Habakkuk 2

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]

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

Woe to the Chaldeans

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

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

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

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

¹⁵^(AE)“Woe to him ^(AF)who makes his neighbors drink—
    you pour out your wrath and make them drunk,
    in order to gaze ^(AG)at their nakedness!
¹⁶You will have your fill ^(AH)of shame instead of glory.
    ^(AI)Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision!
^(AJ)The cup in the Lord's right hand
    will come around to you,
    and ^(AK)utter shame will come upon your glory!
¹⁷^(AL)The violence ^(AM)done to Lebanon will overwhelm you,
    as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them,
^(AN)for the blood of man and violence to the earth,
    to cities and all who dwell in them.

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

Footnotes

Habakkuk 2:4 Or faithfulness
Habakkuk 2:5 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll wealth
Habakkuk 2:5 The meaning of the Hebrew of these two lines is uncertain

Micah 6

English Standard Version

The Indictment of the Lord

6 ^(A)Hear what the Lord says:
Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
    and let the hills hear your voice.
²^(B)Hear, you mountains, ^(C)the indictment of the Lord,
    and you enduring foundations of the earth,
for the Lord has an indictment against his people,
    and he will contend with Israel.

³“O my people, ^(D)what have I done to you?
    ^(E)How have I wearied you? Answer me!
⁴For ^(F)I brought you up from the land of Egypt
    and ^(G)redeemed you from the house of slavery,
and I sent before you Moses,
    Aaron, and ^(H)Miriam.
⁵O my people, remember ^(I)what Balak king of Moab devised,
    and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from ^(J)Shittim to Gilgal,
    that you may know ^(K)the righteous acts of the Lord.”

What Does the Lord Require?

⁶^(L)“With what shall I come before the Lord,
    and bow myself before ^(M)God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
⁷^(N)Will the Lord be pleased with^[a] thousands of rams,
    with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
^(O)Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
⁸He has told you, O man, what is good;
    and ^(P)what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,^[b]
    and to ^(Q)walk humbly with your God?

Destruction of the Wicked

⁹The voice of the Lord cries to the city—
    and it is sound wisdom to fear ^(R)your name:
“Hear of ^(S)the rod and of him who appointed it!^[c]
¹⁰    Can I forget any longer the treasures^[d] of wickedness in the house of the wicked,
    and the scant measure that is accursed?
¹¹Shall I acquit the man ^(T)with wicked scales
    and with a bag of deceitful weights?
¹²Your^[e] rich men are ^(U)full of violence;
    your inhabitants ^(V)speak lies,
    and ^(W)their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
¹³Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow,
    ^(X)making you desolate because of your sins.
¹⁴^(Y)You shall eat, but not be satisfied,
    and there shall be hunger within you;
you shall put away, but not preserve,
    and what you preserve I will give to the sword.
¹⁵^(Z)You shall sow, but not reap;
    you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;
    you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine.
¹⁶For you have kept the statutes of ^(AA)Omri,^[f]
    and all the works of the house of ^(AB)Ahab;
    and you have walked in their counsels,
that I may make you ^(AC)a desolation, and your^[g] inhabitants ^(AD)a hissing;
    so you shall bear ^(AE)the scorn of my people.”