Habakkuk 2

The Righteous Will Live by Faith

2I will stand at my post,

and station myself on the rampart.

And I will keep watch to see what he will say to me,

and what he will answer concerning my complaint.

²Then Yahweh answered me and said,

“Write the vision and make it plain on the tablet

so that it might be read quickly.^a

³For there is yet a vision for the appointed time;

it will give witness to the end, and it will not lie.

If it tarries, wait for it,

for it will surely come and not delay.

⁴Look! His spirit within him is puffed up;

it is not upright.

But the righteous shall live by his faithfulness.

⁵How much less^b the defiant;^c

the arrogant, treacherous man?

He who broadens his throat like Sheol,

and who, like death, is not satisfied,

and who gathers to himself all the nations,

and harvested for himself all the peoples,

will not succeed.

⁶Shall not all of these take up a taunt against him,

with ridicule and riddles against him, saying,

‘Woe to him who heaps up what is not his’?

For how long?

And, ‘Woe to him who makes himself heavy with pledges’?

⁷Will not your creditors suddenly rise up

and awaken those who make you tremble?

Then you shall be as plunder for them.

⁸Because you plundered many nations,

all the remaining nations will plunder you

on account of the blood of humanity

and violence against the land,

and against cities and all who live in them.

⁹Woe to him who obtains profit from evil gain for his house,

to set his nest on high,

to be saved from the hand of misfortune!

¹⁰You have plotted shame for your house,

cutting off many peoples

and sinning against your life.

¹¹For the stone will cry out from the wall,

and the plaster from the wood will answer it.

¹²Woe to him who builds a city by bloodguilt,

and who founds a city by wickedness!

¹³Look! Is it not from Yahweh of hosts

that people labor for mere fire,

and nations exhaust themselves for mere vanity?

¹⁴For the earth will be filled

with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh,

like the waters covering the sea.

¹⁵Woe to him who gives a drink to his neighbors,

pouring out your wrath and also making them drunk

in order to see their nakedness!

¹⁶You will be sated with shame rather than glory.

Drink also yourself, and expose yourself!

The cup of the right hand of Yahweh

will come around upon you

and disgrace upon your glory.

¹⁷For the violence of Lebanon will cover you,

and the destruction of wild animals will shatter them

on account of the blood of humanity,

and the violence against the land,

against a city and all the inhabitants in it.

¹⁸What value is an idol

when its carver has fashioned it,

a molten idol, a teacher of lies?

For he who fashioned his creation trusts in it,

though making mute idols!

¹⁹Woe to him who says to the wood, ‘Wake up!’

And to a lifeless stone, ‘Arise!’

Can he teach?

Look, it is covered with gold and silver,

and there is no breath within it.

²⁰But Yahweh is in his holy temple.

Let all the earth be silent before him.”