Beginning
1 This is the message that came to the prophet Habakkuk in a vision from God:
2 O Lord, how long must I call for help before you will listen? I shout to you in vain; there is no answer. “Help! Murder!” I cry, but no one comes to save. 3 Must I forever see this sin and sadness all around me?
Wherever I look I see oppression and bribery and men who love to argue and to fight. 4 The law is not enforced, and there is no justice given in the courts, for the wicked far outnumber the righteous, and bribes and trickery prevail.
5 The Lord replied: “Look, and be amazed! You will be astounded at what I am about to do! For I am going to do something in your own lifetime that you will have to see to believe. 6 I am raising a new force on the world scene, the Chaldeans,[a] a cruel and violent nation who will march across the world and conquer it. 7 They are notorious for their cruelty. They do as they like, and no one can interfere. 8 Their horses are swifter than leopards. They are a fierce people, more fierce than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry move proudly forward from a distant land; like eagles they come swooping down to pounce upon their prey. 9 All opposition melts away before the terror of their presence. They collect captives like sand.
10 “They scoff at kings and princes and scorn their forts. They simply heap up dirt against their walls and capture them! 11 [b]They sweep past like wind and are gone, but their guilt is deep, for they claim their power is from their gods.”
12 O Lord my God, my Holy One, you who are eternal—is your plan in all of this to wipe us out? Surely not! O God our Rock, you have decreed the rise of these Chaldeans to chasten and correct us for our awful sins. 13 We are wicked, but they far more! Will you, who cannot allow sin in any form, stand idly by while they swallow us up? Should you be silent while the wicked destroy those who are better than they?
14 Are we but fish, to be caught and killed? Are we but creeping things that have no leader to defend them from their foes? 15 Must we be strung up on their hooks and dragged out in their nets, while they rejoice? 16 Then they will worship their nets and burn incense before them! “These are the gods who make us rich,” they’ll say.
17 Will you let them get away with this forever? Will they succeed forever in their heartless wars?
2 I will climb my watchtower now and wait to see what answer God will give to my complaint.
2 And the Lord said to me, “Write my answer on a billboard,[c] large and clear, so that anyone can read it at a glance and rush to tell the others. 3 But these things I plan won’t happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow,[d] do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day!
4 “Note this: Wicked men trust themselves alone as these Chaldeans do,[e] and fail; but the righteous man trusts in me and lives! 5 What’s more, these arrogant Chaldeans are betrayed by all their wine, for it is treacherous. In their greed they have collected many nations, but like death and hell, they are never satisfied. 6 The time is coming when all their captives will taunt them, saying: ‘You robbers! At last justice has caught up with you! Now you will get your just deserts for your oppression and extortion!’
7 “Suddenly your debtors will rise up in anger and turn on you and take all you have, while you stand trembling and helpless. 8 You have ruined many nations; now they will ruin you. You murderers! You have filled the countryside with lawlessness and all the cities too.
9 “Woe to you for getting rich by evil means, attempting to live beyond the reach of danger. 10 By the murders you commit, you have shamed your name and forfeited your lives. 11 The very stones in the walls of your homes cry out against you, and the beams in the ceilings echo what they say.
12 “Woe to you who build cities with money gained from murdering and robbery! 13 Has not the Lord decreed that godless nations’ gains will turn to ashes in their hands? They work so hard, but all in vain!
14 (“The time will come when all the earth is filled, as the waters fill the sea, with an awareness of the glory of the Lord.)
15 “Woe to you for making your neighboring lands reel and stagger like drunkards beneath your blows, and then gloating over their nakedness and shame. 16 Soon your own glory will be replaced by shame. Drink down God’s judgment on yourselves. Stagger and fall! 17 You cut down the forests of Lebanon—now you will be cut down! You terrified the wild animals you caught in your traps—now terror will strike you because of all your murdering and violence in cities everywhere.
18 “What profit was there in worshiping all your man-made idols? What a foolish lie that they could help! What fools you were to trust what you yourselves had made. 19 Woe to those who command their lifeless wooden idols to arise and save them, who call out to the speechless stone to tell them what to do. Can images speak for God? They are overlaid with gold and silver, but there is no breath at all inside!
20 “But the Lord is in his holy Temple; let all the earth be silent before him.”
3 This is the prayer of triumph[f] that Habakkuk sang before the Lord:
2 O Lord, now I have heard your report, and I worship you in awe for the fearful things you are going to do. In this time of our deep need, begin again to help us, as you did in years gone by. Show us your power to save us. In your wrath, remember mercy.
3 I see God moving across the deserts from Mount Sinai.[g] His brilliant splendor fills the earth and sky; his glory fills the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise! What a wonderful God he is! 4 From his hands flash rays of brilliant light. He rejoices in his awesome power.[h] 5 Pestilence marches before him; plague follows close behind. 6 He stops; he stands still for a moment, gazing at the earth. Then he shakes the nations, scattering the everlasting mountains and leveling the hills. His power is just the same as always! 7 I see the people of Cushan and of Midian in mortal fear.
8-9 Was it in anger, Lord, you smote the rivers and parted the sea? Were you displeased with them? No, you were sending your chariots of salvation! All saw your power! Then springs burst forth upon the earth at your command![i] 10 The mountains watched and trembled. Onward swept the raging water. The mighty deep cried out, announcing its surrender to the Lord.[j] 11 The lofty sun and moon began to fade, obscured by brilliance from your arrows and the flashing of your glittering spear.
12 You marched across the land in awesome anger and trampled down the nations in your wrath. 13 You went out to save your chosen people. You crushed the head of the wicked and laid bare his bones from head to toe. 14 You destroyed with their own weapons those who came out like a whirlwind, thinking Israel would be an easy prey.
15 Your horsemen marched across the sea; the mighty waters piled high. 16 I tremble when I hear all this; my lips quiver with fear. My legs give way beneath me, and I shake in terror. I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon the people who invade us.
17 Even though the fig trees are all destroyed, and there is neither blossom left nor fruit; though the olive crops all fail, and the fields lie barren; even if the flocks die in the fields and the cattle barns are empty, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will be happy in the God of my salvation. 19 The Lord God is my strength; he will give me the speed of a deer and bring me safely over the mountains.
(A note to the choir director: When singing this ode, the choir is to be accompanied by stringed instruments.)
1 Subject: a message from the Lord.
To: Zephaniah (son of Cushi, grandson of Gedaliah, great-grandson of Amariah, and great-great-grandson of Hezekiah). When: During the reign of Josiah (son of Amon) king of Judah.[a]
2 “I will sweep away everything in all your land,” says the Lord. “I will destroy it to the ground. 3 I will sweep away both men and animals alike. Mankind and all the idols that he worships—all will vanish. Even the birds of the air and the fish in the sea will perish. 4 I will crush Judah and Jerusalem with my fist and destroy every remnant of those who worship Baal; I will put an end to their idolatrous priests, so that even the memory of them will disappear. 5 They go up on their roofs and bow to the sun, moon, and stars. They ‘follow the Lord,’ but worship Molech too! I will destroy them. 6 And I will destroy those who formerly worshiped the Lord, but now no longer do, and those who never loved him and never wanted to.”
7 Stand in silence in the presence of the Lord. For the awesome Day of his Judgment has come; he has prepared a great slaughter of his people and has chosen their executioners.[b] 8 “On that Day of Judgment I will punish the leaders and princes of Judah and all others wearing heathen clothing.[c] 9 Yes, I will punish those who follow heathen customs and who rob and kill to fill their masters’ homes with evil gain of violence and fraud. 10 A cry of alarm will begin at the farthest gate of Jerusalem, coming closer and closer until the noise of the advancing army reaches the very top of the hill where the city is built.
11 “Wail in sorrow, you people of Jerusalem. All your greedy businessmen, all your loan sharks—all will die.
12 “I will search with lanterns in Jerusalem’s darkest corners to find and punish those who sit contented in their sins, indifferent to God, thinking he will leave them alone. 13 They are the very ones whose property will be plundered by the enemy, whose homes will be ransacked; they will never have a chance to live in the new homes they have built. They will never drink wine from the vineyards they have planted.
14 “That terrible day is near. Swiftly it comes—a day when strong men will weep bitterly. 15 It is a day of the wrath of God poured out; it is a day of terrible distress and anguish, a day of ruin and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, of clouds, blackness, 16 trumpet calls, and battle cries; down go the walled cities and strongest battlements!
17 “I will make you as helpless as a blind man searching for a path because you have sinned against the Lord; therefore, your blood will be poured out into the dust and your bodies will lie there rotting on the ground.”
18 Your silver and gold will be of no use to you in that day of the Lord’s wrath. You cannot ransom yourselves with it.[d] For the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy. He will make a speedy riddance of all the people of Judah.
2 Gather together and pray, you shameless nation, 2 while there still is time—before judgment begins and your opportunity is blown away like chaff; before the fierce anger of the Lord falls and the terrible day of his wrath begins. 3 Beg him to save you, all who are humble—all who have tried to obey.
Walk humbly and do what is right; perhaps even yet the Lord will protect you from his wrath in that day of doom.
4 Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron—these Philistine cities, too, will be rooted out and left in desolation. 5 And woe to you Philistines[e] living on the coast and in the land of Canaan, for the judgment is against you too. The Lord will destroy you until not one of you is left. 6 The coastland will become a pasture, a place of shepherd camps and folds for sheep.
7 There the little remnant of the tribe of Judah will be pastured. They will lie down to rest in the abandoned houses in Ashkelon. For the Lord God will visit his people in kindness and restore their prosperity again.
8 “I have heard the taunts of the people of Moab and Ammon, mocking my people and invading their land. 9 Therefore as I live,” says the Lord Almighty, God of Israel, “Moab and Ammon will be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah and become a place of stinging nettles, salt pits, and eternal desolation; those of my people who are left will plunder and possess them.”
10 They will receive the wages of their pride, for they have scoffed at the people of the Lord Almighty. 11 The Lord will do terrible things to them. He will starve out all those gods of foreign powers, and everyone shall worship him, each in his own land throughout the world.
12 You Ethiopians, too, will be slain by his sword, 13 and so will the lands of the north; he will destroy Assyria and make its great capital Nineveh a desolate wasteland like a wilderness. 14 That once proud city will become a pastureland for sheep. All sorts of wild animals will have their homes in her. Hedgehogs will burrow there; the vultures and the owls will live among the ruins of her palaces, hooting from the gaping windows; the ravens will croak from her doors. All her cedar paneling will lie open to the wind and weather.
15 This is the fate of that vast, prosperous city that lived in such security, that said to herself, “In all the world there is no city as great as I.” But now—see how she has become a place of utter ruins, a place for animals to live! Everyone passing that way will mock or shake his head in disbelief.[f]
3 Woe to filthy, sinful Jerusalem, city of violence and crime. 2 In her pride she won’t listen even to the voice of God. No one can tell her anything; she refuses all correction. She does not trust the Lord nor seek for God.
3 Her leaders are like roaring lions hunting for their victims—out for everything that they can get. Her judges are like ravenous wolves at evening time, who by dawn have left no trace of their prey.
4 Her “prophets” are liars seeking their own gain; her priests defile the Temple by their disobedience to God’s laws.
5 But the Lord is there within the city, and he does no wrong. Day by day his justice is more evident, but no one heeds—the wicked know no shame.
6 “I have cut off many nations, laying them waste to their farthest borders; I have left their streets in silent ruin and their cities deserted without a single survivor to remember what happened. 7 I thought, ‘Surely they will listen to me now—surely they will heed my warnings, so that I’ll not need to strike again.’ But no; however much I punish them, they continue all their evil ways from dawn to dusk and dusk to dawn.” 8 But the Lord says, “Be patient; the time is coming soon when I will stand up and accuse these evil nations. For it is my decision to gather together the kingdoms of the earth and pour out my fiercest anger and wrath upon them. All the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.
9 “At that time I will change the speech of my returning people to pure Hebrew[g] so that all can worship the Lord together. 10 My scattered people who live in the Sudan,[h] beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, will come with their offerings, asking me to be their God again. 11 And then you will no longer need to be ashamed of yourselves, for you will no longer be rebels against me. I will remove all your proud and arrogant people from among you; there will be no pride or haughtiness on my holy mountain. 12 Those who are left will be the poor and the humble, and they will trust in the name of the Lord. 13 They will not be sinners, full of lies and deceit. They will live quietly, in peace, and lie down in safety, and no one will make them afraid.”
14 Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. 15 For the Lord will remove his hand of judgment and disperse the armies of your enemy. And the Lord himself, the King of Israel, will live among you! At last your troubles will be over—you need fear no more.
16 On that day the announcement to Jerusalem will be, “Cheer up, don’t be afraid. 17-18 For the Lord your God has arrived to live among you. He is a mighty Savior. He will give you victory. He will rejoice over you with great gladness; he will love you and not accuse you.” Is that a joyous choir I hear? No, it is the Lord himself exulting over you in happy song.
“I have gathered your wounded and taken away your reproach. 19 And I will deal severely with all who have oppressed you. I will save the weak and helpless ones, and bring together those who were chased away. I will give glory to my former exiles, mocked and shamed.
20 “At that time, I will gather you together and bring you home again, and give you a good name, a name of distinction among all the peoples of the earth, and they will praise you when I restore your fortunes before your very eyes,” says the Lord.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.