Habakkuk 1:12-2:4

New Living Translation

Habakkuk’s Second Complaint

¹²O Lord my God, my Holy One, you who are eternal—
    surely you do not plan to wipe us out?
O Lord, our Rock, you have sent these Babylonians to correct us,
    to punish us for our many sins.
¹³But you are pure and cannot stand the sight of evil.
    Will you wink at their treachery?
Should you be silent while the wicked
    swallow up people more righteous than they?

¹⁴Are we only fish to be caught and killed?
    Are we only sea creatures that have no leader?
¹⁵Must we be strung up on their hooks
    and caught in their nets while they rejoice and celebrate?
¹⁶Then they will worship their nets
    and burn incense in front of them.
“These nets are the gods who have made us rich!”
    they will claim.
¹⁷Will you let them get away with this forever?
    Will they succeed forever in their heartless conquests?

2 I will climb up to my watchtower
and stand at my guardpost.
There I will wait to see what the Lord says
and how he^[a] will answer my complaint.

The Lord’s Second Reply

²Then the Lord said to me,

“Write my answer plainly on tablets,
    so that a runner can carry the correct message to others.
³This vision is for a future time.
    It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled.
If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently,
    for it will surely take place.
    It will not be delayed.

⁴“Look at the proud!
They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked.
But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God.^[b]

Footnotes

2:1 As in Syriac version; Hebrew reads I.
2:3b-4 Greek version reads If the vision is delayed, wait patiently, / for it will surely come and not delay. / ⁴I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away. / But the righteous person will live by my faith. Compare Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:37-38.