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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.

He pursues, as I have said, the same subject, and sharply inveighs against the sottishness of men, that they call on wood and stone, as though there were some hidden power in them. They say to the wood, Awake; for they implored help from their idols. Shall it teach? Some render it thus as a question; but I take it in a simpler form, “It will teach;” that is, “It is a wonder that ye are so wilfully foolish; for were God to send to you no Prophet, were there no one to instruct you, yet the wood and the stone would be sufficient teachers to you: ask your idols, that is, ascertain rightly what is in them. Doubtless, the god that is made of wood or of stone, sufficiently declares by his silence that he is no god. For there is no motion in wood and stone. Where there is no vigor and no life, is it not right to feel assured, that there is no deity? There are, indeed, many creatures endued with feeling and motion; but the God who gives power, and motion, and feeling to the whole world, and to all its parts, does he not surpass in these respects all his creatures? Since, then, wood and stone are silent, they are teachers sufficient for you, provided ye be apt scholars.”

We hence see how the Prophet in this way amplifies the insensibility of men; for they did not perceive what was quite manifest. The design of what follows is the same. Behold, it is covered over with gold and silver; that is, it is made splendid: for idolaters think that their gods are better when adorned with gold and silver; but yet there is no breath in the midst of them. “Look,” he says, “within; look within, and ye shall see that they are dead.” ⁴⁷⁴⁷     With the exception of the clause, “It will teach,” there is a general agreement in the mode of rendering this verse. “Shall it teach,” is Newcome’s version. Henderson considers it to be ironical, “It teach!” Grotius agrees with Calvin, “It will itself teach thee,” that is, that it is deaf, and no god. I regard the verse as capable of a simpler and more literal rendering, as follows:
   19. Woe to him who saith to the wood, “Awake, Arise;”
To the dumb stone, “It will teach:”
Behold, it is covered with gold and silver!
Yet there is no breath within it.
   The two verbs, “Awake, Arise,” stand connected with “wood,” and they are so given in the Septuagint; and there is a striking contrast between the dumb stone and teaching.—Ed. The rest we shall dilate on to-morrow.