:16 Thou art filled with shame, and not glory: drink thou also, and be as one uncircumcised; the cup of Jehovah`s right hand shall come round unto thee, and foul shame shall be upon thy glory.
2:17 For the violence done to Lebanon shall cover thee, and the destruction of the beasts, which made them afraid; because of men`s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all that dwell therein.
2:18 What profiteth the graven image, that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he that fashioneth its form trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?
2:19 Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise! Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.
2:20 But Jehovah is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.