HABAKKUK
CHAPTER 2

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. ^[1]


The LORD 's Answer
² Then the LORD replied:

"Write down the revelation
and make it plain on tablets
so that a herald ^[2] 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 ^[3] will certainly come and will not delay.

⁴ "See, he is puffed up;
his desires are not upright-
but the righteous will live by his faith ^[4] -
⁵ indeed, wine betrays him;
he is arrogant and never at rest.
Because he is as greedy as the grave ^[5]
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 debtors ^[6] suddenly arise?
Will they not wake up and make you tremble?
Then you will become their victim.
⁸ Because you have plundered many nations,
the peoples who are left will plunder you.
For you have shed man's blood;
you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.

⁹ "Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain
to set 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 crime!
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 be exposed ^[7] !
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 man's blood;
you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.

¹⁸ "Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it?
Or an image that teaches lies?
For he 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 But the LORD is in his holy temple;
let all the earth be silent before him."

Footnotes

1. 2:1 Or and what to answer when I am rebuked
2. 2:2 Or so that whoever reads it
3. 2:3 Or Though he linger, wait for him; / he
4. 2:4 Or faithfulness
5. 2:5 Hebrew Sheol
6. 2:7 Or creditors
7. 2:16 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls, Aquila, Vulgate and Syriac (see also Septuagint) and stagger

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Bible text from Gospelcom.net.  Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.

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