Habakkuk 1

New American Standard Bible

Chaldeans Used to Punish Judah

1 The ^(A)pronouncement which Habakkuk the prophet saw:

²^(B)How long, Lord, have I called for help,
And You do not hear?
I cry out to You, “Violence!”
Yet You do ^(C)not save.
³Why do You make me ^(D)see disaster,
And make me look at destitution?
Yes, ^(E)devastation and violence are before me;
^(F)Strife exists and contention arises.
⁴Therefore the ^(G)Law ^[a]is ignored,
And justice ^[b]is never upheld.
For the wicked ^(H)surround the righteous;
Therefore justice comes out ^(I)confused.

⁵“^(J)Look among the nations! Watch!
Be horrified! ^(K)Be frightened speechless!
For I am accomplishing ^(L)a work in your days—
You would not believe it even if ^[c]you were told!
⁶For behold, I am ^(M)raising up the Chaldeans,
That ^[d]grim and impetuous people
Who march ^[e]throughout the earth,
To ^(N)take possession of dwelling places that are not theirs.
⁷They are terrifying and ^(O)feared;
Their ^(P)justice and ^[f]authority ^[g]originate with themselves.
⁸Their ^(Q)horses are faster than leopards,
And quicker than ^(R)wolves in the evening.
Their ^[h]horsemen charge along,
Their ^[i]horsemen come from afar;
They fly like an ^(S)eagle ^[j]swooping down to devour.
⁹All of them come for violence.
^[k]Their horde of ^(T)faces moves forward.
They gather captives like sand.
¹⁰They ^(U)make fun of kings,
And dignitaries are an object of laughter to them.
They ^(V)laugh at every fortress,
Then ^(W)heap up dirt and ^[l]capture it.
¹¹Then they fly along like the ^(X)wind and pass on.
But they will be held ^(Y)guilty,
They whose ^(Z)strength is their god.”

¹²Are You not from ^(AA)time everlasting,
Lord, my God, my Holy One?
We will not die.
You, Lord, have ^(AB)appointed them to deliver judgment;
And You, O ^(AC)Rock, have destined them to punish.
¹³Your eyes are too ^(AD)pure to look at evil,
And You cannot look at harm favorably.
Why do You ^(AE)look favorably
At those who deal ^(AF)treacherously?
Why are You ^(AG)silent when the wicked ^(AH)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 ^(AI)bring all of them up with a hook,
^(AJ)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 ^[m]burn incense to their fishing net,
Because through ^(AK)these things their ^[n]catch is ^[o]large,
And their food is ^[p]plentiful.
¹⁷Will they therefore empty their ^(AL)net,
And continually ^(AM)slay nations without sparing?

Footnotes

Habakkuk 1:4 Or is ineffective; lit turns cold
Habakkuk 1:4 Lit never goes forth
Habakkuk 1:5 Lit it
Habakkuk 1:6 Lit bitter
Habakkuk 1:6 Lit the breadth of
Habakkuk 1:7 Lit sovereignty
Habakkuk 1:7 Lit proceed from
Habakkuk 1:8 Or horses
Habakkuk 1:8 Or horses
Habakkuk 1:8 Lit hurrying to
Habakkuk 1:9 Lit The totality of
Habakkuk 1:10 Or overthrow
Habakkuk 1:16 Or sacrifice
Habakkuk 1:16 Lit portion
Habakkuk 1:16 Lit fat; or plentiful
Habakkuk 1:16 Lit fat

2 Corinthians 7

New American Standard Bible

Paul Reveals His Heart

7 Therefore, having these promises, ^(A)beloved, ^(B)let’s cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

²^(C)Make room for us in your hearts; we have wronged no one, we corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one. ³I do not speak to condemn you, for I have said ^(D)before that you are ^(E)in our hearts, to die together and to live together. ⁴My ^(F)confidence ^[a]in you is great; my ^(G)boasting in your behalf is great. I am filled with ^(H)comfort; I am overflowing with ^(I)joy in all our affliction.

⁵For even when we came into ^(J)Macedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were ^(K)afflicted on every side: ^(L)conflicts on the outside, fears inside. ⁶But ^(M)God, who comforts the ^[b]discouraged, ^(N)comforted us by the arrival of ^(O)Titus; ⁷and not only by his arrival, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted among you, as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me; so that I rejoiced even more. ⁸For though I ^(P)caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it—for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while— ⁹I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything ^[c]through us. ¹⁰For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a ^(Q)repentance ^[d]without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. ¹¹For behold what earnestness this very thing, this ^[e]godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what ^(R)longing, what zeal, what ^(S)punishment of wrong! In everything you ^(T)demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter. ¹²So although ^(U)I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of ^(V)the offender nor for the sake of the one offended, but that your earnestness in our behalf might be made known to you in the sight of God. ¹³Because of this, we have been ^(W)comforted.

And besides our comfort, we rejoiced even much more for the joy of ^(X)Titus, because his ^(Y)spirit has been refreshed by you all. ¹⁴For if I have ^(Z)boasted to him about you regarding anything, I was not put to shame. But as we spoke all things to you in truth, so also our boasting before ^(AA)Titus proved to be the truth. ¹⁵His ^[f]affection abounds all the more toward you, as he remembers the ^(AB)obedience of you all, how you received him with ^(AC)fear and trembling. ¹⁶I rejoice that in everything ^(AD)I have confidence in you.