Habakkuk 2
2
1I will stand at my watch and set myself on the ramparts, and will look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.
2Yahweh answered me, “Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it. 3For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won’t prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it, because it will surely come. It won’t delay. 4Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith. 5Yes, moreover, wine is treacherous: an arrogant man who doesn’t stay at home, who enlarges his desire as Sheol;#2:5 Sheol is the place of the dead. he is like death and can’t be satisfied, but gathers to himself all nations and heaps to himself all peoples.
6Won’t all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, ‘Woe to him who increases that which is not his, and who enriches himself by extortion! How long?’ 7Won’t your debtors rise up suddenly, and wake up those who make you tremble, and you will be their victim? 8Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples will plunder you because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell in it.
9Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil! 10You have devised shame to your house by cutting off many peoples, and have sinned against your soul. 11For the stone will cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the woodwork will answer it.
12Woe to him who builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity! 13Behold, isn’t it from Yahweh of Armies that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity? 14For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Yahweh’s glory, as the waters cover the sea.
15“Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that you may gaze at their naked bodies! 16You are filled with shame, and not glory. You will also drink and be exposed! The cup of Yahweh’s right hand will come around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory. 17For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction of the animals will terrify you, because of men’s blood and for the violence done to the land, to every city and to those who dwell in them.
18“What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols? 19Woe to him who says to the wood, ‘Awake!’ or to the mute stone, ‘Arise!’ Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all within it. 20But Yahweh is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him!”
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Habakkuk 2: WEBUS
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Habakkuk 2
2
The LORD's Answer to Habakkuk
1I will climb my watchtower and wait to see what the LORD will tell me to say and what answer he#2.1 One ancient translation he; Hebrew I will give to my complaint.
2The LORD gave me this answer: “Write down clearly on clay tablets what I reveal to you, so that it can be read at a glance. 3#Heb 10.37Put it in writing, because it is not yet time for it to come true. But the time is coming quickly, and what I show you will come true. It may seem slow in coming, but wait for it; it will certainly take place, and it will not be delayed. 4#Rom 1.17; Gal 3.11; Heb 10.38And this is the message: ‘Those who are evil will not survive,#2.4 Probable text will not survive; Hebrew unclear. but those who are righteous will live because they are faithful to God.’ ”
Doom on the Unrighteous
5Wealth is deceitful. Greedy people are proud and restless — like death itself they are never satisfied. That is why they conquer nation after nation for themselves. 6The conquered people will taunt their conquerors and show their scorn for them. They will say, “You take what isn't yours, but you are doomed! How long will you go on getting rich by forcing your debtors to pay up?”
7But before you know it, you that have conquered others will be in debt yourselves and be forced to pay interest. Enemies will come and make you tremble. They will plunder you! 8You have plundered the people of many nations, but now those who have survived will plunder you because of the murders you have committed and because of your violence against the people of the world and its cities.#2.8; 2.17 the people… cities; or the land, the city, and those who live in it.
9You are doomed! You have made your family rich with what you took by violence, and have tried to make your own home safe from harm and danger! 10But your schemes have brought shame on your family; by destroying many nations you have only brought ruin on yourself. 11Even the stones of the walls cry out against you, and the rafters echo the cry.
12You are doomed! You founded a city on crime and built it up by murder. 13The nations you conquered wore themselves out in useless labour, and all they have built goes up in flames. The LORD Almighty has done this. 14#Is 11.9But the earth will be as full of the knowledge of the LORD's glory as the seas are full of water.
15You are doomed! In your fury you humiliated and disgraced your neighbours; you made them stagger as though they were drunk. 16You in turn will be covered with shame instead of honour. You yourself will drink and stagger. The LORD will make you drink your own cup of punishment, and your honour will be turned to disgrace. 17You have cut down the forests of Lebanon; now you will be cut down. You killed its animals; now animals will terrify you. This will happen because of the murders you have committed and because of your violence against the people of the world and its cities.#2.17; 2.8 the people… cities; or the land, the city, and those who live in it.
18What's the use of an idol? It is only something that a human being has made, and it tells you nothing but lies. What good does it do for its maker to trust it — a god that can't even talk! 19You are doomed! You say to a piece of wood, “Wake up!” or to a block of stone, “Get up!” Can an idol reveal anything to you? It may be covered with silver and gold, but there is no life in it.
20The LORD is in his holy Temple; let everyone on earth be silent in his presence.
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Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.