Habakkuk 1:1-13

English Standard Version

1 ^(A)The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

Habakkuk's Complaint

²O Lord, ^(B)how long shall I cry for help,
    and you will not hear?
Or cry to you ^(C)“Violence!”
    and you will not save?
³^(D)Why do you make me see iniquity,
    and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction ^(E)and violence are before me;
    strife and contention arise.
⁴^(F)So the law is paralyzed,
    and justice never goes forth.
^(G)For the wicked surround the righteous;
    so justice goes forth perverted.

The Lord's Answer

⁵^(H)“Look among the nations, and see;
    wonder and be astounded.
^(I)For I am doing a work in your days
    that you would not believe if told.
⁶For behold, ^(J)I am raising up the Chaldeans,
    that bitter and hasty nation,
^(K)who march through the breadth of the earth,
    ^(L)to seize dwellings not their own.
⁷They are dreaded and fearsome;
    ^(M)their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.
⁸^(N)Their horses are swifter than leopards,
    more fierce than ^(O)the evening wolves;
    their horsemen press proudly on.
Their horsemen come from afar;
    ^(P)they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
⁹They all come ^(Q)for violence,
    all their faces forward.
    They gather captives ^(R)like sand.
¹⁰At kings they scoff,
    and at rulers they laugh.
^(S)They laugh at every fortress,
    for ^(T)they pile up earth and take it.
¹¹Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,
    ^(U)guilty men, ^(V)whose own might is their god!”

Habakkuk's Second Complaint

¹²Are you not ^(W)from everlasting,
    O Lord my God, my Holy One?
    ^(X)We shall not die.
O Lord, ^(Y)you have ordained them as a judgment,
    and you, O ^(Z)Rock, have established them for reproof.
¹³You who are ^(AA)of purer eyes than to see evil
    and cannot look at wrong,
^(AB)why do you idly look at traitors
    and ^(AC)remain silent when the wicked swallows up
    the man more righteous than he?

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Habakkuk 2:1-4

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]

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Footnotes

Habakkuk 2:4 Or faithfulness

Habakkuk 3:16-19

English Standard Version

¹⁶^(A)I hear, and ^(B)my body trembles;
    my lips quiver at the sound;
^(C)rottenness enters into my bones;
    my legs tremble beneath me.
Yet ^(D)I will quietly wait for the day of trouble
    to come upon people who invade us.

Habakkuk Rejoices in the Lord

¹⁷Though the fig tree should not blossom,
    nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
    and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
    and there be no herd in the stalls,
¹⁸^(E)yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
    ^(F)I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
¹⁹God, the Lord, is my strength;
    ^(G)he makes my feet like the deer's;
    he makes me ^(H)tread on my ^(I)high places.