Habakkuk 2

1 # Is 21.8. I will take my stand to watch,

and station myself on the tower,

and look forth to see what he will say to me,

and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

2And the Lord answered me:

“Write the vision;

make it plain upon tablets,

so he may run who reads it.

3 # Heb 10.37. For still the vision awaits its time;

it hastens to the end—it will not lie.

If it seem slow, wait for it;

it will surely come, it will not delay.

4 # Rom 1.17; Gal 3.11; Heb 10.38-39. Behold, he whose soul is not upright in him shall fail,#2.4 Cn: Heb is puffed up

but the righteous shall live by his faith.#2.4 Or faithfulness

5Moreover, wine is treacherous;

the arrogant man shall not abide.#2.5 The Hebrew of these two lines is obscure

His greed is as wide as Sheol;

like death he has never enough.

He gathers for himself all nations,

and collects as his own all peoples.”

6Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, in scoffing derision of him, and say,

“Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own—

for how long?—

and loads himself with pledges!”

7Will not your debtors suddenly arise,

and those awake who will make you tremble?

Then you will be booty for them.

8Because you have plundered many nations,

all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you,

for the blood of men and violence to the earth,

to cities and all who dwell therein.

9Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house,

to set his nest on high,

to be safe from the reach of harm!

10You have devised shame to your house

by cutting off many peoples;

you have forfeited your life.

11For the stone will cry out from the wall,

and the beam from the woodwork respond.

12Woe to him who builds a town with blood,

and founds a city on iniquity!

13Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts

that peoples labor only for fire,

and nations weary themselves for naught?

14 # Is 11.9. For the earth will be filled

with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,

as the waters cover the sea.

15Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink

of the cup of his wrath,#2.15 Cn: Heb joining to your wrath and makes them drunk,

to gaze on their shame!

16You will be sated with contempt instead of glory.

Drink, yourself, and stagger!#2.16 Cn Compare Gk Syr: Heb be uncircumcised

The cup in the Lord's right hand

will come around to you,

and shame will come upon your glory!

17The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you;

the destruction of the beasts will terrify you,#2.17 Gk Syr: Heb them

for the blood of men and violence to the earth,

to cities and all who dwell therein.

18What profit is an idol

when its maker has shaped it,

a metal image, a teacher of lies?

For the workman trusts in his own creation

when he makes dumb idols!

19Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake;

to a dumb stone, Arise!

Can this give revelation?

Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,

and there is no breath at all in it.

20 # Zeph 1.7; Zech 2.13. But the Lord is in his holy temple;

let all the earth keep silence before him.

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Habakkuk 2: RSV

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Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America

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Ḥaḇaqquq (Habakkuk) 2

1I stand at my watch, and station myself on the watch-tower, and wait to see what He says to me, and what to answer when I am reproved.

2And יהוה answered me and said, “Write the vision and inscribe it on tablets, so that he who reads it runs.

3“For the vision is yet for an appointed time, and it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it lingers, wait for it, for it shall certainly come, it shall not delay.

4“See, he whose being is not upright in him is puffed up. But the righteous one lives by his steadfastness.

5“And also, because wine betrays him, a man is proud, and he does not stay at home. Because he enlarges his appetite as She’ol, and he is like death, and is not satisfied, and gathers to himself all nations and heaps up for himself all peoples.

6“Shall not all these lift up a proverb against him, and a mocking riddle against him, and say, ‘Woe to him who increases what is not his! Till when is he to load on himself many pledges’?

7“Do not your creditors rise up suddenly? And those who make you tremble wake up and you be plunder for them?

8“Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the people shall plunder you, because of men’s blood, and doing violence to the land, to the city, and to all who dwell in it.

9“Woe to him who is getting evil gain for his house, in order to set his nest on high, to escape the clutches of evil!

10“You have counselled shame for your house, to cut off many peoples, and your being is sinning.

11“For a stone from the wall cries out, and a beam from the timbers answers it.

12“Woe to him who builds a town by blood, and establishes a city by unrighteousness!

13“See, it is not from יהוה of hosts that peoples labour only for fire, and nations weary themselves for naught,

14for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the esteem of יהוה, as the waters cover the sea!#See Isa. 11:9

15“Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbour, pouring out your wineskin, and also making him drunk – in order to look on their nakedness!

16“You shall be filled with shame instead of esteem. Drink, you too, and be exposed as uncircumcised! The cup of the right hand of יהוה shall come around to you, and great shame upon your esteem.

17“For the violence done to Leḇanon is to overwhelm you – and the ravaging of beasts by which you made them afraid – because of men’s blood and the violence to the land, to the city and of all who dwell in it.

18“Of what use shall a carved image be? For its maker has carved it: a moulded image and teacher of falsehood! For the maker trusts what he has made: to make dumb idols!

19“Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ to silent stone, ‘Arise!’ Is it a teacher? See, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no spirit at all inside it.

20“But יהוה is in His set-apart Hĕḵal. Let all the earth be silent before Him.”

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