Habakkuk 1:1–2:20
1 aThe oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
2 O Lord, bhow long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you c“Violence!”
and you will not save?
3 dWhy do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction cand violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
4 eSo the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
fFor the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.
5 g“Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
hFor I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.
6 For behold, iI am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation,
jwho march through the breadth of the earth,
kto seize dwellings not their own.
7 They are dreaded and fearsome;
ltheir justice and dignity go forth from themselves.
8 mTheir horses are swifter than leopards,
more fierce than nthe evening wolves;
their horsemen press proudly on.
Their horsemen come from afar;
othey fly like an eagle swift to devour.
9 They all come pfor violence,
all their faces forward.
They gather captives rlike sand.
and at rulers they laugh.
sThey laugh at every fortress,
for tthey pile up earth and take it.
11 Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,
uguilty men, vwhose own might is their god!”
12 Are you not wfrom everlasting,
O Lord my God, my Holy One?
xWe shall not die.
O Lord, yyou have ordained them as a judgment,
and you, O zRock, have established them for reproof.
13 You who are aof purer eyes than to see evil
and cannot look at wrong,
bwhy do you idly look at traitors
and cremain silent when the wicked swallows up
the man more righteous than he?
14 You make mankind like the fish of the sea,
like crawling things that have no ruler.
15 dHe1 brings all of them up ewith a hook;
he drags them out with his net;
he gathers them in his dragnet;
so he rejoices and is glad.
16 fTherefore he sacrifices to his net
and makes offerings to his dragnet;
for by them he lives in luxury,2
and his food is rich.
17 Is he then to keep on emptying his net
gand mercilessly killing nations forever?
2 I will htake my stand at my watchpost
and station myself on the tower,
and ilook out to see jwhat he will say to me,
and what I will answer concerning my complaint.
The Righteous Shall Live by His Faith
2 And the Lord answered me:
k“Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets,
so he may run who reads it.
3 For still lthe vision awaits its appointed time;
it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
If it seems slow, mwait for it;
nit will surely come; it will not delay.
4 “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
but othe righteous shall live by his faith.1
5 “Moreover, wine2 is pa traitor,
an arrogant man who is never at rest.3
His greed is as wide as Sheol;
like death qhe has never enough.
rHe gathers for himself all nations
and collects as his own all peoples.”
6 Shall not all these stake up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say,
t“Woe to him uwho heaps up what is not his own—
for vhow long?—
and wloads himself with pledges!”
7 xWill not your debtors suddenly arise,
and those awake who will make you tremble?
Then you will be spoil for them.
8 yBecause you have plundered many nations,
all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you,
zfor the blood of man and yviolence to the earth,
to cities and all who dwell in them.
9 t“Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house,
to be safe from the reach of harm!
10 You have devised shame for your house
cby cutting off many peoples;
you have forfeited your life.
11 For dthe stone will cry out from the wall,
and the beam from the woodwork respond.
12 t“Woe to him ewho builds a town with blood
and founds a city on iniquity!
13 Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts
that fpeoples labor merely for fire,
and nations weary themselves for nothing?
14 gFor the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of hthe glory of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
15 t“Woe to him iwho makes his neighbors drink—
you pour out your wrath and make them drunk,
in order to gaze jat their nakedness!
16 You will have your fill kof shame instead of glory.
lDrink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision!
lThe cup in the Lord’s right hand
will come around to you,
and mutter shame will come upon your glory!
17 nThe violence odone to Lebanon will overwhelm you,
as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them,
nfor the blood of man and violence to the earth,
to cities and all who dwell in them.
18 p“What profit is an idol
when its maker has shaped it,
a metal image, qa teacher of lies?
For its maker trusts in his own creation
when he makes rspeechless idols!
19 sWoe to him twho says to a wooden thing, Awake;
to a silent stone, Arise!
Can this teach?
Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
and uthere is no breath at all in it.
20 But vthe Lord is in his holy temple;
wlet all the earth keep silence before him.”