⁸ Then the watcher^[a] called out:
“Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord,
    continually by day,
and at my post I am stationed
    throughout the night.^(A)

2 I will stand at my watchpost
    and station myself on the rampart;
I will keep watch to see what he will say to me
    and what he^[a] will answer concerning my complaint.^(A)
2 Then the Lord answered me and said:
Write the vision;
    make it plain on tablets,
    so that a runner may read it.^(B)

³⁸ Like a lion he has left his den,
    for their land has become a waste
because of the cruel anger
    and because of his fierce anger.

⁷ A lion has gone up from its thicket;
    a destroyer of nations has set out;
    he has gone out from his place
to make your land a waste;
    your cities will be ruins
    without inhabitant.^(A)

⁶ Upon your walls, O Jerusalem,
    I have posted sentinels;
all day and all night
    they shall never be silent.
You who remind the Lord,
    take no rest,^(A)

¹⁰ Israel’s^[a] sentinels are blind;
    they are all without knowledge;
they are all silent dogs
    that cannot bark,
dreaming, lying down,
    loving to slumber.^(A)