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. 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.
Habakkuk 2
2
1I will #Is. 21:8, 11stand my watch
And set myself on the rampart,
And watch to see what He will say to me,
And what I will answer when I am corrected.
The Just Live by Faith
2Then the Lord answered me and said:
#Is. 8:1“Write the vision
And make it plain on tablets,
That he may run who reads it.
3For #Dan. 8:17, 19; 10:14the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will #Ezek. 12:24, 25not lie.
Though it tarries, #(Heb. 10:37, 38)wait for it;
Because it will #Ps. 27:13, 14; (James 5:7, 8; 2 Pet. 3:9)surely come,
It will not tarry.
4“Behold the proud,
His soul is not upright in him;
But the #(John 3:36); Rom. 1:17; Heb. 10:38just shall live by his faith.
Woe to the Wicked
5“Indeed, because he transgresses by wine,
He is a proud man,
And he does not stay at home.
Because he #Prov. 27:20; 30:16; Is. 5:11–15enlarges his desire as hell,
And he is like death, and cannot be satisfied,
He gathers to himself all nations
And heaps up for himself all peoples.
6“Will not all these #Mic. 2:4take up a proverb against him,
And a taunting riddle against him, and say,
‘Woe to him who increases
What is not his—how long?
And to him who loads himself with many pledges’?
7Will not your creditors rise up suddenly?
Will they not awaken who oppress you?
And you will become their booty.
8#Is. 33:1; Jer. 27:7; Ezek. 39:10; Zech. 2:8Because you have plundered many nations,
All the remnant of the people shall plunder you,
Because of men’s blood
And the violence of the land and the city,
And of all who dwell in it.
9“Woe to him who covets evil gain for his house,
That he may #Jer. 49:16; Obad. 4set his nest on high,
That he may be delivered from the power of disaster!
10You give shameful counsel to your house,
Cutting off many peoples,
And sin against your soul.
11For the stone will cry out from the wall,
And the beam from the timbers will answer it.
12“Woe to him who builds a town with bloodshed,
Who establishes a city by iniquity!
13Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts
That the peoples labor to feed the fire,
And nations weary themselves in vain?
14For the earth will be filled
With the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,
As the waters cover the sea.
15“Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor,
Pressing him to your #Hos. 7:5bottle,
Even to make him drunk,
That you may look on his nakedness!
16You are filled with shame instead of glory.
You also—drink!
And be exposed as uncircumcised!
The cup of the Lord’s right hand will be turned against you,
And utter shame will be on your glory.
17For the violence done to Lebanon will cover you,
And the plunder of beasts which made them afraid,
Because of men’s blood
And the violence of the land and the city,
And of all who dwell in it.
18“What profit is the image, that its maker should carve it,
The molded image, a teacher of lies,
That the maker of its mold should trust in it,
To make mute idols?
19Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’
To silent stone, ‘Arise! It shall teach!’
Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
Yet in it there is no breath at all.
20“But#Zeph. 1:7; Zech. 2:13 the Lord is in His holy temple.
Let all the earth keep silence before Him.”
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.