Habakkuk 1:1-13

English Standard Version

1 ^(A)The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

Habakkuk's Complaint

²O Lord, ^(B)how long shall I cry for help,
    and you will not hear?
Or cry to you ^(C)“Violence!”
    and you will not save?
³^(D)Why do you make me see iniquity,
    and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction ^(E)and violence are before me;
    strife and contention arise.
⁴^(F)So the law is paralyzed,
    and justice never goes forth.
^(G)For the wicked surround the righteous;
    so justice goes forth perverted.

The Lord's Answer

⁵^(H)“Look among the nations, and see;
    wonder and be astounded.
^(I)For I am doing a work in your days
    that you would not believe if told.
⁶For behold, ^(J)I am raising up the Chaldeans,
    that bitter and hasty nation,
^(K)who march through the breadth of the earth,
    ^(L)to seize dwellings not their own.
⁷They are dreaded and fearsome;
    ^(M)their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.
⁸^(N)Their horses are swifter than leopards,
    more fierce than ^(O)the evening wolves;
    their horsemen press proudly on.
Their horsemen come from afar;
    ^(P)they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
⁹They all come ^(Q)for violence,
    all their faces forward.
    They gather captives ^(R)like sand.
¹⁰At kings they scoff,
    and at rulers they laugh.
^(S)They laugh at every fortress,
    for ^(T)they pile up earth and take it.
¹¹Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,
    ^(U)guilty men, ^(V)whose own might is their god!”

Habakkuk's Second Complaint

¹²Are you not ^(W)from everlasting,
    O Lord my God, my Holy One?
    ^(X)We shall not die.
O Lord, ^(Y)you have ordained them as a judgment,
    and you, O ^(Z)Rock, have established them for reproof.
¹³You who are ^(AA)of purer eyes than to see evil
    and cannot look at wrong,
^(AB)why do you idly look at traitors
    and ^(AC)remain silent when the wicked swallows up
    the man more righteous than he?

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Habakkuk 2:1-4

English Standard Version

2 I will ^(A)take my stand at my watchpost
and station myself on the tower,
and ^(B)look out to see ^(C)what he will say to me,
and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

The Righteous Shall Live by His Faith

²And the Lord answered me:

^(D)“Write the vision;
    make it plain on tablets,
    so he may run who reads it.
³For still ^(E)the vision awaits its appointed time;
    it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
If it seems slow, ^(F)wait for it;
    ^(G)it will surely come; it will not delay.

⁴“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
but ^(H)the righteous shall live by his faith.^[a]

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Footnotes

Habakkuk 2:4 Or faithfulness

Psalm 37:1-17

English Standard Version

He Will Not Forsake His Saints

^[a] Of David.

37 ^(A)Fret not yourself because of evildoers;
be not ^(B)envious of wrongdoers!
²For they will soon ^(C)fade like ^(D)the grass
and wither ^(E)like the green herb.

³^(F)Trust in the Lord, and do good;
^(G)dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.^[b]
⁴^(H)Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will ^(I)give you the desires of your heart.

⁵^(J)Commit your way to the Lord;
^(K)trust in him, and he will act.
⁶^(L)He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as ^(M)the noonday.

⁷^(N)Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
^(O)fret not yourself over the one who ^(P)prospers in his way,
over the man who carries out evil devices!

⁸^(Q)Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
^(R)Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
⁹^(S)For the evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the Lord shall ^(T)inherit the land.

¹⁰In ^(U)just a little while, the wicked will be no more;
though you look carefully at ^(V)his place, he will not be there.
¹¹But ^(W)the meek shall inherit the land
and delight themselves in ^(X)abundant peace.

¹²The wicked ^(Y)plots against the righteous
and ^(Z)gnashes his teeth at him,
¹³but the Lord ^(AA)laughs at the wicked,
for he sees that his ^(AB)day is coming.

¹⁴The wicked draw the sword and ^(AC)bend their bows
    to bring down the poor and needy,
    to slay those whose ^(AD)way is upright;
¹⁵their sword shall enter their own heart,
    and their ^(AE)bows shall be broken.

¹⁶^(AF)Better is the little that the righteous has
than the abundance of many wicked.
¹⁷For ^(AG)the arms of the wicked shall be broken,
but the Lord ^(AH)upholds the righteous.

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Footnotes

Psalm 37:1 This psalm is an acrostic poem, each stanza beginning with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet
Psalm 37:3 Or and feed on faithfulness, or and find safe pasture

2 Timothy 1:1-14

English Standard Version

Greeting

1 Paul, ^(A)an apostle of Christ Jesus ^(B)by the will of God according to ^(C)the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus,

²To Timothy, ^(D)my beloved child:

^(E)Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Guard the Deposit Entrusted to You

³^(F)I thank God ^(G)whom I serve, as did my ancestors, ^(H)with a clear conscience, as I remember you ^(I)constantly in my prayers night and day. ⁴^(J)As I remember your tears, ^(K)I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. ⁵I am reminded of ^(L)your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and ^(M)your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. ⁶For this reason I remind you ^(N)to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, ⁷for God gave us ^(O)a spirit not of fear but ^(P)of power and love and self-control.

⁸Therefore ^(Q)do not be ashamed of ^(R)the testimony about our Lord, nor of ^(S)me his prisoner, but ^(T)share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, ⁹^(U)who saved us and ^(V)called us to^[a] a holy calling, ^(W)not because of our works but because of ^(X)his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus ^(Y)before the ages began,^[b] ¹⁰and which now has ^(Z)been manifested through ^(AA)the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, ^(AB)who abolished death and ^(AC)brought life and ^(AD)immortality to light through the gospel, ¹¹^(AE)for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, ¹²^(AF)which is why I suffer as I do. But ^(AG)I am not ashamed, for ^(AH)I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until ^(AI)that day ^(AJ)what has been entrusted to me.^[c] ¹³^(AK)Follow ^(AL)the pattern of ^(AM)the sound^[d] words ^(AN)that you have heard from me, in ^(AO)the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴By the Holy Spirit ^(AP)who dwells within us, guard ^(AQ)the good deposit entrusted to you.

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Footnotes

2 Timothy 1:9 Or with
2 Timothy 1:9 Greek before times eternal
2 Timothy 1:12 Or what I have entrusted to him; Greek my deposit
2 Timothy 1:13 Or healthy

Luke 17:5-10

English Standard Version

Increase Our Faith

⁵^(A)The apostles said to the Lord, ^(B)“Increase our faith!” ⁶And the Lord said, ^(C)“If you had faith like ^(D)a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this ^(E)mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

Unworthy Servants

⁷“Will any one of you who has a servant^[a] plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? ⁸Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and ^(F)dress properly,^[b] and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? ⁹Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? ¹⁰So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are ^(G)unworthy servants;^[c] we have only done what was our duty.’”