Habakkuk 1:12-2:5

New American Standard Bible

¹²Are You not from ^(A)time everlasting,
Lord, my God, my Holy One?
We will not die.
You, Lord, have ^(B)appointed them to deliver judgment;
And You, O ^(C)Rock, have destined them to punish.
¹³Your eyes are too ^(D)pure to look at evil,
And You cannot look at harm favorably.
Why do You ^(E)look favorably
At those who deal ^(F)treacherously?
Why are You ^(G)silent when the wicked ^(H)swallow up
Those more righteous than they?
¹⁴Why have You made people like the fish of the sea,
Like crawling things that have no ruler over them?
¹⁵The Chaldeans ^(I)bring all of them up with a hook,
^(J)Drag them away with their net,
And gather them together in their fishing net.
Therefore they rejoice and are joyful.
¹⁶Therefore they offer a sacrifice to their net
And ^[a]burn incense to their fishing net,
Because through ^(K)these things their ^[b]catch is ^[c]large,
And their food is ^[d]plentiful.
¹⁷Will they therefore empty their ^(L)net,
And continually ^(M)slay nations without sparing?

God Answers the Prophet

2 I will ^(N)stand at my guard post
And station myself on the watchtower;
And I will ^(O)keep watch to see ^(P)what He will say to me,
And how I may reply ^[e]when I am reprimanded.
²Then the Lord answered me and said,
“^(Q)Write down the vision
And inscribe it clearly on tablets,
So that one who ^[f]reads it may run.
³For the vision is yet for the ^(R)appointed time;
It ^[g]hurries toward the goal and it will not ^[h]fail.
Though it delays, ^(S)wait for it;
For it will certainly come, it ^(T)will not delay long.

⁴“Behold, as for the ^(U)impudent one,
His soul is not right within him;
But the ^(V)righteous one will live by his ^[i]faith.
⁵Furthermore, ^(W)wine betrays an ^(X)arrogant man,
So that he does not ^(Y)achieve his objective.
He ^(Z)enlarges his appetite like Sheol,
And he is like death, never satisfied.
He also gathers to himself all the nations
And collects to himself all the peoples.