Habakkuk 1:1-7

New International Version

1 The prophecy^(A) that Habakkuk the prophet received.

Habakkuk’s Complaint

²How 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)
³Why 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.
⁴Therefore the law^(I) is paralyzed,
    and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
    so that justice^(J) is perverted.^(K)

The Lord’s Answer

⁵“Look at the nations and watch—
    and be utterly amazed.^(L)
For I am going to do something in your days
    that you would not believe,
    even if you were told.^(M)
⁶I am raising up the Babylonians,^[a]^(N)
    that ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth^(O)
    to seize dwellings not their own.^(P)
⁷They are a feared and dreaded people;^(Q)
    they are a law to themselves
    and promote their own honor.

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Footnotes

Habakkuk 1:6 Or Chaldeans

Habakkuk 2:1-4

New International Version

2 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

²Then the Lord replied:

“Write^(E) down the revelation
    and make it plain on tablets
    so that a herald^[b] may run with it.
³For 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)

⁴“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

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

Habakkuk 3:17-19

New International Version

¹⁷Though the fig tree does not bud
    and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
    and the fields produce no food,^(A)
though there are no sheep in the pen
    and no cattle in the stalls,^(B)
¹⁸yet I will rejoice in the Lord,^(C)
    I will be joyful in God my Savior.^(D)