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.

Notas al pie

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

Habakkuk’s Second Complaint

12 O Lord my God, my Holy One, you who are eternal—
    surely you do not plan to wipe us out?
O Lord, our Rock, you have sent these Babylonians to correct us,
    to punish us for our many sins.
13 But you are pure and cannot stand the sight of evil.
    Will you wink at their treachery?
Should you be silent while the wicked
    swallow up people more righteous than they?

14 Are we only fish to be caught and killed?
    Are we only sea creatures that have no leader?
15 Must we be strung up on their hooks
    and caught in their nets while they rejoice and celebrate?
16 Then they will worship their nets
    and burn incense in front of them.
“These nets are the gods who have made us rich!”
    they will claim.
17 Will you let them get away with this forever?
    Will they succeed forever in their heartless conquests?

I will climb up to my watchtower
    and stand at my guardpost.
There I will wait to see what the Lord says
    and how he[a] will answer my complaint.

Notas al pie

  1. 2:1 As in Syriac version; Hebrew reads I.