Second Complaint
1 Upon my watch I will stand,
and set myself upon the tower.
I will watch to see what he will say to me,
and what I will reply when I am corrected.
2 Then Yahweh answered me, and said,
Persion Interlude
"Write the vision,
and engrave it upon the tablets,
so that he that reads it may run.
3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time.
But it will blow in the end,
and it will not lie.
Though it delays,
wait for it.
For it will surely come,
and will not be late."
4 "Behold, he is lifted up,
his soul is not upright within him,
but the Rightous One
will live in faithfulness."
Josianic Reform
5 And also he transgresses for the wine,
a proud man who does not stay home.
He that enlarges his soul like Sheol,
and like death is never satisfied,
and gathers unto himself the nations,
and heaps unto himself the peoples.
6 Are not all these against him?
You shall take up a parable,
and a taunting proverb against him,
saying,
Woe to the one who increases what is not his,
how long?
And laidens himself with thick clay.
7 Will they not suddenly rise up and bite you?
And awake to vex you?
And you will be plunder for them.
8 For you have spoiled many nations,
and all the remnant of the people will spoil you,
because of the blood of the ground,
and the violence of the land,
and the city and all that dwell in it.
9 Woe to him that covets
coveteous evil upon his house,
who sets his nest on high
delivering from the hand of evil.
10 You have purposed shame upon your house,
cutting off many people,
and your soul has sinned.
11 For the stone of the wall shall cry out,
and the timber of the beam will answer.
12 Woe to him that builds the city with blood,
and establishes the city with iniquity.
13 Will not Yahweh of Hosts behold it?
And the people will labor for very fire,
and the people will faint for very vanity.
For the land shall be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh,
as water covers the sea. (Isa 11:9)
15 Woe to him that gives drink to his neighbor,
who clings to the bottle,
and also makes him drink,
so that he may his nakedness.
16 You are filled with shame,
you are also drunk from glory,
but the circumcised shall turn against you.
The cup of the right hand of Yahweh
will pour out upon your glory.
17 For the violence of Lebanon will cover you,
and the spoil of beasts will terrify,
because of the blood of the ground,
and the violence of the land,
of the city and all that dwell in it.
18 What profit is an idol?
For its creator engraves the molten image,
and teaches lies.
For the creator trusts his own creation,
he makes for himself a mute idol.
19 Woe to him that says to wood, "Awake!"
"Arise!" to stupid stone.
Who knows,
"Behold, it is overlayed with gold and silver."
But there is no spirit in it at all.
20 But Yahweh is in his Holy Temple,
let all the land be silent before him.