Nahum 3 - Habakkuk 2

English Standard Version

Woe to Nineveh

3 Woe to ^(A)the bloody city,
    all full of lies and plunder—
    ^(B)no end to the prey!
²The crack of the whip, and ^(C)rumble of the wheel,
    ^(D)galloping horse and ^(E)bounding chariot!
³Horsemen charging,
    flashing sword and ^(F)glittering spear,
^(G)hosts of slain,
    heaps of corpses,
dead bodies without end—
    they stumble over the bodies!
⁴And all for the countless whorings of the ^(H)prostitute,
    ^(I)graceful and of deadly charms,
who betrays nations with her whorings,
    and peoples with her charms.

⁵^(J)Behold, I am against you,
    declares the Lord of hosts,
    and ^(K)will lift up your skirts over your face;
and I will make nations look at ^(L)your nakedness
    and kingdoms at your shame.
⁶I will throw filth at you
    and ^(M)treat you with contempt
    and make you ^(N)a spectacle.
⁷And all who look at you ^(O)will shrink from you and say,
“Wasted is ^(P)Nineveh; ^(Q)who will grieve for her?”
    ^(R)Where shall I seek comforters for you?

⁸^(S)Are you better than ^(T)Thebes^[a]
    that sat ^(U)by the Nile,
with water around her,
    her rampart a sea,
    and water her wall?
⁹^(V)Cush was her strength;
    Egypt too, and that without limit;
    ^(W)Put and the ^(X)Libyans were her^[b] helpers.

¹⁰^(Y)Yet she became an exile;
    she went into captivity;
^(Z)her infants were dashed in pieces
    at the head of every street;
for her honored men ^(AA)lots were cast,
    ^(AB)and all her great men were bound in chains.
¹¹^(AC)You also will be drunken;
    you will go into hiding;
^(AD)you will seek a refuge from the enemy.
¹²All your fortresses are ^(AE)like fig trees
    with first-ripe figs—
if shaken they fall
    into the mouth of the eater.
¹³Behold, your troops
    ^(AF)are women in your midst.
The gates of your land
    are wide open to your enemies;
    fire has devoured your bars.

¹⁴^(AG)Draw water for the siege;
    ^(AH)strengthen your forts;
go into the clay;
    tread the mortar;
    take hold of the brick mold!
¹⁵There will the fire devour you;
    the sword will cut you off.
    It will ^(AI)devour you ^(AJ)like the locust.
Multiply yourselves ^(AK)like the locust;
    multiply ^(AL)like the grasshopper!
¹⁶You increased ^(AM)your merchants
    more than the stars of the heavens.
    ^(AN)The locust spreads its wings and flies away.

¹⁷Your ^(AO)princes^[c] are ^(AP)like grasshoppers,
    ^(AQ)your scribes^[d] like clouds of locusts
settling on the fences
    in a day of cold—
when the sun rises, they fly away;
    no one knows where they are.

¹⁸Your shepherds ^(AR)are asleep,
    O king of Assyria;
    ^(AS)your nobles slumber.
Your people ^(AT)are scattered on the mountains
    with none to gather them.
¹⁹There is no easing your hurt;
    ^(AU)your wound is grievous.
All who hear the news about you
    ^(AV)clap their hands over you.
For ^(AW)upon whom has not come
    your unceasing evil?

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

Habakkuk's Complaint

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

The Lord's Answer

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

Habakkuk's Second Complaint

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

2 I will ^(CE)take my stand at my watchpost
and station myself on the tower,
and ^(CF)look out to see ^(CG)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:

^(CH)“Write the vision;
    make it plain on tablets,
    so he may run who reads it.
³For still ^(CI)the vision awaits its appointed time;
    it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
If it seems slow, ^(CJ)wait for it;
    ^(CK)it will surely come; it will not delay.

⁴“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
but ^(CL)the righteous shall live by his faith.^[g]

⁵“Moreover, wine^[h] is ^(CM)a traitor,
    an arrogant man who is never at rest.^[i]
His greed is as wide as Sheol;
    like death ^(CN)he has never enough.
^(CO)He gathers for himself all nations
    and collects as his own all peoples.”

Woe to the Chaldeans

⁶Shall not all these ^(CP)take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say,

^(CQ)“Woe to him ^(CR)who heaps up what is not his own—
    for ^(CS)how long?—
    and ^(CT)loads himself with pledges!”
⁷^(CU)Will not your debtors suddenly arise,
    and those awake who will make you tremble?
    Then you will be spoil for them.
⁸^(CV)Because you have plundered many nations,
    all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you,
^(CW)for the blood of man and ^(CX)violence to the earth,
    to cities and all who dwell in them.

⁹^(CY)“Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house,
    ^(CZ)to ^(DA)set his nest on high,
    to be safe from the reach of harm!
¹⁰You have devised shame for your house
    ^(DB)by cutting off many peoples;
    you have forfeited your life.
¹¹For ^(DC)the stone will cry out from the wall,
    and the beam from the woodwork respond.

¹²^(DD)“Woe to him ^(DE)who builds a town with blood
    and founds a city on iniquity!
¹³Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts
    that ^(DF)peoples labor merely for fire,
    and nations weary themselves for nothing?
¹⁴^(DG)For the earth will be filled
    with the knowledge of ^(DH)the glory of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.

¹⁵^(DI)“Woe to him ^(DJ)who makes his neighbors drink—
    you pour out your wrath and make them drunk,
    in order to gaze ^(DK)at their nakedness!
¹⁶You will have your fill ^(DL)of shame instead of glory.
    ^(DM)Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision!
^(DN)The cup in the Lord's right hand
    will come around to you,
    and ^(DO)utter shame will come upon your glory!
¹⁷^(DP)The violence ^(DQ)done to Lebanon will overwhelm you,
    as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them,
^(DR)for the blood of man and violence to the earth,
    to cities and all who dwell in them.

¹⁸^(DS)“What profit is an idol
    when its maker has shaped it,
    a metal image, ^(DT)a teacher of lies?
For its maker trusts in his own creation
    when he makes ^(DU)speechless idols!
¹⁹^(DV)Woe to him ^(DW)who says to a wooden thing, Awake;
    to a silent stone, Arise!
Can this teach?
Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
    and ^(DX)there is no breath at all in it.
²⁰But ^(DY)the Lord is in his holy temple;
    ^(DZ)let all the earth keep silence before him.”