1 Upon my watch {mishmarti: prophetic observation} I will stand, station myself on the fortress, and watch to see what He {YHWH, Sovereign Speaker} will speak to me, and what I will answer concerning my reproof.
2 And the LORD {YHWH, Instruction Giver} answered me and said, “Write the vision {chazon: prophetic revelation} and make it plain upon the tablets, so that he who reads it may run.”
3 For the vision is still for the appointed time {moed: fixed season}, and it breathes forth toward the end; it will not lie {yekhazzev: false speech}. Though it delays, wait for it—for it will surely come; it will not delay.
4 Behold, the haughty one {uplah: haughty arrogance}—his soul is not upright within him; but the righteous shall live by his faith {emunato: steadfast loyalty}.
5 Indeed, because wine betrays {boged: acts treacherously}, a proud man {yahir: haughty arrogance} does not rest; he who has enlarged his soul like Sheol and is like death and cannot be satisfied gathers all the nations to himself and collects all the peoples.
6 Surely will not all these take up a proverb {mashal: illustrative saying} against him, and a mocking riddle for him, and say, “Woe to him who amasses what is not his—how long?—and who loads himself with pledges {avtit: debts or securities}!”
7 Will not your creditors {noshkecha: those who demand repayment} suddenly rise up, and will your tormentors shake you awake? Then you will become plunder {limshissot: spoils of conquest} for them.
8 Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant {yeter: surviving few} of the peoples will plunder you for the blood of man and for the violence of the land, the city, and the dwellers {yoshevei: inhabitants} in it.
9 Woe to him who acquires unjust gain {betza: ill-gotten profit} for his house, who sets his nest {kino: personal refuge} on high, so that he may be delivered from the hand of evil.
10 You have planned shame {boshet: ignominious reproach} for your house by cutting off many peoples, and you have forfeited your life {nafshekha: vital essence}.
11 For the stone {even: silent witness} will cry out from the wall, and the beam {kafis: timber brace} from the wood will answer it.
12 Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed {damim: acts of violence} and founds a town with iniquity {avlah: deliberate wrongdoing}.
13 Behold, is it not from the LORD {YHWH, Divine Judge} of hosts that peoples labor for fire {esh: consuming destruction} and nations weary themselves for emptiness?
14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD {YHWH, Glorious Revealer}, as the waters cover the sea {yam: vast expanse}.
15 Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring out your wrath {khamatkha: burning anger} and even making him drunk, in order to gaze upon their nakedness {meorehem: physical exposure}.
16 You are filled with disgrace instead of glory; drink also and be uncircumcised. The cup from the right hand of the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge} will turn upon you, and utter shame {qiqalon: disgraceful shame} will be upon your glory.
17 For the violence against Lebanon {levanon: symbol of strength} will cover you, and the destruction of beasts will terrify you, because of the blood of man and the violence against the land, the city {qiryah: urban stronghold} and all who dwell in it.
18 What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it—a cast image {massekha: molten statue} and a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts his own creation to make speechless idols {illemim: powerless idols}.
19 Woe to the one who says to the wood, “Awake!” and to the silent stone {dummam: lacking life}, “Arise!” Can it instruct? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, but there is no breath {ruach: life-force} at all within it.
20 But the LORD {YHWH, Holy King} is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent {has: reverent stillness} before Him.