I will stand at my watch, and set myself on the ramparts, and will look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.
2YAHWEH1 answered me, “Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. 3For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and will not prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it; because it will surely come, and will not wait. 4Behold, the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the righteous will live by his faith.2 5Yes, moreover, wine is treacherous. A haughty man who does not stay at home, who enlarges his desire as the grave, and he is like death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathers to himself all nations, and heaps to himself all peoples.
6“Won’t all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, ‘Woe to him who increases that which is not his, and who enriches himself by extortion! How long?’ 7Won’t your debtors rise up suddenly, and wake up those who make you tremble, and you will be their victim? 8Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples will plunder you, because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell in it.
9“Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil! 10You have devised shame to your house, by cutting off many peoples, and have sinned against your soul. 11For the stone will cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the woodwork will answer it.
12“Woe to him who builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity! 13Behold, is it not of YAHWEH All-Powerful that the peoples labour for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity? 14For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of YAHWEH, as the waters cover the sea.
15“Woe to him who gives his neighbour drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that you may gaze at their naked bodies! 16You are filled with shame, and not glory. You will also drink, and be exposed! The cup of YAHWEH’s right hand will come around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory. 17For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction of the animals, which made them afraid; because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to every city and to those who dwell in them.
18“What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the cast metal image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols? 19Woe to him who says to the wood, ‘Awake!’ or to the mute 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. 20But YAHWEH is in his holy Temple. Let all the earth be silent before him!”
- 2:2 YAHWEH, the name God revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15 – God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.” ↩︎
- 2:3-4 Quoted (from the Greek LXX translation) in the Injil, Hebrews 10:36-38 to encourage followers of ‘ISA AL-MASIH to continue to follow him and not give up, as it says: For you need patience so that, having done the will of God, you may receive the promise. “In a very little while, He will surely come, and will not wait. But the righteous will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the saving of the soul.
2:4 but the righteous will live by his faith, Quoted in the Injil, Romans 1:16-17: For I am not ashamed of the Injil of AL-MASIH, for it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes; for the Jew first, and also for the Greek. For in it is revealed God’s righteousness from faith to faith. As it is written, “But the righteous shall live by faith.”
2:4 the righteous will live by his faith, Quoted in the Injil, Galatians 3:11: Now that no man is justified by the Taurat before God is evident, for, “the righteous will live by faith.” ↩︎