Habakkuk 2-3
Christian Standard Bible
Habakkuk Waits for God’s Response
2 I will stand at my guard post
and station myself on the lookout tower.(A)
I will watch to see what he will say to me(B)
and what I should[a] reply about my complaint.
God’s Second Answer
2 The Lord answered me:
Write down this vision;(C)
clearly inscribe it on tablets
so one may easily read it.[b]
3 For the vision is yet for the appointed time;(D)
it testifies about the end and will not lie.
Though it delays, wait for it,
since it will certainly come and not be late.(E)
4 Look, his ego is inflated;[c]
he is without integrity.
But the righteous one will live by his faith.[d](F)
5 Moreover, wine[e] betrays;
an arrogant man is never at rest.[f]
He enlarges his appetite like Sheol,
and like Death he is never satisfied.(G)
He gathers all the nations to himself;(H)
he collects all the peoples for himself.
The Five Woe Oracles
6 Won’t all of these take up a taunt against him,(I)
with mockery and riddles about him?
They will say,
“Woe to him who amasses what is not his—
how much longer?(J)—
and loads himself with goods taken in pledge.”(K)
7 Won’t your creditors suddenly arise,
and those who disturb you wake up?
Then you will become spoil for them.(L)
8 Since you have plundered many nations,(M)
all the peoples who remain will plunder you(N)—
because of human bloodshed
and violence(O) against lands, cities,
and all who live in them.(P)
9 Woe to him who dishonestly makes
wealth for his house[g](Q)
to place his nest on high,
to escape the grasp of disaster!(R)
10 You have planned shame for your house
by wiping out many peoples
and sinning against your own self.
11 For the stones will cry out(S) from the wall,
and the rafters will answer them
from the woodwork.
12 Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed
and founds a town with injustice!(T)
13 Is it not from the Lord of Armies
that the peoples labor only to fuel the fire
and countries exhaust themselves for nothing?(U)
14 For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the Lord’s glory,
as the water covers the sea.(V)
15 Woe to him who gives his neighbors drink,
pouring out your wrath[h]
and even making them drunk,
in order to look at their nakedness!
16 You will be filled with disgrace instead of glory.
You also—drink,
and expose your uncircumcision![i]
The cup in the Lord’s right hand
will come around to you,
and utter disgrace will cover your glory.(W)
17 For your violence against Lebanon
will overwhelm you;
the destruction of animals will terrify you[j]
because of your human bloodshed and violence
against lands, cities, and all who live in them.
18 What use is a carved idol
after its craftsman carves it?
It is only a cast image, a teacher of lies.
For the one who crafts its shape trusts in it
and makes worthless idols that cannot speak.
19 Woe to him who says to wood: Wake up!
or to mute stone: Come alive!
Can it teach?
Look! It may be plated with gold and silver,
yet there is no breath(X) in it at all.
Habakkuk’s Third Prayer
3 A prayer of the prophet Habakkuk. According to Shigionoth.[k](AA)
2 Lord, I have heard the report about you;
Lord, I stand in awe of your deeds.(AB)
Revive your work in these years;
make it known in these years.
In your wrath remember mercy!(AC)
3 God comes from Teman,
the Holy One from Mount Paran.(AD)Selah
His splendor covers the heavens,
and the earth is full of his praise.(AE)
4 His brilliance is like light;
rays are flashing from his hand.
This is where his power is hidden.
5 Plague goes before him,
and pestilence follows in his steps.
6 He stands and shakes[l] the earth;(AF)
he looks and startles the nations.
The age-old mountains break apart;
the ancient hills sink down.(AG)
His pathways are ancient.(AH)
7 I see the tents of Cushan[m] in distress;
the tent curtains of the land of Midian tremble.
8 Are you angry at the rivers, Lord?
Is your wrath against the rivers?
Or is your fury against the sea
when you ride on your horses,
your victorious chariot?(AI)
9 You took the sheath from your bow;
the arrows are ready[n] to be used with an oath.[o](AJ)Selah
You split the earth with rivers.
10 The mountains see you and shudder;(AK)
a downpour of water sweeps by.
The deep roars with its voice(AL)
and lifts its waves[p] high.
11 Sun and moon stand still in their lofty residence,(AM)
at the flash of your flying arrows,
at the brightness of your shining spear.
12 You march across the earth with indignation;
you trample down the nations in wrath.(AN)
13 You come out to save your people,(AO)
to save your anointed.[q]
You crush the leader of the house of the wicked
and strip him from foot[r] to neck.Selah
14 You pierce his head
with his own spears;
his warriors storm out to scatter us,
gloating as if ready to secretly devour the weak.
15 You tread the sea with your horses,
stirring up the vast water.(AP)
Habakkuk’s Confidence in God Expressed
16 I heard, and I trembled within;(AQ)
my lips quivered at the sound.
Rottenness entered my bones;
I trembled where I stood.
Now I must quietly wait for the day of distress(AR)
to come against the people invading us.
17 Though the fig tree does not bud
and there is no fruit on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though the flocks disappear from the pen
and there are no herds in the stalls,
18 yet I will celebrate in the Lord;
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!(AS)
19 The Lord my Lord is my strength;(AT)
he makes my feet like those of a deer(AU)
and enables me to walk on mountain heights!(AV)
For the choir director: on[s] stringed instruments.
Footnotes
- 2:1 Syr reads what he will
- 2:2 Lit one who reads in it may run
- 2:4 Hb obscure
- 2:4 Or faithfulness
- 2:5 DSS read wealth
- 2:5 Or man does not endure; Hb obscure
- 2:9 Or dynasty
- 2:15 Or venom
- 2:16 DSS, LXX, Aq, Syr, Vg read and stagger
- 2:17 DSS, LXX, Aq, Syr, Tg, Vg; MT reads them
- 3:1 Perhaps a passionate song with rapid changes of rhythm, or a dirge
- 3:6 Or surveys
- 3:7 = Midian
- 3:9 Or set
- 3:9 Hb obscure
- 3:10 Lit hands
- 3:13 The Davidic king or the nation of Israel
- 3:13 Lit foundation
- 3:19 Lit on my
Jeremiah 41-42
Christian Standard Bible
Gedaliah Assassinated by Ishmael
41 In the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family and one of the king’s chief officers, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah. They ate a meal together there in Mizpah, 2 but then Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him got up and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with the sword; he killed the one the king of Babylon had appointed in the land.(A) 3 Ishmael also struck down all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Chaldean soldiers who were there.(B)
4 On the day after he had killed Gedaliah, when no one knew yet, 5 eighty men came from Shechem, Shiloh,(C) and Samaria(D) who had shaved their beards,(E) torn their clothes, and gashed themselves, and(F) who were carrying grain and incense offerings to bring to the temple of the Lord.(G) 6 Ishmael son of Nethaniah came out of Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he came. When he encountered them, he said, “Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam!” 7 But when they came into the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the men with him slaughtered them and threw them into[a] a cistern.
8 However, there were ten men among them who said to Ishmael, “Don’t kill us, for we have hidden treasure in the field—wheat, barley, oil, and honey!” So he stopped and did not kill them along with their companions. 9 Now the cistern where Ishmael had thrown all the corpses of the men he had struck down was a large one[b] that King Asa had made in the encounter with King Baasha of Israel.(H) Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain.
10 Then Ishmael took captive all the rest of the people of Mizpah including the daughters of the king—all those who remained in Mizpah over whom Nebuzaradan, captain of the guards, had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive and set off to cross over to the Ammonites.(I)
The Captives Rescued by Johanan
11 When Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies(J) with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael son of Nethaniah had done, 12 they took all their men and went to fight with Ishmael son of Nethaniah. They found him by the great pool in Gibeon.(K) 13 When all the people held by Ishmael saw Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the army with him, they rejoiced. 14 All the people whom Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned around and rejoined Johanan son of Kareah. 15 But Ishmael son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men and went to the Ammonites. 16 Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies with him then took from Mizpah all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael son of Nethaniah after Ishmael had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam—men, soldiers, women, children, and court officials whom he brought back from Gibeon. 17 They left, stopping in Geruth Chimham,(L) which is near Bethlehem, in order to make their way into Egypt, 18 away from the Chaldeans. For they feared them because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land.(M)
The People Seek Jeremiah’s Counsel
42 Then all the commanders of the armies, along with Johanan son of Kareah,(N) Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest,(O) approached 2 the prophet Jeremiah and said, “May our petition come before you;(P) pray to the Lord your God on our behalf,(Q) on behalf of this entire remnant (for few of us remain out of the many,(R) as you can see with your own eyes), 3 that the Lord your God may tell us the way we should go and the thing we should do.”
4 So the prophet Jeremiah said to them, “I have heard. I will now pray to the Lord your God according to your words, and I will tell you every word that the Lord answers you; I won’t withhold a word from you.”(S)
5 And they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we don’t act according to every word the Lord your God sends you to tell us.(T) 6 Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will obey the Lord our God to whom we are sending you so that it may go well with us.(U) We will certainly obey the Lord our God!”
Jeremiah’s Advice to Stay
7 At the end of ten days, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, 8 and he summoned Johanan son of Kareah, all the commanders of the armies who were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest.
9 He said to them, “This is what the Lord says, the God of Israel to whom you sent me to bring your petition before him: 10 ‘If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will rebuild and not demolish you,(V) and I will plant and not uproot you, because I relent concerning the disaster that I have brought on you.(W) 11 Don’t be afraid of the king of Babylon(X) whom you now fear; don’t be afraid of him’—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘because I am with you to save you(Y) and rescue you from him. 12 I will grant you compassion,(Z) and he[c] will have compassion on you and allow you to return to your own soil.’
13 “But if you say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’(AA) in order to disobey the Lord your God, 14 and if you say, ‘No, instead we’ll go to the land of Egypt(AB) where we will not see war or hear the sound of the ram’s horn(AC) or hunger for food, and we’ll live there,’ 15 then hear the word of the Lord, remnant of Judah! This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel,(AD) says: ‘If you are firmly resolved to go to Egypt(AE) and stay there for a while, 16 then the sword(AF) you fear will overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine you are worried about will follow on your heels[d] there to Egypt, and you will die there. 17 All who resolve to go to Egypt to stay there for a while will die by the sword, famine, and plague. They will have no survivor or fugitive from the disaster I will bring on them.’
18 “For this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Just as my anger and fury were poured out on Jerusalem’s residents,(AG) so will my fury pour out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become an example for cursing, scorn,(AH) execration, and disgrace, and you will never see this place again.’ 19 The Lord has spoken concerning you, remnant of Judah: ‘Don’t go to Egypt.’ Know for certain that I have warned you today!(AI) 20 You have gone astray at the cost of your lives[e] because you are the ones who sent me to the Lord your God, saying, ‘Pray to the Lord our God on our behalf, and as for all that the Lord our God says, tell it to us, and we’ll act accordingly.’ 21 For I have told you today, but you have not obeyed the Lord your God in everything he has sent me to tell you. 22 Now therefore, know for certain that by the sword, famine, and plague you will die in the place where you desired to go to stay for a while.”
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
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