Luke 18:1-8

Common English Bible

Justice for the faithful

18 Jesus was telling them a parable about their need to pray continuously and not to be discouraged. ²He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people. ³In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him, asking, ‘Give me justice in this case against my adversary.’ ⁴For a while he refused but finally said to himself, I don’t fear God or respect people, ⁵but I will give this widow justice because she keeps bothering me. Otherwise, there will be no end to her coming here and embarrassing me.” ⁶The Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷Won’t God provide justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he be slow to help them? ⁸I tell you, he will give them justice quickly. But when the Human One^[a] comes, will he find faithfulness on earth?”

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Footnotes

Luke 18:8 Or Son of Man

Habakkuk 2:1-5

Common English Bible

2 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

²Then the Lord answered me and said,

Write a vision, and make it plain upon a tablet
    so that a runner can read it.^[b]
³        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.
⁴Some people’s desires are truly audacious;^[d]
            they don’t do the right thing.
        But the righteous person will live honestly.
⁵Moreover, wine betrays an arrogant man.
        He doesn’t rest.
        He opens his jaws^[e] like the grave;^[f]
            like death, he is never satisfied.
He gathers all nations to himself
        and collects all peoples for himself.

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Footnotes

Habakkuk 2:1 Syr he; MT I
Habakkuk 2:2 Or a reader can run with it
Habakkuk 2:3 Heb uncertain; antecedants to pronouns in 2:3-6 are uncertain.
Habakkuk 2:4 Heb uncertain
Habakkuk 2:5 Or throat
Habakkuk 2:5 Heb Sheol

Habakkuk 2:9-14

Common English Bible

⁹Doom to the one making evil gain for his own house,
        for putting his own nest up high,
        for delivering himself from the grasp of calamity.
¹⁰You plan shame for your own house,
        cutting off many peoples
        and sinning against your own life.
¹¹A stone will cry out from a village wall,
        and a tree branch will respond.
¹²Pity the one building a city with bloodshed
        and founding a village with injustice.
¹³Look, isn’t this from the Lord of heavenly forces?
Peoples grow weary from making just enough fire;
        nations become tired for nothing.^[a]
¹⁴But the land will be full of the knowledge of the Lord’s glory,
        just as water covers the sea.