 1 I will stand on my watch and set myself on the tower, and will watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am reproved. 2 The Lord answered me and said, Write the vision, and make it plain on the tablets, that he who reads it may run. 3 For the vision is still for an appointed time, but it speaks to the end, and it does not lie. Though it lingers, wait for it. Because it will surely come. It will not tarry. 4 Behold, the soul of him is lifted up, and is not upright. But the just will live by faith. 5 Also wine indeed betrays a proud man, and he is not content. He widens his soul like Sheol, and he is like death, and is not satisfied, but gathers all nations to himself, and heaps to himself all the people. 6 Shall not all these lift up a parable against him, and a mocking riddle to him, and say, Woe to him who increases what is not his. Until when, then, shall he load the pledges on himself? 7 Shall not those who strike you rise up suddenly, and those who shake you awake, and you become a prize to them? 8 Because you have stripped many nations, all the rest of the people will strip you. Because of men's blood, and the violence of the land, of the city, and of all who live in it. 9 Woe to one who robs evil booty for his house, to set his nest on high, to be delivered from the hand of evil. 10 You have planned shame to your house, to make an end of many people, and are sinning in your soul. 11 For the stone will cry out of the wall and the beam out of the timber will answer it. 12 Woe to one who builds a town with blood and establishes a city by iniquity. 13 Behold, is it not for the Lord of hosts that the people labor only for fire. Yes, the nations weary themselves only for vanity? 14 For 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 gives his neighbor drink, pouring out your wineskin, and also making him drunk, that you may look on their nakedness. 16 You are filled with shame instead of glory. Drink also, and be seen as one uncircumcised. The cup of the Lord's right hand will turn on you, and disgrace will be your glory. 17 For the violence of Lebanon will cover you, and the ruin of beasts will terrify them because of the blood of man, and the violence of the land, the city, and all those dwelling in it. 18 What benefit is an engraved image to its maker that carved+ it? Does the maker of a molten image trust a teacher of lies or his work to make a dumb idol? 19 Woe to those who say to the wood, Awake. Or to a silent+ stone, Arise as though it will teach. Behold, it may be overlaid with gold and silver, but it has no breath. 20 But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him.
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