Habakkuk's Second Complaint

12 Are you not (A)from everlasting,
    O Lord my God, my Holy One?
    (B)We shall not die.
O Lord, (C)you have ordained them as a judgment,
    and you, O (D)Rock, have established them for reproof.
13 You who are (E)of purer eyes than to see evil
    and cannot look at wrong,
(F)why do you idly look at traitors
    and (G)remain silent when the wicked swallows up
    the man more righteous than he?
14 You make mankind like the fish of the sea,
    like crawling things that have no ruler.
15 (H)He[a] brings all of them up (I)with a hook;
    he drags them out with his net;
he gathers them in his dragnet;
    so he rejoices and is glad.
16 (J)Therefore he sacrifices to his net
    and makes offerings to his dragnet;
for by them he lives in luxury,[b]
    and his food is rich.
17 Is he then to keep on emptying his net
    (K)and mercilessly killing nations forever?

I will (L)take my stand at my watchpost
    and station myself on the tower,
and (M)look out to see (N)what he will say to me,
    and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

Footnotes

  1. Habakkuk 1:15 That is, the wicked foe
  2. Habakkuk 1:16 Hebrew his portion is fat

Habakkuk’s Second Complaint

12 Are you not from of old,
    O Yahweh my God, my Holy One?
    You[a] shall not die.
O Yahweh, you have marked them[b] for judgment;
    O Rock, you have established them[c] for reproof.
13 Your eyes are too pure to see evil,
    and you are not able to look at wrongdoing.[d]
Why do you look at the treacherous?
Why are you silent when the wicked swallows up
    someone more righteous than him?
14 You make humankind like fish of the sea,
    like crawling creatures that have no ruler among them.
15 He brings up all of them with a fishhook;
    he drags them up with a fishnet;
he gathers them in his dragnet.
    Therefore, he rejoices and exults.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his fishnet
    and makes offerings to his dragnet,
for by them he makes a good living[e]
    and his food is rich.
17 Will he therefore empty his fishnet
    and continually kill nations without showing mercy?

The Righteous Will Live by Faith

I will stand at my post,
    and station myself on the rampart.
And I will keep watch to see what he will say to me,
    and what he will answer concerning my complaint.

Footnotes

  1. Habakkuk 1:12 Hebrew “we shall not die,” considered a deliberate scribal change of the text to avoid offensive language toward Yahweh
  2. Habakkuk 1:12 Hebrew “him”
  3. Habakkuk 1:12 Hebrew “him”
  4. Habakkuk 1:13 Or “trouble”
  5. Habakkuk 1:16 Literally “his portion is fat”