1 What’s God going to say to my questions? I’m braced for the worst.I’ll climb to the lookout tower and scan the horizon.I’ll wait to see what God says,how he’ll answer my complaint.
2-3 And then God answered: “Write this.Write what you see.Write it out in big block lettersso that it can be read on the run.This vision-message is a witnesspointing to what’s coming.It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait!And it doesn’t lie.If it seems slow in coming, wait.It’s on its way. It will come right on time.
4 “Look at that man, bloated by self-importance—full of himself but soul-empty.But the person in right standing before Godthrough loyal and steady believingis fully alive, really alive.
5-6 “Note well: Money deceives.The arrogant rich don’t last.They are more hungry for wealththan the grave is for cadavers.Like death, they always want more,but the ‘more’ they get is dead bodies.They are cemeteries filled with dead nations,graveyards filled with corpses.Don’t give people like this a second thought.Soon the whole world will be taunting them:
6-8 “‘Who do you think you are—getting rich by stealing and extortion?How long do you thinkyou can get away with this?’Indeed, how long before your victims wake up,stand up and make you the victim?You’ve plundered nation after nation.Now you’ll get a taste of your own medicine.All the survivors are out to plunder you,a payback for all your murders and massacres.