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The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

The prophet complains

Lord, how long will I call for help and you not listen?
        I cry out to you, “Violence!”
            but you don’t deliver us.
Why do you show me injustice and look at anguish
        so that devastation and violence are before me?
There is strife, and conflict abounds.
        The Instruction is ineffective.
            Justice does not endure
            because the wicked surround the righteous.
        Justice becomes warped.

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The prophecy(A) that Habakkuk the prophet received.

Habakkuk’s Complaint

How long,(B) Lord, must I call for help,
    but you do not listen?(C)
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
    but you do not save?(D)
Why do you make me look at injustice?
    Why do you tolerate(E) wrongdoing?(F)
Destruction and violence(G) are before me;
    there is strife,(H) and conflict abounds.
Therefore the law(I) is paralyzed,
    and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
    so that justice(J) is perverted.(K)

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I will take my post;
        I will position myself on the fortress.
        I will keep watch to see what the Lord says to me
        and how he[a] will respond to my complaint.

The Lord responds

Then the Lord answered me and said,

Write a vision, and make it plain upon a tablet
    so that a runner can read it.[b]
        There is still a vision for the appointed time;
            it testifies to the end;
                it does not deceive.[c]
    If it delays, wait for it;
        for it is surely coming; it will not be late.
Some people’s desires are truly audacious;[d]
            they don’t do the right thing.
        But the righteous person will live honestly.

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Footnotes

  1. Habakkuk 2:1 Syr he; MT I
  2. Habakkuk 2:2 Or a reader can run with it
  3. Habakkuk 2:3 Heb uncertain; antecedants to pronouns in 2:3-6 are uncertain.
  4. Habakkuk 2:4 Heb uncertain

I will stand at my watch(A)
    and station myself on the ramparts;(B)
I will look to see what he will say(C) to me,
    and what answer I am to give to this complaint.[a](D)

The Lord’s Answer

Then the Lord replied:

“Write(E) down the revelation
    and make it plain on tablets
    so that a herald[b] may run with it.
For the revelation awaits an appointed time;(F)
    it speaks of the end(G)
    and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait(H) for it;
    it[c] will certainly come
    and will not delay.(I)

“See, the enemy is puffed up;
    his desires are not upright—
    but the righteous person(J) will live by his faithfulness[d](K)

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Footnotes

  1. Habakkuk 2:1 Or and what to answer when I am rebuked
  2. Habakkuk 2:2 Or so that whoever reads it
  3. Habakkuk 2:3 Or Though he linger, wait for him; / he
  4. Habakkuk 2:4 Or faith