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2. The Lord's Answer

¹ I will stand at my watch
and station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what he will say to me,
and what answer I am to give to this complaint. Or and what to answer when I am rebuked

The LORD’s Answer

² Then the LORD replied:

   “Write down the revelation
   and make it plain on tablets
   so that a herald Or so that whoever reads it may run with it.
³ For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
   it speaks of the end
   and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;
   it Or Though he linger, wait for him; / he will certainly come
   and will not delay.

    ⁴ “See, the enemy is puffed up;
   his desires are not upright—
   but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness Or faith—
⁵ indeed, wine betrays him;
   he is arrogant and never at rest.
Because he is as greedy as the grave
   and like death is never satisfied,
he gathers to himself all the nations
   and takes captive all the peoples.

⁶ “Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying,

   “‘Woe to him who piles up stolen goods
   and makes himself wealthy by extortion!
   How long must this go on?’
⁷ Will not your creditors suddenly arise?
   Will they not wake up and make you tremble?
   Then you will become their prey.
⁸ Because you have plundered many nations,
   the peoples who are left will plunder you.
For you have shed human blood;
   you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.

    ⁹ “Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain,
   setting his nest on high
   to escape the clutches of ruin!
¹⁰ You have plotted the ruin of many peoples,
   shaming your own house and forfeiting your life.
¹¹ The stones of the wall will cry out,
   and the beams of the woodwork will echo it.

    ¹² “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed
   and establishes a town by injustice!
¹³ Has not the LORD Almighty determined
   that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire,
   that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing?
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 drink to his neighbors,
   pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk,
   so that he can gaze on their naked bodies!
¹⁶ You will be filled with shame instead of glory.
   Now it is your turn! Drink and let your nakedness be exposed Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls, Aquila, Vulgate and Syriac (see also Septuagint) and stagger!
The cup from the LORD’s right hand is coming around to you,
   and disgrace will cover your glory.
¹⁷ The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you,
   and your destruction of animals will terrify you.
For you have shed human blood;
   you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.

    ¹⁸ “Of what value is an idol carved by a craftsman?
   Or an image that teaches lies?
For the one who makes it trusts in his own creation;
   he makes idols that cannot speak.
¹⁹ Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Come to life!’
   Or to lifeless stone, ‘Wake up!’
Can it give guidance?
   It is covered with gold and silver;
   there is no breath in it.”

²⁰ The LORD is in his holy temple;
let all the earth be silent before him.

There is here introduced by the Prophet a new personification. He had before prepared a common song, which would be in the mouth of all. He now ascribes speech to stones and wood, of which buildings are formed. The stone, he says, shall cry from the wall, and the wood from the chamber; that is, there is no part of the building that will not cry out that it was built by plunder, by cruelty, and, in a word, by evil deeds. The Prophet not only ascribes speech to wood and stone, but he makes them also respond one to the other as in a chorus, as in lyrics there are voices which take up the song in turns. The stone, he says, shall cry from the wall, and the wood shall respond to it from the chamber; ³⁷³⁷     The word rendered here “Wood,” lignum, is [כפיס], and only found here. The Septuagint has κανθαρος, a beetle,—Sym. συνδεσμος, bond, tie, or joint,—Theod. ἔνδεσμος, bandage or jointing. The context shows that it must be something connected with wood-building. Parkhurst says, that it is a verb in Syriac, and means to connect, to fasten together, and he renders it a beam or a rafter, which would exactly suit this place. The word, [מעף], “from the wood,” evidently means the wood-building or wood-work. So that tabulatum, a story or a chamber in a building, as rendered by Calvin, is not amiss. Perhaps the best version would be,—
   And the beam from the wood-work answers it.
   Bochart says, that [כפיס], in Rabbinical writings, means a brick, and that it was usual, formerly, as it was in this country not long ago, to build with bricks and wood or timber together; and Henderson has adopted this meaning, but the other is more satisfactory.—Ed. as though he said, “There will be a striking harmony in every part of the building; for the wall will begin and will utter its song, ‘Behold I have been built by blood and by iniquity;’ and the wood will utter the same, and will cry, ‘Woe;’ but all in due order; there will be no confused noise, but as music has distinct sounds, so also the stones will respond to the wood and the wood to the stones, so that there may be, as they say, corresponding voices.”