2:1 I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will look out to see what He will speak by me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.
2:2 And the Lord answered me, and said: 'Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that a man may read it swiftly.
2:3 For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it declareth of the end, and doth 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 a treacherous dealer; the haughty man abideth not; he who enlargeth his desire as the nether-world, and 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 riddle against him, and say: 'Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and that ladeth himself with many pledges!'
2:7 Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall exact interest of thee, and awake that shall violently shake thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them?
2:8 Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall spoil 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 gaineth evil gains for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil!
2:10 Thou hast devised shame to thy house, by cutting off many peoples, and hast forfeited thy life.
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 the Lord of hosts that the peoples labour 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 the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
2:15 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy venom thereto, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!
2:16 Thou art filled with shame instead of glory, drink thou also, and be uncovered; the cup of the Lord'S right hand shall be turned unto thee, and filthiness 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, even the molten image, and the teacher of lies; that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?
2:19 Woe unto him that saith to the wood: 'Awake', to the dumb stone: 'Arise!' Can 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 the Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him.