Habakkuk 1:12–2:5

Habakkuk’s Second Complaint

12 Lord, are you not from everlasting?y

My God, my Holy One,z youc will never die.a

You, Lord, have appointedb them to execute judgment;

you, my Rock,c have ordained them to punish.

13 Your eyes are too pured to look on evil;

you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.e

Why then do you toleratef the treacherous?g

Why are you silent while the wicked

swallow up those more righteous than themselves?h

14 You have made people like the fish in the sea,

like the sea creatures that have no ruler.

15 The wickedi foe pulls all of them up with hooks,j

he catches them in his net,k

he gathers them up in his dragnet;

and so he rejoices and is glad.

16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net

and burns incensel to his dragnet,

for by his net he lives in luxury

and enjoys the choicest food.

17 Is he to keep on emptying his net,

destroying nations without mercy?m

2 I will stand at my watchn

and station myself on the ramparts;o

I will look to see what he will sayp to me,

and what answer I am to give to this complaint.a q

The Lord’s Answer

2 Then the Lord replied:

“Writer down the revelation

and make it plain on tablets

so that a heraldb may run with it.

3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time;s

it speaks of the endt

and will not prove false.

Though it linger, waitu for it;

itc will certainly come

and will not delay.v

4 “See, the enemy is puffed up;

his desires are not upright—

but the righteous personw will live by his faithfulnessd x—

5 indeed, winey betrays him;

he is arrogantz and never at rest.

Because he is as greedy as the grave

and like death is never satisfied,a

he gathers to himself all the nations

and takes captiveb all the peoples.