Habakkuk 1-2

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?
¹⁴You make mankind like the fish of the sea,
    like crawling things that have no ruler.
¹⁵^(AD)He^[a] brings all of them up ^(AE)with a hook;
    he drags them out with his net;
he gathers them in his dragnet;
    so he rejoices and is glad.
¹⁶^(AF)Therefore he sacrifices to his net
    and makes offerings to his dragnet;
for by them he lives in luxury,^[b]
    and his food is rich.
¹⁷Is he then to keep on emptying his net
    ^(AG)and mercilessly killing nations forever?

2 I will ^(AH)take my stand at my watchpost
and station myself on the tower,
and ^(AI)look out to see ^(AJ)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:

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

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

⁵“Moreover, wine^[d] is ^(AP)a traitor,
    an arrogant man who is never at rest.^[e]
His greed is as wide as Sheol;
    like death ^(AQ)he has never enough.
^(AR)He gathers for himself all nations
    and collects as his own all peoples.”

Woe to the Chaldeans

⁶Shall not all these ^(AS)take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say,

^(AT)“Woe to him ^(AU)who heaps up what is not his own—
    for ^(AV)how long?—
    and ^(AW)loads himself with pledges!”
⁷^(AX)Will not your debtors suddenly arise,
    and those awake who will make you tremble?
    Then you will be spoil for them.
⁸^(AY)Because you have plundered many nations,
    all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you,
^(AZ)for the blood of man and ^(BA)violence to the earth,
    to cities and all who dwell in them.

⁹^(BB)“Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house,
    ^(BC)to ^(BD)set his nest on high,
    to be safe from the reach of harm!
¹⁰You have devised shame for your house
    ^(BE)by cutting off many peoples;
    you have forfeited your life.
¹¹For ^(BF)the stone will cry out from the wall,
    and the beam from the woodwork respond.

¹²^(BG)“Woe to him ^(BH)who builds a town with blood
    and founds a city on iniquity!
¹³Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts
    that ^(BI)peoples labor merely for fire,
    and nations weary themselves for nothing?
¹⁴^(BJ)For the earth will be filled
    with the knowledge of ^(BK)the glory of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.

¹⁵^(BL)“Woe to him ^(BM)who makes his neighbors drink—
    you pour out your wrath and make them drunk,
    in order to gaze ^(BN)at their nakedness!
¹⁶You will have your fill ^(BO)of shame instead of glory.
    ^(BP)Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision!
^(BQ)The cup in the Lord's right hand
    will come around to you,
    and ^(BR)utter shame will come upon your glory!
¹⁷^(BS)The violence ^(BT)done to Lebanon will overwhelm you,
    as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them,
^(BU)for the blood of man and violence to the earth,
    to cities and all who dwell in them.

¹⁸^(BV)“What profit is an idol
    when its maker has shaped it,
    a metal image, ^(BW)a teacher of lies?
For its maker trusts in his own creation
    when he makes ^(BX)speechless idols!
¹⁹^(BY)Woe to him ^(BZ)who says to a wooden thing, Awake;
    to a silent stone, Arise!
Can this teach?
Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
    and ^(CA)there is no breath at all in it.
²⁰But ^(CB)the Lord is in his holy temple;
    ^(CC)let all the earth keep silence before him.”